Editor’s note: Nico, The Libertine, Quincy Street Bistro, Central Table Food Hall, Eau Bistro, Five Bistro, Crepes, Etc, and Nathalie’s are closed.
Here’s a look at what’s on the plate, in the glass and atop our wish list right now.
Breakfast for dessert
The dessert pairing of the moment is an after-church specialty: coffee and doughnuts. Element has cleared the menu of coffee creme brulee with doughnuts for dessert, but you can still find caffeinated sweet treats elsewhere. Order beignets stuffed with espresso mascarpone and drizzled with coffee liqueur and warm chocolate sauce at Nico or bite into beignets with espresso cream at Three Sixty.
Cracklings
Forget Rice Krispies. Get your snap, crackle, pop from cracklings – and not the pork variety. The Libertine was serving both beef and squid versions of these crunchy munchies. The kitchen brigade at Brasserie is still quacking up over its special of duck confit-stuffed eggs garnished with duck cracklings, and you can dive into scallop cracklings at Sidney Street Cafe when you order Scallops and Piggy Noodles.
Picklebacks
There’s nothing quite like a shot of Jameson’s Irish whiskey with a chaser of salty pickle brine. This two-shot hipster drink, known as a pickleback, is gaining traction here in town, especially at Quincy Street Bistro. Beginning this month, the restaurant’s, executive chef, Rick Lewis, introduces a pickleback with a local twist. Order a “Tall, Neat and Pickled,” and you’ll get a 25-ounce tallboy of Busch beer, a shot of Missouri-made Mad Buffalo Moonshine and a shot of house-made pickle juice.
Black is the new black
Black is the color of the moment. Squid ink has been tingeing everything black – from the poached sea scallops that were at Elaia to fried oysters in a black sauce gribiche at Central Table Food Hall to the black vinaigrette that accompanies the ahi tuna at Eau Bistro. Black lentils appeared at Elaia’s sister restaurant, Olio; boudin noir as dark as night graces the plates at The Libertine. But what we really want painting our plate black is that rare breed of Indonesian black chicken called Ayam Cenami that recently arrived to breeders stateside.
Banh Mi
You don’t have to head to a Vietnamese eatery to get your banh mi flavor fix. The Asian sub sandwich is becoming a near staple at new American restaurants that dabble in global flavors. It’s come and gone at Element and Mike Shannon’s Grill, but you can still bite into a creative banh mi at Taste, Bridge and Dressel’s Public House or sink a fork into a late-night banh mi salad bowl on the bar menu at newly opened Nathalie’s.
Grown-up PB&J
The quintessential sandwich of your childhood – a PB&J – is something you can never outgrow. And why would you, when unconventional adult versions improve on the original? In the crepe cake recently offered at Crêpes: Etc, muscat jelly and peanut butter mousse were spread between crepe layers. Iron Barley‘s Ballistic Elvis sees strawberry preserves and chunky peanut butter, grilled bananas, American cheese and hot pepper flakes (add bacon if your arteries can handle it) slapped between two pieces of Texas toast and then grilled, making it the hottest PB&J you’ve ever eaten. The childhood delight makes for a fine ending to a meal at Five Bistro, where you can periodically find a brioche doughnut with jam, peanuts and pecans.
Necks
Why go as far as Portland, Ore., to try the sausage-stuffed duck neck at St. Jack Restaurant when you can find funky neck dishes all around town? On a recent Butcher Block Wednesday at Eleven Eleven Mississippi, chef-GM Bob Colosimo broke down the bird – turkey, that is – and turned the neck into a heck of a turkey osso bucco. Meanwhile, lamb is running neck and neck with birds of a feather. At Taste, chef Matt Daughaday shakes up his mainstay, lamb neck sugo, by giving lamb neck a long hot braise in Moroccan flavors then serving it as a ragú over cavatelli. And over at Sidney Street Cafe, chef Kevin Nashan features a roasted lamb dish with a side of roasted lamb neck stuffed in pastry, fried and served with curry aioli.
This article appears in January 2014.