Clarkson Opened Last Night on Varrick

inside clarkson [krieger via eater]Georges Forgeois knows a thing or two about restaurants. He opened Bistro Jules over twenty years ago on St Marks Place. You'll find classic bistro dishes there like salad nicoise, rillettes de cochon, and steak tartare. There's also live jazz every night, but that's more an extension of the years Forgeois spent in Harlem after arriving to the states from France. He opened Cafe Noir with a North African-inspired menu in SoHo after. A return to bistro classics then gave Chelsea le Singe Vert, and after that, Forgeois took his passion across the river and opened Bar Tabac on Smith Street in Brooklyn. He opened a brasserie called Cercle Rouge next. That restaurant's website gives a far too poetic description of the Tribeca eatery to go unmentioned: "A pleasant outpost where diners and drinkers nestle amongst flower boxes and take in spectacular urban sunsets - with the cast-iron canyon of North Moore framing an uninterrupted view of the hills across the Hudson River, a lone New Jersey skyscraper yardsticking the falling of the sun."

And so after two decades in the business, with five successful restaurants, it seems Forgeois would start to slow down. But as the motorcycles and racing paraphernalia that decorate his haunts may suggest, Mr. Forgeois is not one to stay idle very long. It's with a full tank of gas that he opened Clarkson last night, and as his first project wth an American menu, he's called on Thistle Hill Tavern alum Rebecca Weitzman for help. At Clarkson, you can build a meal from an array of sections: Raw Bar, Charcuterie & Cheese, Bar & Sides, Share Plates, Starters, and Mains. Items therein like a braised rabbit sandwich, deviled steak tartare, and whole roasted poussin have made their way to the West Village, where they have joined Mr. Forgeois' aesthetic inside 225 Varrick Street.

Clarkson | 225 Varrick Street | 212-675-2474 |www | map

Mighty Mighty Quinn's Barbecue

hugh mangum [daniel krieger for the times]New York City got a slew of new barbecue restaurants at the end of last year. Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbecue setup shop on Third Ave in Gowanus, BrisketTown opened on Bedford in South Williamsburg, and Hugh Mangum brought Texalina Barbecue to Second Ave in Manhattan via Mighty Quinn's. Mangum's barbecue is a hybrid of sorts, inspired by the traditions of Texas and the Carolinas, and in today's Times, Pete Wells awards his efforts two stars.

Wells weighs in on each of the three newcomers in his review. He likes the sides at Fletcher's, "like the beans that lap up wood smoke as they bake in the pit next to the meats; the crisp house-made refrigerator pickles, put up in a jar; and the macaroni and cheese when it is topped with the great burnt-end chili." He's also a big fan of the brisket at BrisketTown, where Daniel Delaney "rubs the brisket generously with salt and cracked peppercorns and smokes it for many, many hours, until it is very, very tender." But it's the barbecue at Quinn's that has his heart. To make it easy for you, here's a list of the restaurant's barbecue with their prices and what Wells has to say about each:

Brisket ($8.50 single serving/$22 by the pound) - "The brisket is cooked patiently to render much of the fat from the top cap, moistening even the leaner lower muscle until it gleams."

Pulled Pork ($7.25 ss/$18.75 btp) - "The pulled pork is the only one in town that doesn’t make you embarrassed for New York. It is staggeringly good."

Smoked Sausage ($7 ss/$12 btp) - "While there is nothing wrong with a smoked hot sausage, the one here isn’t quite strong enough to build a meal around."

Spare Ribs ($8 ss/$23 per rack) - "Spare ribs are exceptional, too, meaty and juicy, with a smoky outer ring the color of cherry soda."

Brontosaurus Rib - ($23 ss) - "The beef rib is an instant conversation stopper, a long block of impressively tender meat clinging to a Jurassic curve of bone."

Half Chicken - ($8.50 ss) - "The only disappointment is the chicken, no better or worse than what a skilled weekend cook can produce with a kettle grill." [NYTimes]

Franny and Zooey, and Marco

Second only to Barclays Center, Franny's 2.0 has been Flatbush Avenue's most anticipated opening since early last year, when Franny's owners Andrew Feinberg and Francine Stephens announced they were moving their nine-year-old restaurant to a larger venue. The new space, in a former Blockbuster at 348 Flatbush, was originally slated for a November opening. Scaffolding still surrounds the facade, but construction is close to finished inside, and on a recent visit, we were told 2.0 could open as early as April 1st.

