Pinky Swear Serves Creative Smoked Meats in NYC Art Party Restaurant | Eater NY

"A clubby Lower East Side playground for art, nightlife, and seriously soulful cooking, this spot hits you with weird lighting, wacky cocktails, and interactive art — there’s a phone booth that delivers horoscopes, an undulating video screen, bro-y art like Kyle Moser’s hip-hop portraits you can actually buy, a video booth (not a photo booth), multiple bars and lounges, and an outdoor patio with a fire pit. Executed with energy and style — and probably fun late at night — it’s where Will Horowitz has reemerged with a menu of bangers that prove you can have light shows and still serve high-level food. The dry-aged brisket burger comes dripping with marrow aioli and gets topped tableside with homemade Cheez Whiz on a soft “everything” bun, with well-seasoned fries you’ll plow through; snacky “doughnuts” are stuffed either with crab, boursin, and sweet potato or with smoked lamb, Calabrian chiles, and Pecorino; and a trio of chargrilled oysters from Horowitz’s neighbor Out East is a solid move at the bar. For sharing, the short rib pastrami — a bone-in hunk that’s meltingly tender, aggressively seasoned to a crunchy crust, and set in a thick chestnut sauce — is phenomenal and basically a must-order. Seafood hits include superb Montauk red shrimp blasted just enough for char and served peeled so the sweet meat is nearly raw, plus first-rate razor clams atop a fruity salsa strewn with salmon roe. Rounds of house-made pappardelle land thick with chewy lamb pancetta and dried sungold tomatoes, and the smoked fish of the day (a lovely tilefish for us) arrives with a mustardy sauce and pickled cucumbers. For dessert, the sesame sundae is pure pleasure — a mountain of tahini gelato, strawberry and chocolate mousse, salted caramel, toasted coconut, and potato chips — though the puck-sized s’more sandwiches, topped to surprisingly good effect with grated Parmesan, might be even better." - Scott Lynch