El Rincon Salvadoreno (Nantucket, MA) -- CLOSED

ETA: As of summer of 2011, El Rincon is closed, much to our great sadness. We will miss this restaurant very much.

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I have to admit that my heart usually does not go pitter patter at the prospect of dining out on Nantucket. It's not that this island doesn't have its share of decent restaurants; it's just that all the Oran Mors, Sfoglias, Sea Grilles, Toppers -- really the entire profusion of fine dining establishments -- start to make my eyes glaze over after a while. Truth be told, New York City just does these sorts of foods better (and usually for less). But El Rincon is one notable exception.

Simply put, this casual little Salvadoran joint, with its school cafeteria-style utensils, overly loud music and a TV hung in the dining room, serves some of the best Salvadoran-style tamales I've ever had in the U.S. Salvadoran tamales are wrapped in banana leaves, unlike the corn-husk wrapped Mexican tamales that are more common in NYC. El Rincon's are on the smaller side, which allows the distinctive fragrance of the banana leaf wrapper to really infuse the masa. This masa is perfectly creamy but not waterlogged (a common sin in NYC Salvadoran restaurants), and it encases a flavorful filling of chicken, potatoes, carrots and sometimes other vegetables like peas or green beans. Really, it's the perfect comfort food and a perfect antidote to all the Boston Brahminy cod en papillote / filet mignon or sandwich and pizza fare you get on the rest of the island.

What I've tried of the rest of the menu ranges from competent to good, with stronger offerings mostly falling under the appetizers section. Pupusas are freshly cooked to order in a tortilla press and characteristically tender and toasty. They only have one type of pupusa, the queso y loroco, which doesn't seem to include much loroco -- but it's served with a nicely made curtido made out of cabbage and carrots and a very simple, mild salsa roja. The shrimp ceviche is nicely flavored and made with plump shrimp -- probably cooked from frozen, but handled well enough that it isn't "fishy" or tough. Spicing is nuanced and restrained, but not dumbed down.

The larger plates I've tried have been less my cup of tea, though I recognize them as being authentic. The carne asada reminds me of shoe leather. (To be fair, I like my steaks like a cow vampire likes them: bloody and dripping.) But I see the Salvadoran men who eat lunch at the bar ordering it and eating with gusto. The enchiladas (Salvadoran style and similar to Mexican tostadas), fajitas and chuletas are fairly run of the mill. Salads are actively bad and made out of iceberg lettuce topped with gloppy bottled salad dressing -- but what the heck. There are enough restaurants on Nantucket that do a presentable salad; I don't need it, here.

I haven't yet tried the mondongo or chicken soups, which are served on weekends only, or the mojara frita (fried, whole fish). But maybe next summer. I'm looking forward to it.

17 Old South Rd # A

Nantucket, MA 02554-6065

(508) 332-4749

Valley Shepherd Creamery (New York, NY) -- LOCATION MOVED

September 2010

79 Sullivan St
Manhattan, NY 10012
(646) 476-2893

Valley Shepherd's tiny new, narrow retail store opened up on Sullivan St. in SoHo about two weeks ago and already, it looks lived in. Just to the left of the narrow entranceway, there's a slightly beat-up looking refrigerator like the sort used to house sodas in old school corner stores, sparsely stocked with fresh Ewegurt (sheep's milk yogurt), fresh pastas, and small, sample sized wedges of various cheeses. Three steps in, there's a butcher store-esque display case of cheeses with a bulletin board above it advertising a disconcertingly long list of offerings -- a long list for a small store! Two steps ahead of that, there's a cash register, then a back room. And that's pretty much the extent of it.

I was walking home with a shopping bag already full of goodies from the Red Hook ball fields, so just popped my head in for a second to grab a few wedges of pre-cut cheese from the case. My loot included one small wedge, each, of Oldwick Shepherd, Pepato Shepherd and Tewksbury, all made at the Valley Shepherd Creamery in New Jersey. All three had the lovely bite and texture of aged raw goat milk cheese and though they're really meant to be grated over pastas and other dishes, I thought they paired beautifully with the honey roasted mixed nuts I happened to have in my desk. The Tewksbury was the most buttery of the bunch with a trace of caramel. The Oldwick and Pepato were drier, saltier and more crumbly; the Pepato had just a small hint of black peppercorn. The only thing that marred the flavor of these cheeses was the slight taste of tape on the outer layer, which must've leached from the homemade packaging.

Valley Shepherd has been selling at farmers' markets and to restaurants (including Le Bernardin http://newyork.serious...) for several years, now, and is perhaps singlehandedly putting NJ on the map as a cheese making state. This new Sullivan St. location is quite a welcome addition to the fold, especially for those of us who do better with a stationary target.

