when you want, where you want.
Where to Eat in April
Illustration: Naomi Otsu
Welcome to Grub Street’s rundown of restaurant recommendations that aims to answer the endlessly recurring question: Where should we go? These are the spots that our food team thinks everyone should visit, for any reason (a new chef, the arrival of an exciting dish, or maybe there’s an opening that’s flown too far under the radar). This month: Scandi cooking that’s nothing like Noma, a beloved Malaysian chain’s surprising return, and a New American destination in a somewhat surprising part of town.
Liar Liar (Gowanus)
A friend swears she wasn’t lying when she said this wine bar, which occupies a corner space on a drab block across the street from a couple construction sites, would be easy to slip into on a Friday night. Unfortunately for my friend, the secret is out. By 6:45, it was jammed with people having drinks and waiting for tables up front. The squeeze, however, is worth it. There are glasses of Austrian Chardonnay and Croatian Riesling, the martinis are sharp and frigid, and a five-item food menu has an extremely high hit rate: Caesar salad with a creamy jolt of anchovies, a juicy and totally respectable burger, and a fried-chicken sandwich dripping with sweet-and-spicy sauce that tastes like Chinese takeout. Top billing, though, goes to steak frites. The bright red beef practically glows in au poivre sauce, and the dark fries (available solo, too) are hit hard in their bath of hot oil. At $30, it’s practically a deal in today’s New York dollars, but regardless, it’s money you won’t regret spending. —Chris Crowley
Confidant (Industry City)
Most people head to Industry City for a Costco run or to buy a discounted sofa at a furniture-store outlet. Maybe you should go for some tuna prosciutto: Chefs and co-owners Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman have opened what’s being billed as the first full-service dining establishment in the area. The duo met while working at Roberta’s, and they bring some of that restaurant’s freewheeling spirit (if not its pizza) to their new spot. “Potato and apple” is simply named, but by sphering the apples into candy-sized pieces and serving in a thick, horseradish soubise, it’s surprisingly textural. An excellent prawn potpie is served more like a seafood bisque with a pastry popover. Dessert brings malted mille-feuille, a pyramid that is as satisfying to smash with a spoon as it is to eat. —Zach Schiffman
Hildur (Dumbo)
“Beers with the fellas,” “wings with the fellas” — have you tried meatballs with the fellas? At this new Scandi-Brooklynite restaurant from Emelie Kihlström and Elise Rosenberg of nearby Colonie in the old Gran Electrica space, such innovations are possible. (Kihlström and Rosenberg ran Gran Electrica, too, but Hildur may be a little closer to home — Kihlström is Swedish, and Hildur is her grandmother.) We gathered there recently, the former roisters of my youth, now harried dads. Maybe it’s the Ingmar Bergman of it all, but nutmeg-laced meatballs with lingonberries and pickled herring gone almost pastry-sweet in its dressing of brown butter were better-than-expected complements to misty reminiscence. The room has been stripped down to a lighter, more elegant minimalism, and the cocktails — poured by much the same front-of-house staff neighbors will remember — are the right kind of clever (try the mirepoix martini, infused with carrot, celery, and shallot). As date nights flickered around us, the fellas gave high marks to the Barbie-pink Swedish princess cake. —Matthew Schneier
Kabawa (East Village)
The debut of Momofuku’s Bar Kabawa earlier this year was something of a warm-up to the full Kabawa. Now, the just-opened next-door dining room, wrapped around an open kitchen as it was when the space housed Ko, is offering a full menu of Paul Carmichael’s pan-Caribbean cooking. Orb-shaped cassava dumplings hide in an onion-heavy Creole sauce, a sausage of “jerk duck” is like rough-hewn boudin, goat curry is enriched with fish sauce and dried scallops, while pods of fresh tamarind are gifted to be unwrapped before dessert. The fruit inside is chewy, sour and sweet, “like pâte de fruit, but with a pit,” Carmichael joked as he handed them over the other night. The chef is a natural M.C.; get a seat at the counter to say hi. —Alan Sytsma
Papparich (Lower East Side)
To the delight of many who lamented the closure of the Flushing location a few months ago, this Malaysian chain, with over 100 shops around the world, has reappeared on Ludlow Street. Malaysia’s cuisine references almost every South Asian country, which makes for a menu that is familiar, but with a twist, perhaps in the form of a dose of shrimpy sambal that coats stir-fried okra or string beans with plump shrimp as densely as Takis. Hot roti, meanwhile, shatter on the outside and emit butter-scented steam upon tearing — an order of two with dhal is just $10. There were leftovers from a $16 bowl of curried chicken laksa loaded with thick egg noodles, sliced chicken, tofu puffs, and fried eggplant. An order of beef rendang is stewed until the sauce becomes a caramelized reduction of grated ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and chiles, while relatively mellow beef wat tan hor, wide rice noodles partially submerged in gravy marbled with an egg, has the flavor of lo mein. Dessert is a cup of white coffee, made with butter-roasted beans and enriched with condensed milk, that can be ordered hot or iced. —Tammie Teclemariam
More New Bars and Restaurants