Dead of Winter Dinners
Fish sauce, banchan, and ONE YEAR of right on Franklin <3
This is my 52nd newsletter, marking one year of right on Franklin.
I could certainly drone on about what this project has done for me, and all it has turned into, but I will just say this: even when it feels overwhelming, or I don’t feel like the effort is paying off, doing this every week—this being writing about something I love—has been the best practice I have given myself and so, so rewarding.
In the last 12 months, I have written 52 newsletters, gained 741 subscribers, gone to over 40 new (or new to me) restaurants, and met countless amazing people in the industry. I’ve planned your birthday dinners - both serious and silly - did a deep-dive on the best croissants in the city, wrote a guide to caesar salads and your downtown date nights, made an index of wine bars, showed you the best of Greenpoint, gave a go-to for (nearly) every New York neighborhood, made a perfect 10-date roster , and was reminded of the magic of food people over, and over again. I also just added the 300th save to the right on Franklin map—a Google map I created with every restaurant mentioned in the newsletter, each with a note including the date it was featured and theme it was suggested for. Whew!
I can’t wait to keep connecting with you all and growing with this newsletter. It means a lot that you all found me and wanted to join in. Thanks a lot for being here.
IN OTHER NEWS, we have reached the part of winter where the cold is penetrating and it feels like the sun will never stay out long enough to see you through dinner again. I have had a few dinners recently that warmed me up to the idea of going out this time of year, for the sheer sake of leaving bed and opting to be colder in order to reach an even more consuming warmth. Here are a few places that will do that for you:
Ha’s Snack Bar
I’ve been following Sadie and Anthony around like a little fangirl for years—each time their Instagram indicated a showing in New York, I booked a table without blinking or knowing who I would go with. Ha’s Dac Biet has a real it-factor, an unbelievably mighty two-person team with impeccable taste, very cool industry friends, and a dedication to fish sauce. I booked two reservations three days apart once they had finally opened. Sadie thought I was a bot. I have zero regrets.
The steam collecting on the windows of Ha’s Snack Bar tells you everything you need to know—two small counters and three tables are packed into the old Gem Wine space and make for a meal where you are sure to bump elbows with your neighbor. You’ll smile at each other between sips of wine, and then get back to your skate wing. Sadie whirls around with bottles of wine, Anthony plates magic in the kitchen. An extra set of hands on front of house, and an extra set of hands in the kitchen, and that is it. A well-oiled machine of true food synergy.
A radicchio salad is unabashedly covered in fish sauce, with crisp pears and herbs, ouef mayo with chili crisp and anchovies are a lesson in how to make two things you don’t want to eat on their own (mayo, boiled eggs), taste really good together. Chicken liver crostini with golden raisin agrodolce is otherworldy, escargot swim in garlic and tamarind butter with a crusty baguette for dipping, and it turns out raw beef should always be served with fish sauce. The clams are above and beyond, sitting gracefully in a bowl of tomato, tamarind, and pineapple broth—a sensory deluge of sweet and savory. Ask for a side of rice. A classic French Vol au Vent with curried lamb and a huge slice of kabocha squash is made of a puff pastry I could only ever dream of constructing, and god that skate wing—sitting in a ginger broth surrounded by pea shoots. I’ve never had a piece of fish that special, even after my second helping 72 hours later.
If there is one thing about Ha’s, they know their way around a dessert. Bread pudding is bruleed and plated over coconut creme anglaise, topped with coconut ice cream and a coconut crumble. It is a decadent combination of temperatures and textures. I’m still thinking about the Dreamsicle, though, a sorbet of meyer lemon, grapefruit, and orange, topped with lime granita, whipped cream, passion fruit, and tiny mandarin slices. So cold, so tart, so refreshing, and the only time I would willingly accept a cold bowl of food on a sub 20 degree night.
Ha’s will warm you up. Get on over there, but be sure to book a reservation.
Sunn’s
Another pop-up that found a permanent home in the Lower East Side was an equally exciting revelation this winter. Banchan by Sunny, which I had formerly obsessed over during a residency at Achilles Heel, now has a much-deserved carved out corner of the city. I met
there last month to run the menu—we sat at the counter, talked about writing, sipped on some sparkling wine, and oohed and aahed every time Sunny brought over a dish. I’m making a bid that whatever charcuterie did for our brains during peak pandemic, is what banchan is executing now. Vegetables are braised, pickled, or fermented, and plated in tiny bowls—a seemingly never-ending snack plate.
Smoky stick eggplant was a personal favorite, as were the candied baby anchovies topped with peanuts. Sunny makes the best napa kimchi I have ever had, and her potato and egg salad had me reconsidering my singular food aversion. We had a divine jewel-toned salad of watermelon radish, persimmon, and chicories with a creamy tahini sauce, spicy tuna handrolls fill with crispy crunchy rice, a bubbling dish of tteok-bokki prepared with a creamy tomato sauce with a generous helping of stracciatella, and a warm wonton soup. We finished with one of my favorite desserts ever, a crispy, chewy, sweet and savory slice of mochi cake coated in sesame seeds.
These spots are the best nooks and crannies of New York, tiny dining rooms with equally small teams, operating at full steam in compact spaces. You won’t wonder for a second why the space is small, or wish you were in a bigger restaurant. You’ll be glad for the fancy footwork that makes a dining room with a very small footprint just as memorable as one twice its size.
Lastly—and this will be brief pending a deeper dive,
and I went to Lucali in October and I can assure you, I would brave any winds for that calzone.Finally, a slew of new openings and pending projects…
