N. A MORSEL; A MOUTHFUL; THE BEGINNING OF A HEAVENLY MEAL
They're the chefs, bakers, and culinary magicians who most teased your taste buds.
Ben Van Leeuwen Van Leeuwen
From a charming canary yellow truck, Brooklyn boy Ben Van Leeuwen set out to scoop the best artisanal ice cream with the least amount of environmental impact. Read more
Better Humor
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck
Remember spending hours playing secretary? House? Riker’s Island? (Was that just us?) Sadly, real jobs aren’t quite so entertaining.
But not all career paths get worse with age. Pete and Ben Van Leeuwen, Greenpoint-based brothers who spent summers as Good Humor men, grew up to be the strapping scoopers of their own artisanal ice cream truck.
Organic milk, cream, and eggs are locally sourced. Small-batch flavors (made with Tahitian vanilla beans aged in vodka, heritage hazelnuts from Italy) will please your most mature taste buds.
Recyclable cups and spoons are made from sugar and corn husks, and 1 percent of profits helps protect endangered species. (Calories for a cause beat fro yo franchises hands down.)
Turns out some things are even better all grown up.
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck (vanleeuwenicecream.com). Parked daily, 1-7 p.m., Prince Street, at Greene Street.
Julie Reiner CloverClub
Thirsty patrons of Julie Reiner's elegant deco lounge swill and swig mules, daises, swizzles, and other classic concoctions while sharing shrimp roll sliders and speakeasy banter. Read more
The Jigger’s Up
Clover Club Opens
Bartender! Pour that Joe Average a stiff buck. He’s having a long, hard night and wants to keep it that way.
Me? Everything’s copacetic. In the mood to get splifficated, zozzled, fried to the hat. A Highland Smash to celebrate the opening of Clover Club!
This new Julie Reiner (Flatiron Lounge) place is spiffy. Back parlor’s the berries. Oh, it’s reserved? I’ll plunk down my lettuce at the bar for a shot of panther sweat. How ’bout a bite with this giggle water? Oysters, glazed chicken wings, caviar shrimp toast.
Did you see that ritzy dame before? Everything seemed hotsy-totsy ’til her hard-boiled torpedo offered to take me for a ride. I offered them Pimm’s punch, got in a brawl, and got the bum’s rush. Hell. Who wants to get stuck on a quiff while hopped up on the hooch?
Whaddayamean, you don’t understand?
Just trying to speak easy.
Clover Club, 210 Smith Street, between Baltic and Butler Streets, Cobble Hill (718-855-7939).
Akhtar Nawab Elettaria
Chef Akhtar Nawab delivers ambitious Indian- and Philippines-inspired American dishes to spice things up at his sexy (with a funky edge) Village eatery and bar. Read more
The Elettric Company
Elettaria Restaurant Opens
Enough with Ginger, Posh, and co.
We’re way more excited about the reunion of the Spice Boys.
Akhtar Nawab and Noel Cruz jammed together at Craftbar — Nawab rocking the kitchen, Cruz rolling the front of house. They parted ways for other gigs but have reunited at Elettaria, their first solo restaurant, opening today.
The first-generation Americans are doing riffs on the flavors and spices of their homelands, India (Nawab) and the Philippines (Cruz). Wild boar with cumin. Saag paneer gnocchi with cloves. Fried coconut cream with ginger mousse and tamarind sorbet.
Elettaria (Latin for “green cardamom”) was once home to 8th Wonder, a venue where Jimi Hendrix performed. It still has a clubby feeling with velvet curtains, exposed brick, and an open kitchen where the cooks are very much on stage.
Pass the crab meat resala and take us to the bridge.
Elettaria, 33 West 8th Street, at Macdougal Street (212-677-3833).
