PDT

PDT stands for Please Don't Tell. It is a speakeasy hidden away on St. Marks Place. You have to get in by going into a hidden phone booth with a secret door. Generally reservations are required, but if you get there early enough and you're a small party (e.g. 2) you can generally get a seat at the bar.

Really the place is all about the cocktails which run from $12 to $22 and are created by a mixologist. The food on the other hand is served on paper plates $6 for a hot dog and $3 for tater tots or waffle-cut fries. I guess you can see where their priorities are. The place is next door to Crif-Dogs, a hot-dogs-only restaurant (which contains the secret entrance) and which also provides the food, through a secret pass-through window at the back of the bar.

Sitting at the bar is the best place to be as far as I'm concerned because the process of making each cocktail is fairly elaborate. I've been to PDT two or three times and my favorite cocktail is the Bacon-Infused Old Fashioned. It has a great taste and is nice to sip.

The hot dogs aren't anything plain either - there is a specialty hot dog called the Chang Dog (named in honor of the chef David Chang - whose restaurants I have yet to go to, though they are about a block away). It is a deep-fried hot dog wrapped in bacon and smothered with Chang’s own Momofuku Ssäm Bar red kimchee purée. I was a little afraid of that though I hear it is amazing. I went for the everything bagel hot dog which has cream cheese and the everything bagel seasoning mix. Very good. And I'd say it went well with my twice-as-expensive cocktail.

The atmosphere is really cool, dark and manly, with wood paneling and mounted animals on the walls, and dark red leather booths. I think it only seats about 20 people and they don't allow anyone to stand around the bar. All together it comes together well. I feel a little embarrassed going into the phone booth, kind of like a tourist, even though I'm 'in on the secret' but I'll definitely bring people back to PDT, and keep it at the top of my list for special occasions.

Peasant

I happened upon Peasant a few blocks from one of my favorite restaurants, Public. I was immediately impressed by the space as we walked in, with a large wine bar at the entrance and rustic wooden tables in the back framed by a big brick oven. We couldn't get a table actually, they were booked full, but there is another bar in the basement that serves food. It was one of the coolest dining experiences I've had in New York.

The dynamic at Peasant interesting because of the unfinished peasant-like atmosphere combined with fancy food and wine. The basement bar is even more rustic, with distressed wood paneling on the walls, almost rickety handmade tables that were knotted and bumpy and bench seating. The space was dim and candlelit, and cramped. But I liked it. It is amazing the things you'll pay for in New York: dinner at a rickety table in a dark basement. The menu is Italian, with some good pastas, seafood dishes and some more unique offerings like quail and of course pizza. The food was good, not stellar. I really enjoyed the various olives that were set out in the bar areas that we munched on before taking our table.

I really was impressed by the atmosphere and the overall experience at Peasant. It was a little expensive, which is typical though oxymoronic for something whose name basically means poor, but I guess it goes to show that with simple ingredients you can make great things, and even in what might be though of as grungy a great space can emerge.

Public

I read a lot about Public, a restaurant near Little Italy and the Bowery, and decided to take V there to celebrate our first year together. It was a great choice: we had a truly unique meal with great service. It is hard to describe what 'kind' of restaurant Public is, even on their website the food is described only as "Free-spirited fusion." I'd say it is Australian/New Zealand-ish cuisine, which is definitely something new to me (though it is a bit similar to American and European).

We started our night in the Monday Room, next to the restaurant, it is a wine bar featuring 60 wines from around the world. The menu itself was cool, with, I believe, a kangaroo-fur cover. We had a interesting sommelier, with an accent, a handlebar mustache, thick-rimmed glasses and a three-piece suit. V was convinced this whole get-up was an act, because the accent was indistinguishable, and his look was so peculiar. I couldn't put my finger on it either, but overheard him say he was from Spain, which, to me, seemed reasonable. If we go back we'll have to see if he's changed to being from Romania or something with a new costume and a different mustache. Anyhow he was very friendly and helpful in guiding our wine choice. I ordered a great bottle of Spanish wine, Viña Pedrosa, that I thought was amazing. I'm no wine connoisseur, but it was smooth and full and rich, all things I like. All together the service was top-of-the-line - they even offered to take the flowers I had for V and put them in water for her.