They're open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Prices are surprisingly reasonable. (All the 2-3 oz. sample sized wedges of cheese were less than $3.) Hopefully I'll be able to duck in there and try a few more cheeses in peace before the mobs start descending.

Momofuku Ko (New York, NY)

Interior. Photo by Sparky N.

Hot damn. I don't think I'm prone to exaggeration, but this is without a doubt one of the best meals I've had in New York City and the best meal I've eaten in recent history. It's been a long time since I've been able to get through so much food and still want to lick the final plate clean despite knowing I'd have to be rolled out of the restaurant after doing so.

I'm listing the courses from memory (there's no written menu at all) and am unsure about the order they came in, especially around the middle of the meal. But this is more or less what we had:

- Amuse of perfect Santa Barbara uni in dashi with tiny pearls of cucumber; a shot of smooth tomato gazpacho; freshly fried chicharones sprinkled with togarashi.

- Diver scallop sashimi with buttermilk sriracha dressing and poppy seeds. Interestingly, the dressing didn't overwhelm the delicate flavor of the scallops. Poppy seeds added a nice textural contrast.

- Aged beef carpaccio with wasabi aioli(?) and radish sprouts. This was a simple preparation w/ clean, balanced flavors highlighting the extremely high quality beef.

- Kushi oyster from British Columbia with grilled pork belly, a mild kimchi broth and white wood ear fungus over napa cabbage. Right before serving, the chefs poured warm, fragrant kimchi broth over the dish, which wilted the napa cabbage. The oyster was sweet and briny and delicious, the pork belly perfectly tender. It was probably the most Korean-influenced dish of the evening and beautifully done, but I wouldn't have minded more of a kimchi kick.

- Smoked, soft boiled egg with black caviar, soft cooked onions, sweet potato vinegar and potato chips. The smoked egg is something I wish I could eat every day. It's accessible and it paired wonderfully with the other components.

- Ravioli or thinly sliced dduk (rice cake) with fried sweetbreads, a meaty mushroom I couldn't identify and what I think was an Allemande sauce. The sweetbreads were incredibly sweet and light, despite being fried. I wanted to lick the bowl to get all of the sauce. Dduk was perfectly tender and chewy.

- Grilled brook trout with bacon puree, lime juice pickled carrots, a wee bit of orange, green beans, toasted almonds. It sounds like a busy dish, but there were no flavor disconnects. Bacon puree and green beans were AMAZING. All ingredients were impeccably fresh.

- Salt cured, dry aged and frozen grated Hudson Valey foie gras over Riesling gelee, lychees and pine nut brittle. This was a truly brilliant dish and my favorite course of the evening -- possibly tied with Annisa's uni chawanmushi for best dish of the year. I can't think of a better combination of flavors.

Frozen Grated Foie Gras

- Pepper rubbed slow roasted lamb chop with kohlrabi terrine (thinly sliced, gently pickled), grilled leeks, tender young dandelion greens and delicious microgreens that I didn't recognize. Lamb was incredibly tender and pleasantly fatty (I believe a real food blogger would say "unctuous"). The slight acid in the kohlrabi was a great foil to the fat. I wanted to cry because I was too full to finish it all.

- Palate cleanser of onion ice cream with a sprinkle of sea salt and onion soda. This dish, essentially an ice cream float, was the only dish in the sequence I didn't love -- but admittedly, I'm still thinking about it, trying to figure out whether I liked it or not. It was certainly interesting.

- Fresh strawberries w/ strawberry sorbet, Chinese sponge cake, fennel cream, fennel granité, black sesame crumble, blueberries. The fennel cream tasted more strongly of honey than fennel and it was incredible, especially when whirled together with the sorbet and black sesame crumble. Strawberries were incredibly delicious, as well, and must've been picked that day. They tasted like ones I grew earlier this summer, sweetened by sun.

- Mignardise: dome of buttermilk something w/ a liquid mint center, coated with a corn-flavored powder. This was a trompe l'oeil referencing daifuku mochi. The buttermilk something -- let's call it "pudding" -- was lovely, just a wee bit tangy and very nice with the corn powder. The mint center was a bit of a jolt, however.

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The progression of dishes was well thought out: Simply prepared plates highlighting pure flavors of high quality ingredients came early, before we were too full to appreciate the nuances. Later dishes were perfectly calibrated to combat tastebud fatigue and tease them back to full alertness.

We didn't do the wine pairing, but picked a bottle of Blanc de Blanc. It went extremely well with every dish except for the lamb.

Service was flawless, kind (not gushy, but nice in a reserved sort of way) and informative. These were definitely guys we'd want to hang with.

As much as I hate being a groupie, and in fact worried I'd be disappointed after building it up in my head for years... well, I guess I have to join the ranks. Ko is nothing short of brilliant. Really.


163 1st Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 500-0831
http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/ko/