NYC's Top 10 Summer Dishes - Food Trends
Seize the taste of summer with these 10 dishes
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This summer, arm yourself with our list of 10 slam-dunk warm-weather dishes. Each of-the-moment dish is just begging to be eaten before Labor Day rolls around.
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| DISH | WHY WE LOVE IT |
| Tête de Porc ($14) |
Calliope's husband-and-wife chefs, Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson, have a way with meat at this East Village restaurant. Their sheet-thin rounds of cold tête de porc (headcheesy goodness) are scattered with pickles and shallots. It's the best way to get carnivorous without getting totally weighed down. |
| Pineapple Salad ($7) |
Leave it to the geniuses of friendly eclecticism at the West Village's Chez Sardine to develop the most refreshing brunch menu in town. A salad of pineapple with ginger, honey and mint is a tropical deep dive. Plus, it's equally at home alongside a giant apple pancake ($13) as it is with smoked-char chirashi ($13). |
| Uni and Ikura Donburi ($25) |
Face-plant into a rice bowl wreathed with furls of uni and mounds of firm salmon roe at Kokage, the new Midtown East lunch-only sister to Kajitsu. Hydrating miso soup and a scattering of seasonal pickles and vegetables accompany the meal. |
| Cold Soba ($12.50) |
Sure, steaming buckwheat soba warms in winter, but as temperatures rise, we hit one of Cocoron's two downtown locations to get lost in a bowl of cold soba noodles. Try the yudedori with shredded chicken breast, wakame and grated daikon radish. |
| Smashed Cucumbers ($5) |
Take them to go or get them to stay at Mission Chinese Food on the Lower East Side, but whatever you do, order a side of these plucky cold cucumbers seasoned with salted chile, sesame paste and loads of fresh garlic. Use them as a lead-in for a vegetable extravaganza–we particularly love the chilled kale and amaranth greens ($7), and the red-braised eggplant ($12). |
| B.E.L.T., ($18) |
At The Fourth, the new Union Square restaurant, a fried egg studs an impressively large slab of brioche. The bread envelopes double-smoked bacon, a wave of lettuce and a beefy slice of tomato in this hearty take on a classic BLT. Pair it with a glass of on-tap Donkey & Goat Sluice Box ($11). |
| Lamb Bacon ($6) |
On Thursdays through Sundays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., the low-key backyard at Angelo Romano's lovely Gowanus spot, The Pines, gets its own unique groove on with a wood-fired menu. Everything on the menu smacks of summer, but we are particularly fond of the lamb bacon with yogurt and mint. |
| Squash Blossoms ($12) |
Schedule your visit to Franny's with the flowering of summer's golden squash blossoms. This always-seasonal Prospect Heights restaurant is serving the blooms as fried torpedoes resting under a little olive oil, a wedge of lemon and a snow flurry's worth of ricotta salata. |
| Muu Kham Waan ($17) |
Summer isn't over if you haven't gnawed on the deeply caramelized Ike's Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings ($15) at Pok Pok on the Columbia Street Waterfront. But to really cool down, look to the pork neck rubbed with garlic, coriander and black pepper, which conveniently comes with raw mustard greens weighed down under crushed ice. |
| Chilled Ramen ($9) |
Whether it's chilled ramen with mussels and spring vegetables at Yuji Ramen at Whole Foods Bowery (available daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or summer squash and house-made ricotta mazemen-style at Smorgasburg Dumbo and Williamsburg, Yuji Haraguchi's ramen are noodles not to miss. |