At this inventive, locally
sourced sushi destination in the
East Village, the owner, Jeff Miller,
takes the stuffy, elite, ever-more-
expensive Tokyo-styleomakase
experience and turns it merrily on
its head. Instead of the usual dour
collection of sushi bros, regulars
from the extended neighborhood
tend to fill the counter at the stylish,
wood-toned room across from
Tompkins Square Park. Unlike
most sushi masters around town,
Miller has a taste for Brazilian funk
and old anthems by the Clash, and
because he studied the intricate art
of nigiri in Austin via Florida and
Australia—instead of, say, Osaka
or Tokyo—he is free to experiment
without being bound by the formal
traditions of the past. You’ll find
coconut-flavored ceviches made
with albacore from New Jersey
when it’s in season and spicy tuna
rolls stuffed with jalapeño peppers
and ribbons of mango. A single,
expertly fashioned serving of nigiri
made with the local catch costs
roughly a third of the price of fish
flown in from Tokyo or Spain. Add
in other local specialties (smoked
steelhead trout from upstate; fat
sweet scallops from Montauk
or Maine), plus Miller’s classic,
generally impeccable technique
(the rice is mixed daily with a
special blend of vinegar and sake),
and we finally have a top-line
sushi dinner that feels less like
a forbidden pleasure than
a glimpse into a more promising,
sustainable future.➽ You can sip retro Cosmo
cocktails with your crudités
at this unabashedly posh
throwback in Williamsburg,
where the co-owner and
front-of-house man, John
Winterman, claims his
antique cheese cart is the last
one operating in the city.
Winterman’s chef-partner,
Chris Cipollone, is also a
traditionalist, though he has
a talent for taking slightly
dated recipes and ingredients
(lobster, pork chops, roast
duck, caviar) and making
them new again. There are
blinilike soufflé cakes on the
menu dressed with
combinations of caviar and
seaweed butter and a
superior vegetarian pastry
pithiviers stuffed with a
variety of ingredients like
truffles, porcini, celery root,
eggplant, and pistachios.
Many of the sneakily opulent
pastas are worth the price of
admission (pork or sweet-
potato-stuffed tortellisprinkled with bits of
crackling, the saffron-
flavored lobster ravioli), and
if you’re a fan of very large
pork chops, the fat, pepper-
smothered heritage chop is,
too. But the finest throwback
creation of all, and the main
reason this restaurant makes
our list, is the crown of duck
for two, a grand dish
preferably washed down with
a frosty New Year’s bottle of
grand cru Champagne.Francie 136 Broadway, at Bedford Ave., Williamsburg; 718-218-7572
Francie’s
crown of duck
for two.46 new york | january 3–16, 2022
Rosella
137 Ave. A, nr. 9th St.; 646-422-7729where to eat