The new digs are twice the size of the original and will have two brick ovens. Doubling up on ovens is what's going to allow 2.0 to add lunch seven days a week as well as takeout to their lineup. Also new to 2.0 is a reservation policy in place for parties of six and up, and a private dining space will be available for groups of ten or more.

Jonathan Adler, executive chef at Franny's since 2008, will make the move down the street and take his title with him. The owners are holding onto the 298 address and will reopen it as Marco's, named of their son. One of the first things on the to do list is replace the brick oven that moved down the street with a wood-burning oven and rotisserie. Daniel Amend, Franny's current sous, will become the executive chef. The menu will focus on authentic Italian dishes and explore the bounty of Italy's regions. Construction will start on Marco's shortly after 2.0 opens. Interior pics of the new Franny's ahead via facebook.

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Aisle Be Back: Fairway Reopens in Red Hook

Hurricane Sandy devestated the East Coast at the end of October last year. In Red Hook, the storm left five feet of seawater inside Fairway and destroyed everything therein. The only option was to throw it all out and start from scratch. Seventy dumpster loads, over $20 million in repairs and damaged inventory, and four months to the day later, the 50,000 square foot grocery has reopened. On Friday last week, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Mayor Bloomberg, Senator Chuck Schumer, Miss America, and St. John Frizell (owner of Fort Defiance a few blocks away) were among those celebrating the store's return. We made it to Van Brunt later in the afternoon. Here's a look around the new and improved Fairway.

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Eat the Week; Feb 25th - March 1st

Num Pang opens third location on Broadway | Lucky Peach #6, The Apocolypse issue, hits shelves | Pete Wells awards just one star to Harold Dieterle's new restaurant, The Marrow | A look at the three restaurants Michael White has on the 2013 horizon | We take a trip to D.C. and hit up Ben's Chili Bowl  | Donde Dinner? - 224 East 10th Street

Donde Dinner? - 224 East 10th Street

Donde Dinner? wants to make your next dining experience an adventure. So, every Friday, we pick a restaurant and post its address for you. The catch is, that's all the information you get. No name, no type of cuisine, and no Googling. But first, here's last week's address:

928 Second Ave = Sip Sak

This week's restaurant follows typical Donde Dinner? fashion. Price, quality, and accessibility have all been taken into account. You won't be waiting at the bar for two hours with $15 cocktails and you never have to worry about a dress code. Just hop on the train, or your feet, or your bike, and head to:

224 East 10th Street (map)

Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington D.C.

We spent part of President's Day weekend in D.C. We were only there for 24 hours, but we had enough time to eat at Ben's Chili Bowl and Izakaya Seki, where we had our favorite meal of the year so far. More on that later. Here's a bit about our meal at "The Bowl."

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Abracadabra, Fiamma Costata

Michael White made his New York debut in 2002 as the executive chef of Fiamma. The restaurant closed at the beginning of 2009 and has sat dormant since, but former building owner, BR Guest’s Steve Hanson, recently sold it. The new owners have leased the space to White and his business partner Ahmass Fakahany, and while the ghost of Fiamma still stands, the pending project marks the third on Altamarea Group’s horizon.

The Butterfly has been on our radar the longest, having been granted a liquor license almost a year ago last March. The smallish, 55-seat space will be opening this spring on West Broadway in Tribeca. Butterfly's menu will be inspired by White's Midwest upbringing, and bartender extraordinaire Eben Freeman, who hasn't worked behind a bar since his time at Tailor over two years ago, has been resurrected to head-up the cocktail program.

The Upper West Side will welcome White later this year on Madison and 86th Street, where Ristorante Morini will open in the former Centolire space. The restaurant will be an uptown, upscale version of the more casual Osteria Morini, which has locations in Soho and Jersey. The two-story 1167 Madison Avenue address will have a cafe downstairs with white tablecloth dining on the upper level, and the menu will take a broader tour of Italy's cuisine, rather than the Emilia Romagna-focused fare served at Osteria.

The new SoHo restaurant taking over the Fiamma space is going to be called Costata, the Italian name for a particular cut of beef, which suggests this might be White's first go at a steakhouse. Costata will likely happen after The Butterfly and Ristorante Morini, but this early in the year, a 2013 opening isn't out of the question.