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Fried blowfish tails
On the lounge menu at Point Seven, which opened in the MetLife Building in Midtown Manhattan at the end of September, chef Franklin Becker batters boned blowfish tails, deep-fries them and then tosses them in a savory caramel sauce made by simmering fish sauce with palm sugar, lemon grass, makrut lime leaves, garlic, shallots, ginger, and chiles. They’re served on a piece of white coral, so they look like they’re swimming in a reef, and finished with mint, cilantro and Thai basil.
"I wanted to be playful on the lounge menu and I just love crispy fried fish.” Becker said. “I also like using all parts of a fish, from the head, cheeks, and body to the tails."
Price: $16
Loaded Potato Pizza
At the Foundry, which opened in the AC Hotel Dayton in that Ohio city’s Waterstreet District this summer, area executive chef David Belknap developed this pie, for which house-made pizza dough is stretched and spread with roasted garlic and topped with thinly sliced Yukon Gold potatoes, rosemary, Raclette cheese, and bacon. It’s baked in the restaurants brick oven at 650 degrees Fahrenheit and finished with sour cream and house-made potato chips.
“It develops a multitude of flavors and textures reminiscent of a loaded baked potato, but much more complex,” Belknap said. He added that he thinks Raclette, traditionally served melted and scooped with bread, is an underappreciated French cheese that he wanted to showcase. He said he also uses it on burgers and for the restaurant’s steak poutine.
Price: $15
Take it Slow
All of the cocktails at Bào Tea House, in New York City’s Little Italy, but on the border with Chinatown, are made using premium Chinese tea and yellow colored rice wine called huangjiu.
For this particular one, bar manager Van Chen infuses 10 grams of rock tea — a minerally tasting oolong tea from China’s Fujian Province — and 150ml of Qinghongjiu rice wine with 850ml of the Chinese spirit baijiu and lets it infuse for 15 days.
He combines 2.5 ounces of that with half an ounce each of Lilet Blanc, Campari, and pomegranate juice, and serves it in a teacup over a large ice cube with a dried mushroom garnish.
Price: $14
Pork Belly Kakuni
On the new fall menu at Nama Ko, a modern Japanese-inspired restaurant by chef and restaurateur Michael Schlow, executive chef Derek Watson prepares his own interpretation of kakuni, a dish of pork belly braised in a sweet dashi broth with brown sugar and served with rice porridge and Japanese mustard.
He starts by curing the belly in shio koji for two days, and then braising it in dashi sweetened with mirin instead of brown sugar, plus “a lot of” ginger, garlic, and scallion.
He also adds ginger and lemon grass hearts to the rice that he cooks into porridge. Watson says the addition of the aromatics lightens the dish.
On the pickup he bathes the braised belly in a yuzu hoisin sauce. “The yuzu especially adds a light acidity, but more importantly a delicate floral note specific to this Japanese citrus that really lifts the flavors and brings everything together.”
He finishes the dish with a chili crunch along with fried onion, sliced scallion, and a soft-poached egg.
It’s also garnished with broccoli raab that has been blanched in dashi.
Price: $26
Youvetsi Lamb Shank
At Paros, which opened earlier this month in the New York City neighborhood of Tribeca, chef George Pagonis, who opened the restaurant with his brother Nicholas Pagonis, braises lamb shank in stock with cinnamon stick, bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns and then bakes it in a clay pot with orzo pasta. It’s garnished with grated mizithra cheese.
Pagonis, who was a finalist on Season 12 of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, said this is a dish that is rarely found on Greek restaurants in the city, but it has been an instant success at Paros.
Price: $49
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