Pete's Dish - April 15

What's going on in and about town!

One of my favorite restaurants, Bea (formerly Le Madeleine), is now serving weekend brunch with a menu by Chef Anunya Clarke. Dine in the charming atrium or sidle up to a banquette in the restaurant proper. Among the other tempties, have your pick of pancakes with rosemary honey and berries or a smoked salmon sandwich with ricotta cheese, tomato, dill, and capers. Drinking at brunch is practically a necessity so knock back a bubbly Aide Memoir with prosecco, sweet vermouth, yellow chartreuse liqueur and orange bitters to further fulfill your fare. For a fuller picture, read my review of Bea here. Bea is located at 403 W 43^rd St, New York, NY, 212-602-1910, BeaNYC.com.   

Why not head east (Manhattan's Upper East Side, that is) on the eve of Easter Sunday? Greek restaurant Nerai will be open from midnight to 2:30am with a menu of traditional Greek Easter dishes, as well as other dishes from their regular menu, served up by Executive Chef Chris Christou.  Read my review of Nerai here. Otherwise, get a taste of the eggs-ellent specials such as traditional

soups--Mageritsa soup made from lamb offal and classic lemony Avgolemono soup; traditional Dolmades, stuffed grape leaves; Roasted Lamb; and Pork Tenderloin with stewed gigantes beans and feta. Finish it off with Tsoureki, a sweet Easter bread. Nerai is located at 55 E 54^th St, New York, NY, 212-759-5554, NeraiNYC.com.

 

Chef Milton Enriquez' spring menu at Crescent Grill in Long Island City is busting out all over with locally sourced ingredients from farms in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. English pea risotto rhapsodizes with duck confit and blue foot mushrooms; lobster is poached with butter; and wild striped bass is served with artichokes, olives, fingerling potatoes and hon-shimeji mushrooms. An Easter Day Prix-Fixe brunch menu is $35, available from 11am-4pm and includes a main course and savory and sweet selections for the table. Mushroom tartlets, hanger steaks and a green tea financier sound pretty good to me! Crescent Grill is located at 38-40 Crescent Street @ 39th Avenue, 718-729-4040, CrescentGrill.com. 

Book Signing Party-The Murdery Delicious Hamwich Gumm Mystery

What it means to read with Pete! What a wonderful night--thanks to the folks at Bea and Next magazine!

The Murdery Delicious Hamwich Gumm Mystery is available now on amazon.com and bn.com. 

Photo credit: Gustavo Monroy

Next Magazine - Bea

Le Madeleine may be gone, but fortunately Bea forges on. Such a satisfying conclusion for the year!

Bea

403 W 43^rd St @ 9^th Ave

212-602-1910

BeaNYC.com

Short Order: Exquisite cocktails and great food at sound prices make Bea the place to be.

Peter’s Picks: chicken livers; macaroni and cheese; kale salad; salumi/cheese platter

Peter’s Pans: The loss of Le Madeleine

Prices: Appetizers: $7-$12; Entrees: $14-$20; Alcohol: wine, beer, full bar, specialty cocktails

How fondly I think upon candlelit dinners and careless, sunlit brunches spent in the atrium at Le Madeleine. Perhaps I’m waxing Proustian, but those are times past that I do quite remember. Now that Bea has taken over, my sense of despair has been readily remedied. The space has been updated and brushed over with a fresh coat of whitewash covering the exposed brick, on which, incidentally, muted classic movies play, such as A Streetcar Named Desire serving as moving wallpaper. The feel of an old bistro may be somewhat lost but there is much else to be found at the lovely Bea (pronounced Be-a, named after owner Sotir Zonea’s grandmother). It’s a small-ish menu, but still manages to cover a range of cuisines from Asian-inspired pork dumplings, Indian-influenced lamb meatballs to Italian-flavored pizzas and pastas as well as good old American macaroni and cheese.

The cocktails were devastatingly good. The Boulevardier was like a negroni but with Old Forester bourbon instead, along with Campari and distinguished Noilly Prat sweet vermouth. A curl of orange was tucked in, with fragrant, faint sprays of its oils glittering on the surface. A wonderful Smoked Side Car steered by Lapsang Souchong tea-infused brandy with a scoche of Cointreau and lemon juice had the nose of a recently fired pistol. A mix up at the bar turned into quite a happy accident with this cocktail—instead of a sugar rim, we were given a smoky salted rim, which resulted in something akin to a smoky tequila that we much preferred! We also thought of the Thyme & Tonic, with thyme-infused Oxley gin, the Classic Mai Tai and the Bitter Duchess with Scorpion Silver Mezcal but we further thought it was better just to leave things well alone.

Chicken liver tartine was appropriately iron-rich, simple and unfussy, with caramelized onions, a hint of balsamic vinegar and a flutter of chives on thick slices of toast. A Caesar comprised of a lovely pile of ruffled kale with lively vinegar and Parmesan was peppery and perfect. The warm asparagus salad was more subdued, topped with a poached egg and a fistful of pistachios, amply dressed with a subtle miso vinaigrette.

While not overly exciting, we still ate the gooey, chewy, ripe taleggio cheesy pizza with a stiff crust, gently roasted maitake mushrooms and caramelized shallots. An excellent bowl of softened buttery macaroni and rich, fully-flavored cheeses with a crisp topping followed. But we weren’t done with our glut of cheese yet! The next round involved a platter with puffs of pillowy fried bread that were merely decent but the accompanying cheeses, meats and other assortments knocked us out. Sumptuous, spicy, briny olives tickled braised pickles and fennel amid wedges of dainty bleu cheese, an absolutely transporting ricotta salata froth and smoked gouda that tangoed with plump blackberries. A fabulous salumi combo of nutty mortadella, fragrant as a forest, carefully cured prosciutto and handsome ham rounded out the considerable presentation.

Against our careful judgment, we tossed consideration thoroughly into the wind and ordered the dark chocolate mousse with whipped cream to finish up. We sidled up to another cocktail and lingered, delighted to be at Bea. 

First published in part in Next magazine.