"Leading the pack among my favorite new restaurants in New York this fall? Hands down, Smithereens. It identifies as a New England-inspired restaurant, a concept that made total sense once I took my seat in the moody dining room. Set in what was clearly a basement-level apartment in the East Village in not-too-ancient history, the ceiling of Smithereens is painted to resemble a blustery day at sea—there’s a take on chowder ($36; reimagined as hake and clams with a rich sauce), and a cocktail called the Ben Affleck ($18; bourbon, honeynut squash, coffee, which immediately evoked pap shots of the actor cowering over his Dunkin’ Donuts delivery). Like many menus du jour there are mainly small plates, and the sparsely worded descriptions might lead you to doubt that “beets, seaweed & rose oil” ($17) is something you need to order. It is. Just trust me that it is. Also: Raw tuna ($24), wrapped around pear slivers, is served with a light citrus sauce you’ll want to bathe in (or at least keep to dip your Andama bread ($9) into, despite how good the seaweed butter is). The dishes nod to the sea in ways both fresh and briny, cozy and buttery. The feeling is being on a blustery New England boat with salt air in your face, but with a warm Paddington-style jacket protecting you from the elements. As is true of most small plates-led menus, I think you could be quite happy playing around in just the top half of the menu. While I was really delighted by the salty beans, tossed with uni and little calamari ($32; second to last section), the hake (bottom “mains” section) took much longer to arrive and the celery float for dessert, while charming in concept and topping several tables around us, made me wonder if we overcommitted in the order (though maybe I simply learned that celery and coffee are too bold a take on the root beer float for my taste buds). Overall, I’d hurry back, though—and something tells me it’ll get better with time. —M.S." - CNT Editors
