LEISURE^27
Food & Drink
Top Hatters San Leandro, Calif.
Chef DanVy Vu isn’t afraid to do things
her own way, said Soleil Ho in the San
Francisco Chronicle. When she makes
spaghetti at home, a splash of fish sauce
goes in with the tomatoes, just for the
extra umami punch. “You do that when
you understand ingredients like those
intimately,” and Vu’s Cal-Vietnamese
menu at her first restaurant reflects the
same sensibility. Top Hatters Kitchen and
Bar occupies a former hat shop a short
walk from where Vu and her husband
live, and “to be honest, it doesn’t have
to be this good.” But the couple has
dressed the space in cool dark-blues, cre-
ated cocktails that fit the cooking, and
trusted diners to recognize Vu’s unforced
artistry. She’ll brighten braised oxtail and
grits with orange gremolata. She’ll pair roti
and pickled fennel. She’ll pan-sear branzino
and plate it with roasted corn in a lemon-
caper-butter sauce that “tastes the way a
beam of sunlight can warm a tiny patch of
the ocean.” And I haven’t even mentioned
her sweet and savory doughnuts or my
favorite dish: seared rice cake garlanded
with shaved fennel, dried shrimp, and slices
of Chinese sausage. 855 MacArthur Blvd.,
(510) 777-9777Maison Yaki Brooklyn
Greg Baxtrom’s unlikely new venture mightCritics’ choice: When two cuisines are better than one
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You don’t have to wait until fall for short ribs, said Alison Roman in The New York
Times. “Boneless short ribs are even better when they are summerfi ed—quickly
seared until medium rare and thinly sliced.” I serve them with a mix of fresh and
seared tomatillos and scallions. The ribs are great over a bed of peppery greens, but
also served with tortillas for “a DIY taco experience.”Recipe of the week
- Season short ribs with salt and pepper.
Thinly slice half the scallions and tomatil-
los and combine in a bowl with lime juice.
Season with salt and pepper. Heat canola
oil in a large skillet (preferably
cast-iron) over medium-high
heat. Sear short ribs until deeply
golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per
side. Transfer to a cutting board. - Without wiping skil let, add
the remaining (whole) scallions
and tomatillos. Season with
salt and pepper. Cook, turning
occasionally, until totally tender
and lightly charred, 4 to 6 minutes. Add
cumin and toss, lightly toasting the seeds.
Transfer vegetables to a cutting board,
coarsely chop, and place in a small bowl.
Add olive oil and season with
salt and pepper.- Thinly slice short ribs cross-
wise and place on a platter.
Spoon charred scallion sauce
over the meat. Garnish with
cilantro and serve alongside
the fresh scallion mixture,
tortillas, hot sauce, and lime
wedges. Serves 4.
Quick-seared short ribs with charred scallion salsa
1½ lbs boneless short ribs, at least 1 inch thick • kosher salt and ground pepper •
1 large bunch scallions or spring onions • 4 oz tomatillos • ¼ cup fresh lime juice, plus
1 lime, cut in wedges • 2 tbsp canola oil • 2 tsp cumin seed • ¼ cup olive oil • 1 cup
cilantro, leaves and tender stems • tortillas and hot sauce for servingbe called a cross between a French bistro
and a Japanese yakitori spot, and “most
of the time, it’s a darn good one,” said
Ryan Sutton in Eater.com. Set in Prospect
Heights across the street from Baxtrom’s
forever-packed Olmsted, Maison Yaki
invites its drop-in diners to order cocktails
and play a game of pétanque in the rear
yard as they wait for tables. You can snack
outside on a beef tongue–katsu sandwich
or a skewer of trumpet mushrooms, and
really, table dining merely makes it easier to
compose a full meal from similar sub-$10
bites. You’ll recognize the bistro influence,
because Baxtrom’s snails are still snails, just
with an “anise-y” shot of shiso butter. Thekitchen shows greater mastery over its
French sauces than with its Japanese
grill, but that art takes time. And
already, the chicken-wing skewers are a
“textural masterpiece,” with silky flesh
underneath a skin so crisp it “shat-
ters like the top of a crème brûlée.”
626 Vanderbilt Ave., (718) 552-2609Spuntino Denver
Maybe it’s all for the best that Cind hura
Reddy and Elliot Strathmann no longer
run an Indian food stall, said Daliah
Singer in The Denver Post. Ever since
the couple closed Namkeen, their
acclaimed Zeppelin Station outpost,
Reddy has given their cozy Italian
restaurant a lift by adding more Indian
touches to the menu. “It’s not fusion,”
though, “it’s just Reddy and her team
cooking what she knows and loves.” A
meal thus might start with antipasti and
a Negroni composed with a house-made
aperitivo, followed by elk tartare that
“leans Eastern,” spiced as it is with masala,
ginger, and carom seeds. Reddy still hand-
cranks all her pastas, but fettuccine now
gets an infusion of turmeric and chile, and
the al dente noodles are tossed with braised
Colorado lamb cured in an “intoxicating”
spice blend. You should try it with friends;
“it’s food that you’ll want to talk about.”
2639 W. 32nd Ave., (303) 433-0949Chilling in Maison Yaki’s backyard“A whole new style of pilsner” is sweep-
ing the craft-brewing world, said Justin
Kennedy in the online magazine Punch.
Some 20 years after Italian brewer Agos-
tino Arioli broke with German tradition
by adding dry hops to a run-of-the-mill
pilsner, his oddball creation, Tipopils,
has sparked a wave of U.S. imitators.
And no wonder: “Italian-style”
pilsners add a bold hops note to an
already highly drinkable style.
Birrifi cio Italiano Tipopils Tipopils
itself is “a magnifi cent example of
how nuanced and complex pilsner
can be.” It’s “spritzy and bright
with a resiny punch.”
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils The
German hops in this direct
homage to Tipopils add aromas
of lemongrass and citrus zest.
Green Cheek Local Import
Another Tipopils imitator from
Southern California, this “soft
and pillowy” pilsner smells of
sage and fresh-cut grass.Beer:‘Italian’ pilsners