Atera

**Note.  If you are planning on dining at Atera, I highly recommend eating the food before reading this post, as it will ruin a lot of surprises through the course of the meal**

It's amazing how many culinary trends New York City has undertaken in the past decade.  The fall of the twin towers caused the death of fine dining, where as a nation we turned to more economically feasible comfort food options.  We looked for menus that had a recognizable burger and french fries, instead of duck and foie gras.  Fast forward a few years and we became ready to play with our food, and all the emphasis was on molecular gastronomy and the multiple ways we could manipulate nature's ingredients.  Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck in Bray, England, and Ferran Adria's El Bulli in Catalonia, Spain were the world's best known restaurants to showcase it.  When trendsetters like Alinea in Chicago, and WD-50 in New York City ran out of ideas, so did the city's interest with science.  We've seen it already, what can we do next?

Then out of nowhere the "fad" was a practice multiple chefs had been utilizing for years.  Relationships they had built with farmers and emphasis on fresh and local produce started the "farm-to-table" craze.  Like little kids showing off their newest and coolest toys, it became a trend for restaurants to show which local farmers they were using, and how they were showcasing their products.  "Here we have a strawberry soup utilizing strawberries from Berried Treasures Farm."  It was a vehicle that caused all these hard-working low-key farmers at the greenmarket to finally become celebrities in their own right, but chefs decided to push this further.  They wanted to up themselves.  Thus began urban farming and rooftop gardening.

But this is New York City.  We need to push the envelope even further.  We need to watch what chefs from all around the world are doing, and then we need to up that.  Well, New York finally has a theater in which to showcase the newest food craze.  It is called Atera, and the 31 year-old Chef Matthew Lightner has brought from Portland not just a philosophy to utilize local farms, but local parks.  The new trend is called "foraging", and foraged food is now beginning to pop up on menus all around the city.

Incanto

Anyone who loves offal as much as I do knows the name Chris Cosentino.  He is considered to be at the forefront of nose-to-tail dining in North America.  His restaurant, Incanto, has been named by some as the most adventurous restaurant in the United States.  He runs the website, Offal Good, educating people on how to buy, handle, and cook offal.  He opened a small shop called Boccalone in the Ferry Building, selling San Francisco's famous "meat cone".  For someone with so much passion for what they do, it is no surprise that I made Incanto my first dinner stop during my trip to San Francisco.  I was psyched.  

The restaurant is gorgeous, and very well put together.  Large wall-size windows overlook the sidewalks of Noe Valley, pictures of pigs grazing, figurines of pig heads on the walls, colors of light brown and white stretching from the front of the restaurant to the back, an open kitchen, and humorously, a bookshelf in the bathrooms containing cookbooks that would make any avid collector smile.

A friend and I decided to go big.  Heck, I flew 3000 miles to come here.  When talking with our server we asked if we had ordered enough, and when she said yes, we ordered some more.  The restaurant started us off with a bread platter containing house-made tapenade, breads, and breadsticks.

Incanto's Bread and Breadsticks with House-Made Black Olive Tapenade

Like many restaurants, I tend to skip on bread platters, as they serve no more purpose than to just get your palate going, while filling you up in a few bites.  Incanto was no different, serving bread which was passable, but not exceptional.  The olive tapenade didn't do wonders for me.  This was pushed off to the side.  Now bring on the offal.

Takashi

"Yakiniku" - a Japanese term referring to grilled meat dishes. 

Takashi is a small, intimate, 34-seat restaurant located in the West Village.  It is named after the Chef and owner, Takashi Inoue, who opened this restaurant with Saheem Ali (the general manager) just over a year ago. 

Being a third-generation Korean immigrant being born in Japan, Takashi masterfully combines the boldness of Korean flavors with the finesse of Japanese cuisine.  His passion comes through with every small bite offered on the menu.  The thought here is to serve beef, beef, and nothing but beef.  He stays sustainable, and uses every cut of the cow possible, from shortrib and ribeye, to more extreme cuts such as tongue, heart, stomach, and even achilles tendon.  Everything is extremely fresh, tastes amazing (he and Saheem spent months sourcing out the best local beef from small, local farms and purveyors), oh, and you get to grill it yourself. 

The address is 456 Hudson Street.  Keep that number in mind as it is what you will be looking for when you dine at Takashi for the first time.  The restaurant does not display its name on its awning, yet the NY Times review hangs proudly off the front window.  Walk through the front door slowly, as you might walk straight into a diner seated at the Chef's counter if you're not paying attention.  Warm wood and slightly dark tones run through the restaurant, and the room of just seven tables and three large benches at the Chef's counter is really no larger than most NYC apartments.  Every table comes equipped with a high-tech electric grill, and the two chefs working behind the counter stay quiet, and work with such precision, speed, and finesse it's hard not to be amazed.  A mural on the wall behind the Chef's counter comically portrays every cut of beef and their definitions, as well as nutritional values.

Maialino

I’ve been to Maialino, located in the Gramercy Park Hotel, about three times now.  However, I never made it into their dining room, as I love to sit at the long open bar, which is why it’s only fair I review just the bar area in this post. 

The bar area at Maialino has a very modern European café look to it, and their dining room resembles an old school Roman trattoria.  Blue and white picnic-style tablecloths cover the wooden tables, fresh baked breads line the walls, a small open kitchen displaying the house-made charcuterie, wine bottles lining the room dividers, and huge windows facing the street allowing so much natural light in.  Maialino is definitely a great place to grab a drink and a quick bite to eat.  They even serve breakfast, and I have been trying my best for months to wake up early enough try their Porchetta sandwich.  Roast pork and fried eggs served in a roll.  Now that sounds like a great way to wake up. 

To say the staff is friendly is an understatement.  Everyone who works here is incredibly nice.  For those who know me, yes this opinion is a little biased as I know a quarter of the staff, but I can see how they serve other patrons as well.  Every diner here seems very comfortable, as if they were sitting in someone’s home.  Danny Meyer’s famous hospitality definitely comes through with this restaurant.