RYAN SUTTON’S TOP 13 NEW RESTAURANTS OF 2014
By Ryan Sutton
The State of New York Restaurants is STRONG, says Eater critic Ryan Sutton
After a snoozer of a start, it ended up being a banging good year for New York restaurants, with diners showing an increased willingness to eat more adventurous foods than they’re accustomed to. Or to put it more simply: 2014 was when President Obama ate at Estela. And so did the rest of us. That’s why it ranks with Contra as one of the top two restaurants of the year.
Who would’ve thought Estela could get away with charging $37 for just a few ounces of ribeye, slathered in taleggio and hidden under a mound of potato chips. Who would’ve imagined that the Uruguayan born-chef, Ignacio Mattos, would crust swordfish with enough fragrant Sichuan peppercorns to make it taste like something out of Mission Chinese? Who would’ve guessed that the brunch sandwich of the century would be a funky mess of avocado, pancetta, and egg, served on a Danish pastry, McGriddle-style?
Mattos, along with co-owner Thomas Carter, could’ve cashed in with a steak house. Instead, they pushed us.
Contra pushed us too, Chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian Von Hauske pair roasted chicken breast with iron-y blood sausage. They dust silky pollock with tannic green tea powder. They let us scoop buttered goat brains out of the animal’s own skull. They charge us just $55 for five courses. Whenever other young, talented chefs come into town, like Trevor Moran of The Catbird Seat or Ari Taymor of Alma, they always seem to end up cooking at Contra, cementing the latter’s status as a legit and affordable salon for experimental and collaborative cuisine.
This was the year we ate Italian-Japanese food by the chef who used to run the Michelin-starred Ai Fiori. This was the year we scarfed down scrapple waffles at a ramen joint run by a guy from Long Island. This was the year we booked up a Mexican hotspot to spend $200 on tamales, corn chips, and tortillas.
This all means our city’s culinary bandwidth for risky and non-traditionally expensive food is widening. This is a good thing.
Our city’s culinary bandwidth for risky food is widening.
There were also restaurants that aged well in 2014. Roberta’s, which opened in 2008, and The Breslin, which debuted in 2009, are both serving better beef, lamb, and pork than than most of New York’s older chophouses. Prune, at 15 years old, remains the quintessential destination neighborhood restaurant. And Aquavit, under new chef Emma Bengtsson, still merits its designation as a Scandinavian fine dining staple at it nears the age of 30.
That all said, here are your best new-ish restaurants of the year.
Marta
Danny Meyer and Nick Anderer could’ve played it safe with a Neapolitan pizzeria. They could’ve built a giant Motorino clone and cashed in. Instead they decided to take a risk by reinventing the cracker-like crusts of Roman pies for a local audience that’s famously fickle when it comes to pizza creativity. And the result is that two hour waits aren’t uncommon at peak hours, putting Marta in the same queue class as Brooklyn’s storied Di Fara. 29 East 29th Street, (212) 651-3800, martamanhattan.com.
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BEST OF 2014
