NYC Restaurants

Claire Sprouse's Hunky Dory in Crown Heights is leading the way in sustainability while also drawing a nice crowd.  The menu is fresh and inviting with dishes like Onion Dip and Chips with cippolini onions, fried pepitas and caraway seeds. It's served with house-cut potato chips and is scrumptious. Cod "Tots" really allow the salt cod to come through. The bite-size tots are topped with a tangy miso, garlic mayo. Larger plates include a bone-in Deep Fried Pork Chop served with a tasty black-eyed pea salad (much like a potato salad) and fermented broccoli rabe & grilled treviso. You'll want to sink your teeth into that chop. The most interesting dish actually arrives in a bowl.  Green Egg & Ham features a soft-boiled egg atop a bed of frissee with thin slices of watermelon radish. Crack open the yolk and add extra richness to the green chile broth below with rice, beans and braised ham. Sprouse is also well known for her cocktails. Drinks include the Smoky Mountain Song Bird with mezcal, tumeric, madeira and lemon; and the Aligator Arms with dry vermouth, celery juice, absinthe and lime.  We settled on Saturn Returns (cachaca, Spanish brandy, fermented cinnamon and grapefruit zest) which might just have you seeing Jupiter and Mars. >>

- Thomas Rafael