Scandinavian comfort and extremely creative dishes vie for your attention in this fab new spot. At N’eat you might be trying some ingredients here that you won’t come across on a typical menu in NYC.
Who To Take: a date or a buddy to sit at the open kitchen/bar for great snacking and fine wine
[SORRY TO REPORT, THIS PLACE HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED] For a most unusual evening, head to N’eat in the East Village for a scrumptious collection of Nordic delights. The menu offers lots that you won’t see everywhere. We had fun tasting for the first time a gooseberry gel, egg yolk jam, buckwheat toast, and Douglas fir pine parfait.
The menu is broken up into: Snacks, Small Plates, and Sharing Plates, so you can dabble around to suit your palate. We began with the beautiful soup-like dish which was the fluke crudo with dashi, served in a gooseberry gel. (seen in the photo at the top of this post) Wonderful.
The shaggy buckwheat toast was topped with cremini mushrooms and a flurry of cheddar cheese.
In the snack category, we got an order of the fried sweetbreads, which came with an aioli dip and was dusted with a juniper salt. Great bar bite.
An enormous grilled prawn came sliced in two and was glazed with myer lemon and egg yolk jam.
What looks to be an almost boring celeriac, was actually a taste sensation, accompanied by a tarragon horseradish cream.
For our entree we shared the roasted monkfish set in a sea of citrus and red miso foam with colorful slices of orange and blood orange.
For dessert, a most unusual combination of things: douglas fir pine parfait, sorrel granita, and a celery marmalade made for a semi-sweet end to the meal.
The space sets a totally casual, minimalist vibe as evidenced by the faded wood paneling, dark utensils, comfy padded chairs and friendly, personalized service. Bob chose a great bottle of white wine for our dinner from the cool iPad wine list: Mount Eden Vineyards 2014 Chardonnay was a vibrant, and lively choice. Wines were housed in the rear of the restaurant, inside the sexy, private dining room, which also comes into play as a communal table when the restaurant is very busy.
N’eat, 58 Second Ave (btw 3rd/4th Sts); highly recommended!
