At Eater, our jobs leave us with some leftovers, both literal and figurative. Here’s a mix of recent dining observations, recommendations, and other fixations from across the Eater crew. |
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Is it finally tomato season in New York City? Tomato season, at least in the Northeast, always starts a little later than I’d like; through June, I watch with envy as my West Coast friends brag about their abundance of Early Girls, while I stare down less-than-ideal grocery-store heirlooms. Perhaps I can finally make the proclamation, though: Last week, I ate a really great tomato, which was served as pan con tomate during a collaboration dinner between Smithereens, the downtown Manhattan seafood restaurant I’ve shared my affection for in the past, and F*CK YESS, the pop-up series that chef Junya Yamasaki is running while his Los Angeles restaurant Yess remains temporarily closed. What I’ve heard about Yess is that it treats perfect produce with care, and the tomato toast tasted like a distillation of summer: slightly sweet, and sunshine-bright, with a salty, savory backbone.
Because the dinner was run in partnership with new-school fish purveyor Seremoni, this pan con tomate was also topped with a hunk of confit black cod. (Seremoni adapts the Japanese technique of ike jime, which involves quickly killing fish in order to capture the optimal flavor; Yamasaki is a practitioner, as a New Yorker feature earlier this year detailed.) Black cod is known for its luxurious texture, and that was emphasized by the use of confit. The plump fish slid apart into silky pieces that felt like letting a pat of butter melt in my mouth. Who knew tomato toast needed anything else? Alongside the crispy-gone-soggy bread, the fish gave a welcome bit of heft, not merely gilding the lily. (Another standout from the meal: rockfish collar served as karaage, paired with a side of shrimp soup for dipping. It went great with a cold can of Narragansett.)
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Photo credit: Bettina Makalintal |
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Nicole Fellah makes the case for getting the pasta at a Los Angeles Tex-Mex restaurant: “A Tex-Mex place that deals in pasta and burgers sounds like food trend Mad Libs, but it’s also the thesis behind Marvito, a gorgeously unserious restaurant in West Hollywood. Here, I found myself less attracted to the requisite Mexican American restaurant slate of guacamole, enchiladas, and crispy tacos, and more drawn to menu outliers, one of the best being a massive platter of chicken piccata with cheesy buttered pasta on the side (gluten-free penne can be subbed in for the normal wheat variety, and they actually know how to cook it, which makes it even better). The piccata arrives much creamier than classic renditions at Italian restaurants around town, with enough caper-brininess to balance an ultra buttery sauce. Its portion size lives up to Marvito’s Tex-Mex branding: One of these piccata plates can easily feed three people as a main. Needless to say, next time I come in will be to try the spicy penne alla vodka alongside fall-apart lamb shoulder or cotija-crusted chicken wings.”
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Photo credit: Tierney Plumb |
Tierney Plumb checked in on a Guy Fieri-approved neighborhood spot in Maryland: “En route to Annapolis with a friend recently, I knew the first stop had to be Davis’ Pub, a wooden institution nestled on a serene residential block steps away from bobbing boats. The crab pretzel, a destination dish once featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, tasted (and looked) better than I remember on my visit years ago. Resembling two toasted pizza bagels, the split-pretzel roll is blanketed with a hefty helping of crab dip encased in gooey cheddar. After a local Loose Cannon draft (that could have been colder), I braced for the bad bathrooms the century-old dive is known for, but was pleasantly surprised to find completely remodeled ones wrapped in slick green tile (thanks to a construction firm’s 2025 pro bono job named on a plaque). Vintage lacrosse sticks and gloves framing the rickety restaurant continue to pay tribute to the beloved Maryland sport, alongside signed Ravens jerseys and rare nautical prints.” (Tierney’s weekly D.C.-area best dishes roundup lives exclusively on the Eater D.C. newsletter; sign up here.)
Matthew Kang found threads of a now-closed Los Angeles restaurant in Miami: “About halfway through a meal at Miami’s Michelin-starred Boia De, I realized why I liked this food so much. Chef Alex Meyer worked at LA’s influential Animal and Son of a Gun, two now-closed restaurants from chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. You can see Animal’s DNA throughout Boia De, in the strawberry jam with chicken liver and foie gras pate, or the marinated eggplant over crispy polenta. While Meyer’s menu takes on a slightly more Italian slant, it’s still pretty modernist. A cold squid-ink tagliolini with chunks of king crab gains balance from fresh herbs, while the lamb riblets with urfa yogurt carry a wild spiciness you’d never get at an Italian restaurant. Finish with the crispy tiramisu, a brilliant adaptation that uses light-as-air cookies layered with mascarpone and espresso just before it arrives in front of you. Boia De toes the line between subversion and comfort in a brilliance that I hadn’t seen since, well, Animal.”
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Photo credit: Kaitlin Bray |
Kaitlin Bray revisited a classic Italian restaurant in Portland, Oregon: “Today, if you trip, there’s a good chance you’ll fall into a radicchio Caesar. It’s easy to forget that a bowl of bitter chicories hasn’t always been chic — unless you’re lucky enough to live in Portland, which has always been a bit ahead of the national dining curve. Back in 2005, chef Cathy Whims put Insalata Nostrana — a chicory Caesar studded with focaccia croutons and showered in Parmesan — on the menu when she opened one of Portland’s first restaurants nationally recognized for classic Italian food. Twenty-one years later, the salad is still going strong, and it stands out in a sea of imitators. What sets Nostrana’s rendition apart is the delicate perfume of rosemary, gently infused through the day-old, bite-sized focaccia croutons. It’s hard to get rosemary right in a salad, and Nostrana absolutely nails it.”
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