Soon, the hostess from Public came to seat us. We had a nice table in the main dining room where we could sit side-by-side and see the whole space. Before arriving we had checked out the menu so we had a few ideas in mind for what to order. There are quite a few unique and exotic dishes to choose from. I'm lucky V is adventurous!

To begin with, we selected another bottle of wine, Public has a separate wine list than the Monday Room. I can't remember the vintage, etc but this was another great bottle. Then, for starters we ordered:

• Cured wild boar with Garrotxa cheese, marinated olives and caper berries. This was thin slices of meat, kind of carpaccio-style, but it was cured so it had a rich flavor that was great with the cheese. It was not too large, which is good for a starter but at the same time it seemed a little pricey.
  
• Grilled kangaroo on a coriander falafel with lemon-tahini sauce and green pepper relish. This was great. I've never had kangaroo before (nor boar), and the meat was tender and juicy. The relish was a bit spicy but getting a little bit of it in each bite added a nice kick. The falafel added a nice texture and some more subtle flavor. We both really enjoyed the dish.

On to the main courses, which were also rather unique, if not quite as exotic. I ordered the roast lamb sirloin on crispy goats cheese polenta with saffron braised baby vegetables and harissa aioli. Here the meat had great flavor but was a little tough. I really enjoyed the polenta, which was kind of compressed into a ring and served under the meat. The vegetables were nice but nothing amazing, little carrots and onions, etc.

V ordered the roast New Zealand venison loin, with Cabrales dumplings, oyster mushrooms and salsa verde. Lucky her, I kept wanting to try more of this, as it was definitely our favorite. The meat was just great, very flavorful and tender and cooked just right. Of course mushrooms are always a good thing, and the dumplings added some starch to the plate.

Honestly, I know we had dessert, but after two bottles of wine and a digestif (good scotch!) I can't remember what I chose. I'm pretty sure there was some chocolate, and maybe a caramelized drop of sugar...it was good! And indeed, Public was a perfect place for us to celebrate: not too formal, great food, and great service all around—plus they have little bars of soap in the bathroom that you can take home! We we're even considering going back just two days later.

Schiller's Liquor Bar

Schiller's Liquor Bar is a low life bar and restaurant at 131 Rivington Street. The menu is inexpensive...The wine list consists of only 3 wines: cheap, decent and good. Cheap is the best.

I've been intending to go to Schiller's since before I even moved to New York, and then my brother recently recommended it. So when I had the chance to suggest a place to take some out of town visitors for dinner, this seemed a perfect fit. The atmosphere is really unique, and a lot different than I expected. For some reason the image I had was dark wood paneling and high-backed booths. I was completely off. The walls are white tile with large warehouse style wire-reinforced windows, almost like an old butcher shop–easy to hose down. If I remember correctly, there were no booths, just tables and chairs. It was fairly bright inside, but the lighting worked well for the atmosphere. It was a pretty small space and very crowded; the bar crowd was just about engulfing our table by the end of dinner. There were a couple of other cool touches adding to the slightly old-timey atmosphere, including the jugs of tap water they bring to your table and the bathrooms, which had a shared sink area with plain old spigots for water. Now back to the food...

We had the calamari as an appetizer, which was nice and "flaky-crispy" and came with two sauces for dipping, one red and the other more of a mustard-mayo combination. I order the tuna special, which was a tuna fillet served with asparagus and roast potatoes. Overall it was good, though I thought the tuna was slightly over cooked. Still it had a nice spice rub and tasted great. I also tried the "Schiller's Steak Frites" which was very good with the Bearnaise sauce. The meat was very flavorful and juicy and the sauce was great, both on the steak and on the frites, which themselves were very good and served in a large portion, almost falling off the plate.

For dessert we tried the sorbet and a caramelized banana split. The sorbets, mango, raspberry and coconut were each boldly flavorful. The banana split was very good and the ice cream on top was just perfectly melting, the way I like it. To top off the meal we had a few bottles of the best wine (see above) and it was very good. I'll keep Schiller's on my list and definitely bring others back with me.