Dhamaka

Brisket

smoked low and slow for up to sixteen hours over white oak. The fatty parts melt in your mouth, the leaner ends stay firm yet juicy, and the bark maintains a pronounced bite.

Corn ribs

eighths of a cob served elote-style, that curl up like a rib, or a smile, when eaten under the benevolent gaze of the portrait of Helen hanging from the wall

Dry-aged Wagyu bavette

with its sunset-red center, accompanied by lacquered layers of potato and butter coiled into a tight, croissant-like bun

Fennely porchetta

with a crackling skin

Halibut

kept three feet above the flame and served with an iridescent mirror glaze of a brown-butter sauce

Twenty-two-ounce, dry-aged Kansas City strip

drizzled with beef-and-herb-infused duck fat

Matcha kakigori

the best of the desserts. Within that frigid magic mountain of lavender and rhubarb salted cream lurks a scoop of burnt-honey ice cream, like a secret smoldering heart

Burger

Don’t skip the burger as a shared midcourse or main—chef Sam Engelhardt had a hand in the famed Au Cheval beast nearby. The man knows what he’s doing with beef and buns.

Chinese broccoli covered with crispy garlic, preserved lemon, and salty, flaky bacalao

Dinner at this cozy, dimly lit neighborhood gem might seem all over the place.

Moroccan kefta-spiced cauliflower

Dinner at this cozy, dimly lit neighborhood gem might seem all over the place.

Plump fennel sausages with an Italian Calabrian chile caramel

Dinner at this cozy, dimly lit neighborhood gem might seem all over the place.

DHUNGAR GOSHT

smoked goat, Mathania chili, garlic

GOAT NECK BIRYANI

goat neck, saffron, aged basmati

MAKAI LAMB

lamb shank, corn, white pepper

MURGH HARI MIRCH KORMA

chicken, green chili, brown onion

PONDICHERRI SEAFOOD POT

dayboat seafood, coconut milk, cumin

SHORT RIB PULAO

bone marrow, aged basmati, cilantro

TAWA TAMATAR PULAO

short grain rice, curry leaf, mustard seed

BAINGAN BHARTA

DHABA DAL

PANEER METHI

paneer, fenugreek, tomato

TAWA BHINDI

okra, onion, cumin seeds

Juicy Fried Pork Lumpia

Served with herbs, lettuce wraps, and an apple ketchup (also made in-house) that gives what’s usually a deep-fried snack a lightness and brightness.

Pancit

Made from fresh, handmade noodles, springy to the touch, and topped with plump scallops, calamansi, and corn. The sauce that brings it all together is a funky housemade XO, which starts its life as shrimp paste, scallops, and chiles.

Dessert

Francis started his culinary career as a fine-dining pastry chef, and he’s still got it.

Canned Cantabrian Anchovy

Imported from Spain and served simply with a light, crusty white bread and fresh accoutrements.

Catfish fillet sandwich

a catfish fillet, delicately flaky in the middle, crunchy on the outside, scented with turmeric and lemongrass, hugged by a pillowy curry milk-bread bun

Charred cabbage

simple charred cabbage with pineapple

Epic ga chien fried chicken

layered with a chile-maple fish sauce

Fish paitan

made from the heads, is a briny, soul-warming broth reminiscent of the ocean

Geoduck Clams with Somen Noodles

Grass-fed steaks

under their handsome darkened swirls of char, reveal great tenderness

Halibut Ceviche

Live Anchovies

When in season, fresh live anchovies from the city’s surrounding water arrive daily and are pickled into tart boquerones, served with yogurt, cucumber, mint, and spicy fermented turnips.

New England Pizza

Strewn with clams and bacon, tastes like clam chowder if it spent a few months in Italy and had an epiphany in Naples.

Nigiri

from local and sustainable ingredients—like scallops from Montauk

Pizza with Local Burrata

Artfully rustic pies.

Rosemary Bread

The cold-fermented dough here is so good that you can eat it alone, as a puffy, slightly charred rosemary bread.

She-crab soup

creamy as ever and laced with roe

Spicy XO sauce

conjured from shellfish is so umami-rich, you’ll wish you could take a bottle home and make everything better

White Pie with Scallions and Numbing Szechuan Peppercorns

Artfully rustic pies.

Cryin Ryan

The cauliflower, called Cryin Ryan, is roasted in a sweet peanut sauce.

Lobster roll

Those same hearts are used to great effect in a lobster roll that not so much imitates lobster as shows it up.

Saltfish and bake

The bake fluffy, the saltfish creamy—is made with hearts of palm (and a neon orange, blazingly hot peppa sauce).

Acidic aguachiles

small-plate specials

Cold crudos

small-plate specials

Homemade flour tortillas

warming

Massive bone-in rib-eye steaks

searing, all above burning mesquite

Spatchcocked chickens

charring

AGED BASMATI RICE

Baklava Bear Claw

gigantic

The Olympia

modernized, thoughtful nod to a Greek diner staple: sunny-side eggs, fries with an uncanny crunch-to-fluff ratio, and strips of gyro made from pork shoulder and neck and served with kisses of char.

