i track consumer prices. i am the nyc food critic for bloomberg news. i am ryan sutton.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
This week in my column for Bloomberg News I award three stars to the envelope-pushing Aska in North Williamsburg, a Scandanavian restaurnat that serves 7-course tasting menus during the week for $65 and longer 10-course tastings on Fridays and Saturdays for $115. They also make a house-made Red Bull, because hey, it’s Brooklyn, right? Wine pairings are an extra $45 and $65, respectively. So after pairings, tax and tip, the REAL COST of a dinner date at Aska is $284 during the week and $464 on weekends.
Yes, it happens to be one of Brooklyn’s most expensive restaurants, but it’s still one of New York City’s most affordable tasting menu restaurants. So yeah, we’re most definitely calling Aska a BUY. Just keep in mind that the long menu took us 3.5 hours to finish. So proceed with caution. And bring conversation cards.
DEAREST BAD DEALERS: Dine Out Williamsburg is tonight! All the participating restaurants, including fine venues like Maison Premiere and The Brooklyn Star, will donate a percentage of their sales to the Red Cross in support of Sandy relief efforts.
Check out the full list of participants, and keep in mind that the L TRAIN, a lifeline that connects Williamsburg to the white collar world of Manhattan, is back in action as of this afternoon. So no excuses.
Our official poster, now hanging in windows around the neighborhood!
Maison Premiere Offering $95 Tasting Menu
Maison Premiere, a New Orleans-themed oyster den and absinthe house in Williamsburg, is now offering a six-course repast for $95 per person, as Eater reports.
“There are a lot of tasting menus being served in Brooklyn and Manhattan these days, but it will be interesting to see what the critics and bloggers think about a long-form menu served in a cocktail parlor setting,” writes Greg Morabito, Eater’s New York’s editor.
Mr. Morabito makes a good point; I’ve dined VERY WELL at Maison Premiere over the past few weeks, but I have to wonder whether the (excellent yet occasionally overwhelmed) bartenders, who can be hard to flag down during peak hours, will be equipped to help orchestrate the pace of an intricate menu, not to mention keep track of place settings and drink pairings. It’ll be a challenge no doubt.
So is this a BUY HOLD OR SELL? Your call, world, but for now, I’m happy ordering the fine small plates, like warm langoustines ($18) paired with veal sweetbreads. Pretty killer stuff.
It’s MOST EXCELLENT to learn that Gwynnett St, a most excellently vegetable-heavy restaurant in Williamsburg, is now serving STEAK. Previously, there was only chicken, duck, lamb and fish. The beef costs $29 and it’s a bavette steak (also known as sirloin flap) that’s Piedmontese in breed (we’ve had it elsewhere and it’s pretty dope).
The beef is grilled and paired with oyster mushrooms, some of them braised, others crispy. Chef Justin Hilbert throws in a few butter poached leeks as well. Most excellent indeed. Gwynnett St. thereby earns a few extra points in our ongoing MOST EXCELLENT menu contest. Check out my three star review of the fine eatery on Bloomberg News.
New Steak, oyster cream, oyster mushrooms and leeks. $29 (Taken with Instagram)
WE’LL TAKE THE CLAM & TRIPE STEW FOR “EIGHT CLAMS”. Sometimes an appetizer under $10 is exactly what hits the spot.
Today we’re reblogging Allswell’s new LATE NIGHT MENU, which Eater.com reported about last week. New dishes at Nate Smith’s Williamsburg gastropub include a chicken sandwich, a crispy calamari roll, and a chorizo roll. The menu is available from Wednesday-Sunday until 3am.
Take note of the prices: Everything’s under $9 bucks except for the burger, which runs $14-$18 depending on your choice of toppings. This is in contrast to the dinner menu, where a number of the entrees run into the mid $20s.
Our mission here at The Price Hike is to promote menu and price transparency on the Internet, or put more simply we want restaurants to be more clear about what they’re serving and what they’re charging on a day-to-day basis. As we’ve previously written, Allswell is pretty brilliant at this, as the Brooklyn hotspot updates its menus on Tumblr almost every day. So go ahead & follow!
I’ll just say it: Allswell pretty much has the perfect restaurant website. The Williamsburg gastropub, run by Spotted Pig alum Nate Smith, updates its nightly menu, with prices, on a Tumblr blog, just about every night. And the prominently-displayed phone number allows click-to-call on your iPhone. Isn’t that just about all a diner could ask for? You won’t encounter any silly flash slideshows or musical interludes. You don’t have to click through three different pages to get to the menu. You just load up the website (or open your Tumblr feed) and tonight’s menu is staring right at you. That’s it.
So congrats, Allswell. You’ve got a website that’s better than 99% of all the restaurants out there. And more importantly, the team at Allswell can proudly state that they are #PRICEHIKEAPPROVED. Normally we wouldn’t give out such an accolade to a restaurant that doesn’t accept American Express, but we’ll make a one-time exception for you guys.
