Have you noticed how little “news” I put out in this so-called newsletter? Practically none. Well, here’s some for a change: Nikita Richardson returns next week.
Nikita, who started writing “Where to Eat: New York City” nearly two years ago, has been working in another desk in the newsroom since August. I’ve been riding the official Where to Eat bike in her absence, trying not to hit the Times-approved chrome pipes too much, but now it’s time to hand over the keys.
I know you will be in good hands with Nikita again. Before I go, let’s take a walk down memory lane. Here are three of my favorite dishes from my time at the newsletter, along with how I came up with them.
Follow this noodle
My November roundup of restaurants serving Asian noodle soups would have had a big hole if I hadn’t written about at least one Chinese noodle soup. But which one should I choose? A friend with a keen interest in hand-pulled pasta led me to the soup at Dunhuang Noodle chain. Many people like this soup. So did I, but the broth didn’t have the body or depth of flavor I was looking for. The next night, I went to Sunset Park to a little spot that came highly recommended, but it was so small there was nowhere to sit. I knew that a few blocks away was an Asian supermarket with a food court inside, and that one of its stalls was supposed to make a good beef noodle soup. When I arrived at the address, I discovered that the noodle stall seemed to have moved from the supermarket to a full-scale noodle restaurant called FeiLong Noodle King. The beef noodle soup there is now what I dream of on grey, rainy days.
A duck, hold the potatoes
When I walked in French bag, in TriBeCa, in early fall my heart was set on duck fries. It was one of the restaurant’s most talked about dishes from the start. in my 2018 review, I praised the crunch of the baked brisket and the “sonic crunch” of the fries. But that night, I wasn’t going to hear those echoes. My server pointed out a new dish, a duck leg with string beans and beans, that had just taken duck fries off the menu. He said something about seasonality. I pretended it was cool with me and moved on, like you’re supposed to when you’ve just had your heart broken. The new duck was a cazoula, in essence, but fresher, lighter, and easier to lift dead without strain or injury. I wish I had it again tonight.
The Rockaway Blues
I love azure in any form other than raw, but I think my favorite way to eat it is smoked and mashed into a creamy dip. You see a lot of pate bluefish around Cape Cod. It’s not that common in New York. when it appears, chances are it was made by a cook who learned to respect blues by winding them on the end of a fishing line. You can get bluefish pate at Whit’s End, a dimly lit Rockaway Beach retreat that has portraits of striped bass hanging on the walls. The smoked fish is beaten with a stream of olive oil, something like salt cod, until it turns almost yellow. This one is sent from the kitchen under a pile of chopped onions and next to a stack of fresh crackers just baked in one of Whit’s wood-fired pizza ovens. I ate there when I was telling a story about summer places near the beach. Everything else is now closed for the season, but Whit’s End remains open and keeps the bluefish pate flowing all year round.
I hope you’ve made some discoveries of your own over the past few months. I’m sure Nikita will have some finds to share when she returns next week.