@grubstreet
Grub Street
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Frozen yogurt shop · Greenwich Village
"On 8th Street I watched the uptown interloper that had already earned a reputation as the Upper East Side's premiere home for fro-yo draw long lines for its niche, more expensive product: $9 for a six‑ounce cup of perceptibly probiotic, small-batch Greek yogurt sweetened just enough to be a base for elaborate toppings. The pistachio-knafeh topping that went viral in summer of 2024—and other signature finishes like pistachio sauce, raspberry and mango coulis, matcha crumble, cardamon walnuts, yuzu granola, honeycomb and baklava—are applied from a toppings-focused downtown shop with a Plexiglass wall separating customers from a banquet of sauces, preserves, nut butters, crumbles, candied nuts and a mountain of honeycomb. Owner Amin Kinana, who originally stocked cakes and chocolates before the fro-yo took off, now runs two machines (each serving four ounces per minute, with a third on order) and personally manages the frantic rush, carefully layering requested lashes of coulis and avalanches of crunchy pistachio sauce; patrons praised the “fancy” pistachio elements and cinnamon pecans, noted a lack of fresh-fruit toppings, but still deemed the yogurt “great.”" - Tammie Teclemariam
Gourmet grocery store · Upper East Side
"I found Butterfield Market across the street offers a creamier, crowd-pleasing swirl that satisfies a classic ice-cream-shop craving with add-ons like cookie crumbs and sprinkles." - Tammie Teclemariam
Bar · Clinton Hill
"Tucked into a former bodega a couple storefronts down from Place des Fêtes, I visited a corner bar that aims to seat 50 to 60 people and is aiming to open during the first week of November. The 32-drink menu is deliberately split down the middle between traditional cocktails and spirit-free counterparts, with every alcoholic option paired with a nonalcoholic “kissing cousin” rather than a one-to-one replica; each drink is built around a singular ingredient such as purple shiso. The nonalcoholic shiso drink pairs a lemon-verbena distillate with a tea made from the shiso stems and is fizzy and served in a wine glass, smelling and tasting a little like toasted bread, while the alcoholic counterpart is a tart, light sour spiked with a green-fennel-seed spirit made by the house distiller known as Acid Joe (Joe McDowell). Acid Joe macerates and infuses ingredients into a neutral grain spirit from New York Distilling using “corny kegs” with CO2 pressure, presses the mash through a cider press, and then re-distills it, sometimes yielding imperfect experiments (like leftover finger-lime shells). The team favors singular flavors over cocktails built from many botanicals: apples are a fixation here, producing dueling appletinis—one infused with apple skins in Cyril Zang’s eau de vie and the nonalcoholic version built from Ashmead’s Kernel apple juice with Concord-grape tannins to evoke the experience of eating an apple at the market. Another pairing showcases a wild cousin of Sichuan peppercorn called the toothache tree: a leaf syrup gives a citrusy, vegetal refreshment, while the nonalcoholic counterpart uses a wood syrup, lime hydrosol, and a tea of goldenrod flowers to conjure “the end of summer, beginning of fall.” The space also features an all-electric kitchen with a vegetable-forward food menu to complement the drinks." - Chris Crowley
216 1/2 Greene Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 Get directions
Fine dining restaurant · Gramercy
"My offices are right above Craft, which will hit its 25th anniversary next year and helped define the New American cooking movement; I’m in and out all day checking every station and tasting bits to make sure things are seasoned and textured properly. I often miss family meal or grab what’s left — I’ve eaten grilled chicken thighs standing up in the kitchen, and I’ll sample ends of duck breast, roasted broccoli, sorbets and gelato as part of my checks. We make our own focaccia at the restaurant (it changes with the season), and family meal used to be a time for the staff to sit around the table and talk business until labor rules changed what can be discussed during a meal." - Ben Widdicombe
Coffee shop · Southold
"At our house on the North Fork of Long Island, the coffee we keep in the refrigerator is from North Fork Roasting Co.; it’s roasted in-house and is really good, and I still drink black coffee — sometimes four or five cups before I leave the house." - Ben Widdicombe
Italian restaurant · Gramercy
"I tasted some homemade stracciatella in Vallata to check on it — it’s like mozzarella, chewy when it’s first made and a little salty before it mellows out — and I grabbed a bit; I also had a piece of the fresh focaccia we make here at the restaurant, which varies by season (tomato or potato in summer; in fall it’s olive oil, herbs and sea salt with a great airy texture) and is always easy to grab and eat." - Ben Widdicombe
Cocktail bar · West Village
"At the 19-month-old Sip & Guzzle, I watched a line form around midafternoon for the Tavern Burger — a $35 patty ground from the trim of Miyazaki A5 Wagyu used in the restaurant’s $150 steak sandwich, seared in tallow and French butter and topped with black‑pepper sauce, smoked aïoli, pepper relish, and a square of Parmesan cut to evoke a Kraft Single; they deliberately serve only 12 a night because the patties come from that trim, and chef Mike Bagale says, 'it's only a gimmick if the quality of the product is not delivering.'" - Mark Byrne
French restaurant · SoHo
"I learned that Raoul’s pioneered the restricted, bar‑only template more than a decade ago with its Burger Au Poivre: Karim Raoul says they started by making 12 because 'there are a dozen buns in a pack,' and after the late Josh Ozersky declared it the best burger in America and lines began forming, they kept the limit to avoid becoming a burger restaurant ('Let’s just limit it to this or we’ll become a burger restaurant')." - Mark Byrne
French restaurant · Financial District
"At Le Gratin, I saw Daniel Boulud’s after‑9 p.m. Truffle Burger that comes with a slab of fried pork belly and a blanket of shaved black truffle, and I noted that Boulud is even debating a return of the DB burger — originally stuffed with short rib and foie gras and offered with optional layers of Périgord truffles (up to a 'Super Royale' with four layers) — though he admits reviving it is a lot of work and he’s weighing which restaurant and chef could take it on." - Mark Byrne
Restaurant · West Village
"At Le B., I heard Angie Mar say that Le Burger — dry‑aged beef topped with caramelized onions and fromager d'Affinois, listed at 'market price' with a $25 deposit required to reserve — consistently draws attention, but she believes dining there only for that burger undersells the kitchen given the restaurant’s six‑course $295 tasting menu." - Mark Byrne
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