Black-eyed-pea-and-garlic pancake

dwelling in between sweet and savory, topped with caviar-like pickled mustard seeds

Deep-fried lasagna

part of a sensational deep-fried lasagna

Ceviches

Chickpea Fritters

Angulas

tiny eels that look like white spaghetti with eyes, are in the fried tortilla

Mariscos en conserva

often pickled and served in jars, is a wonderland of escabeche’d clams finished in jamón fat

Bengal Curry with Baby Shark

It is the stuff of homes and street stalls thousands of miles away. And yes, it is spicy.

Vegan Soul-Food Cooking

a year when eating vegan blew up across the country, Freeman’s vegan soul-food cooking was a firecracker.

Gyro

the gyro to end all gyros

Pachamanca

a Peruvian tradition of cooking food underground. Hours later, as the guests arrive, all hands get involved in extracting a meal that is, miraculously, perfectly cooked.

Mushroom, corn truffle, and potato

tastes like the forest floor in the best way possible

Watermelon with peanuts and oysters

it just works

Bok Choy

Mushroom Sloppy Sandwich on Sesame Pancakes

Smashed Cucumbers

Sticky Rice Dumplings

Elote

from a Sonoran grill at Bacanora in Phoenix

Gyro meat

at Andros Taverna in Chicago

Yakiniku (DIY grill setup)

The real draw is the yakiniku, a DIY grill setup that burns binchotan brightly and slowly, warming you up as you eye the platter before you. From that platter, pick plump prawns and shiny scallops, gorgeously marbled cuts of A5 Wagyu beef, or whatever vegetables happen to be in season, you know, for the health. Pro tip: The yakiniku is an outdoor situation only, and it takes 45 minutes to prepare, so take your time and enjoy the eccentricity of Shattuck Avenue as you wait.

Crispy tempura of briny sea beans mixed with sweet corn and dusted with heady matcha salt

Nothing captures the spirit of Fish & Bird quite like the harmonious combination of a crispy tempura of briny sea beans mixed with sweet corn and dusted with heady matcha salt. This isn’t your standard izakaya.

Cheeseburgers in paradise

literal cheeseburgers in paradise

Crinkle fries

Plus, crinkle fries.

Spicy tuna hand rolls

spicy tuna hand rolls dressed in ponzu and topped with plump roe that pops in your mouth

Wagyu chow fun

hearty dishes like Wagyu chow fun

Ancient grain salad

The ancient grain salad is an exercise in layers of textures: couscous, quinoa, pickles, sunchoke.

Foie gras

Foie gras is served atop a crunchy plantain brioche and a compote of the tropical soursop fruit.

Tuna tartare

Tuna tartare takes a surprising turn with the acid and spice of guajillo chiles and tomatillo.

Caponata

a perfect caponata

Fritto misto

with succulent shrimp and fried lemons

Trofie pasta

handmade al dente twists of trofie pasta

Danish

A savory, flakey, and multi-layered Danish piped with creamy raclette cheese and topped with shaved jamón serrano is almost like a ham and cheese croissant, but better.

Filipino adobo

Earthy mushrooms with plenty of soy and vinegar make the Filipino adobo—a tart, tangy braised dish usually made with chicken—wonderfully vegetarian.

Potato rolls

Fluffy potato rolls filled with buttery egg, melty American cheese, and crispy hash browns or griddled longanisa sausage could be breakfast or lunch, or both.

Croissant

the buttery croissant comes stuffed with truffles.

Frogs legs

Mar’s mad mission is the star here, but save shine too for Jose Rodriguez, the saucier, whose airy champagne beurre blanc tops the frogs legs

Pot-au-feu de foie gras de canard

whose earthy yet crystalline bouillon accompanies the pot-au-feu de foie gras de canard.

Salad

As per arcane French custom, the salad, exactly three leaves of it, arrives after the main course to cut the richness—good fucking luck!—before briskly moving to dessert.

Snails

the snails, served with chanterelles, are flown in from Burgundy

Veal brain quenelle

whose shimmering sauce creme rests beneath a veal brain quenelle

Bagels

made in the morning

Chicken livers

mound of Jurassic-sized chicken livers piled on top of sourdough and flooded with red-wine gravy

French fries

Lasagna

slab of lasagna bigger than your face

Latkes

Pasta

made at night

Sandwiches

Lemon icebox cake

Profiteroles

Tasting Menu

The dessert course might be our favorite part of Marlena’s affordable, $65 four-course tasting menu. Pastry chef/co-owner Serena Chow Fisher has worked pastry in fine-dining restaurants like Eleven Madison Park and offers her own unique interpretations of classic desserts, like her mini-masterpiece: burned Italian meringue topped with chocolate ganache, pieces of brown-sugar cake, and a hazelnut graham-cracker crumble. Garnished with marigold petals, it evokes a s’more. (The flower mimics the campfire.) Creative, nostalgic, and delicious.

