A few posts ago I wrote that it takes about a year for me to check out a new restaurant in NYC. Usually, I’m in no rush, and rather wait for the establishment to find its stride, and/or the excitement to cool off. Often the stride never arrives, and they close within a year. Sometimes the hype seems artificial, and I lose interest. And sometimes, like with Claud, the hype reaches national proportions (thank you Pete Wells), and it takes roughly a year to score a table.
In this case, the plan was not to wait a full year. But after numerous attempts, I finally got a couple of bar seats, a day shy of Claud’s first anniversary. The truth is that I’ve been following Josh Pinsky ever since the Momofuku Nishi days. He called the cops on me a few times, but after a while he got used to it. When he left Nishi, I felt it was the beginning of the end, and the pandemic just expedited Nishi’s demise. Just like my touring “career”.
For Josh and partner Chase Sinzert it was only a matter of when and where. During or after the pandemic, east or west coast. Thankfully they chose the right coast, where recovered “Fukus” can appreciate them most. Claud feels like a Momofuku support club for fans and staff, with more ex Nishi than I anticipated.
But first thing first, the bread. Well actually, since I’m now over 50, the bathroom. This is got to be the most atmospheric, dare I say, romantic, toilet in the city. The lighting is perfect, its smartly decorated, and there are cookbooks for your reading pleasure in case you decide to stick around. I recommend not.
If the bread is an indication of things to come (as often is the case), you can expect brilliance the rest of the way at Claud. A sourdough with room temp, spreadable butter was soft and hard in all the right places, and pretty much bread perfection. Like truffles in Piedmont in November, the bread was center stage. It was hanging around throughout the meal, kept coming for the dishes that needed it, until we finally had to say stop.
Talking about Piedmont, this is one of the few places in the city that make Agnolotti “Plin” style all year round. Its a treat that very few restaurants make year round, some even stopped altogether due to the labor involved. But at Claud, being one of the “signature dishes”, the chicken liver Agnolotti stays to prevent rioting in East Village. Liver freak Mrs Z in particular, was in heavan.
Early on, the crab and corn fritters did the trick, with that sweet summer corn coming through nicely. And a solid buttery foie gras terrine with honey vinegar jell. Shrimp, another signature, comes sizzling on a very hot skillet. They are barely cooked, yet firm, plump, and insanely satisfying. When it comes to seafood, Pinsky doesnt mess around with too many ingredients and lets the main ingredient shine. Same goes for any raw fish you may come across (two on the current menu).
The thing about Pinsky, and Momofuku school of cooking in general, is that “Signature Dishes” is almost an oxymoron. Its a machine that continues to invent. Cooking AI if you will. On any given night you can find a dish that agrees with you most. For me it was the Halibut with cockles and green garlic. The fish was firmer than usual, not breaking apart every time you touch, yet the perfect texture. Its surrounded by a delicate complementary dashi reminiscent of a scallop dish we once had at Ko. This was pure food magic.
We couldnt find enough belly room for the much hyped mammoth Devil’s food cake. But the root beer ice cream was brilliant in itself. Whether you are into root beer in this case is almost irrelevant. Go! If you can, for Pinsky’s refined, simple cooking, and the bathrooms. In that order.
Claud
90 E 10th St, East Village
Recommended Dishes: Fritters, Foie Gras, Shrimp, Agnolotti, Halibut, Ice Cream
This post was supposed to be about the other housewife, from Hanoi. Both Madame and Hanoi House opened in East Village around the same time earlier this year, pretty much turning the Vietnamese scene in East Village upside down. Both heavily reviewed by local media, sometimes 
Its fun to watch the hype machine in play in NYC, and see how things develop. While I read all the Hot and Buzz lists out there as everyone else, I learned over time sometimes the hard way, that things are not always what they seem. A name and/or a little bit of money, at minimum $3000 is needed to market yourself as such. An alum of something good in the world… Noma, EMP, Contra, tickles your interest, with a picture of something beautiful that is cooked for two weeks straight, seals the deal. “Brian is a recent graduate of Betty’s school of Hospitality and Accounting” is not gonna be nearly as sexy.
Eating With Ziggy 