Blue crab au gratin

served with saltines fried in clarified butter

Dirty rice

elevated to marquee status served bibimbap-style in a clay pot, adorned with pâté, a duck yolk, and, for good measure, roast duck

Muffuletta

A crisp sesame bun filled with artisanal cured meats, it’s the size of a hubcap and presented under a silver dome.

Roti Canai

flaky, buttery with a creamy curry topped with puffed sorghum

Wonton Mee

chewy egg noodles and silky dumpling wrappers made from scratch

Conifer-preserved rabbit

Hand-harvested wild rice

sweet and nutty

Wild-rice tart

made with no colonized ingredients (like flour or refined sugar)

Char Siu

Pork collar cooked sous vide, then roasted, so that it’s simultaneously juicy and chewy.

Macau Pork-Chop Bun

Slathered with creamy, umami-maggi-infused mayo and topped with a sofrito of stewed tomatoes, onion, and garlic spiked with capers—a nod to the Portuguese influence on the region.

Buttery Baked Patties

filled with sticky oxtail

Flaky, Chewy Rotis

filled with creamy curry chicken

Other Fiery Caribbean Fare

she grew up eating

Trinidadian Doubles

filled with spicy green chickpea curry on fluffy fried flatbreads

Cornbread

Additionally, the cornbread tastes like the skillet it comes in, charred and sweet.

Fried chicken

It’s what gives her brined and marinated fried chicken its snow-crunch crust, her potatoes their golden skin. Its benedictions are felt on every table.

Shrimp and grits

Shrimp and grits becomes gooey, arancini-like, jalapeño-studded balls.

Lamb meatballs

Spicy chicken wrap

marinated in yogurt, sliced, seared, placed in a large wrap, then slathered in garlicky toum sauce

Spicy chicken wrap Abboudi-style

adding french fries to the spicy chicken wrap

Khad Khargosh

whole rabbit, yogurt, paratha — one available per night (pre-order)

GURDA KAPOORA

goat kidney & testicles, tomato, pao

PAPLET FRY

whole pomfret, turmeric, chili, coastal spices

AJWAINI PRAWN

jumbo shrimp, carrom seeds, yellow chili

BEEF PEPPER FRY

Wagyu flank, curry leaves, Tellicherry pepper

BUTTER PEPPER GARLIC CRAB

crab, Amul butter, fresh peppercorn, garlic

CHANA-CHHENA TIKKI

green garbanzo, house chhena, tomato chutney

KALE PAKORA CHAAT

fried kale, tamarind chutney, sweet yogurt

KASHMIRI GOSHT CHAAMP

lamb loin, garam masala, ghee

PANEER TIKKA

house-made paneer, garam masala, yogurt

SHAMI KEBAB

lamb mince, green chili, mint

TANGRI KEBAB

chicken leg, Amul cheese, saffron

Hummus

that crunchy, earthy topsoil of fennel pollen and sesame seeds

Quail kebab

glistening meat

Double-fried octopus tentacle curled atop garlic-and-orange-infused buttermilk

The menu is autobiographical but not solipsistic, a synthesis of Mexican and Spanish cuisines, gently raked through Japanese technique.

Savory golden baba, made with yogurt and Castelveltrano puree

Rico then replenished the baba with butter like a modern Mister Softee.

Anchovies

When in season, fresh live anchovies from the city’s surrounding water arrive daily and are pickled into tart

Relish tray

Walleye

sautéed atop a crouton-crisp layer of bread and its own mousse

Apple pie

served pavlova-style in a delicate meringue shell

Pork chop

to Macau

Fried catfish

There may be some of that red goodness left over, so be sure to order a basket of succulent fried catfish or shrimp to sop up the remainder.

Fried shrimp

There may be some of that red goodness left over, so be sure to order a basket of succulent fried catfish or shrimp to sop up the remainder.

Seafood boils (gulf shrimp, blue lake crab, corn, and potatoes) with chili butter

First, two words: chili butter. Fragrant of garlic, deep with the spice of cayenne, and, yes, buttery, it is what transforms the seafood boils of gulf shrimp, blue lake crab, corn, and potatoes at this Uptown corner spot into something dizzyingly irresistible. You will want it on every bite, and subsequently washed down with an Abita so that you can go in for more. There may be some of that red goodness left over, so be sure to order a basket of succulent fried catfish or shrimp to sop up the remainder.

Octopus

decorated with a pepita sauce

Tortilla-like bao buns

filled with succulent brisket

Whole sea bass

delicately wood-fired

Sunflower bread and butter

at Eleven Madison Park, New York

Lychee Raspberry Sorbet Ball (gf)

Dehradun lychee sorbet, white chocolate ball

Paan Kulfi Experience (v, gf)

homemade Indian paan ice cream, rose jam, saffron jam, fresh paan leaves

Thandai Dhamaka

Pistachio, sponge cake, saffron and cardamom mousse