Chambers
Dined 1/6/2023
I want to like wine as much as I know some other people do. They flip through the wine list with conviction, confidence, charisma. My fingers stumble. Their wine whirls around the glass, exhaling its fruity aromas. Mine is still like a sidewalk puddle. Their palate can discern every nook, cranny, and crevice. To me, the wine is smooth like a marble. I’m just not a wine guy. But I know I can become one.
Dante, our waiter at Chambers, loves wine and better yet, he knows what to say about it. Dante co-runs a wine club called @preshiftnyc and writes a newsletter called Drop Lines - all about wine and other things that bring him joy. This week’s edition of the Served Supper Club is inspired by him, his writing, and his new mantra: “every day the sun won’t shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow.”
When I think of the sun “shining,” I think of those moments where everything slows down and you feel like you could just stay there forever. Usually this happens for me during an amazing meal, being with family, or seeing Superbad is playing on VH1. Chambers is an unbelievable restaurant with exceptional food, but I feel like I should have felt even more sun there. The towel was laid out for me, beach umbrella in the sand. Dante, the man with the mantra, was there to cut through through the various vines that entangle the wine list. Looking back, there has probably never been a better opportunity for me to really dig into wine, ask questions, and try to learn at least the basics.
I just have never been a wine guy, and I regrettably wasn’t a wine guy that night. But maybe I am now. I want to taste the sun in my next glass.
Dante’s mantra has taught me to open up to new experiences, new places, new skills - to teach myself to find sun in places that I haven’t felt it prior. That optimism, the appreciation of tomorrow, is a mindset. One that I will try to embody. All of this is a drawn-out way of saying: I’m going to start drinking more wine.
You can read the full story on Chambers below, and stay tuned for next week’s on Red Hook Tavern in Brooklyn.
With grapes in mind,
The Supper Club
Want to go to Chambers on Friday February 24th @ 6:30pm?
We learned about Chambers from Grace, our waitress at Wildair. It was the first of 15 restaurants that she told us about, so we were really excited to give it a try. What we immediately noticed when walking into the Tribeca restaurant was how visually beautiful the space is. The entire right-side wall is exposed brick, backing up a fully-stocked bar. Wooden dividers run along the outside of the floor which separate the dining room from waiters moving food and drinks around. Each table is white with a spotlight directly above it. The surrounding floor is darker, so it’s almost like each table is a little stage. Chef Jonathan Karis, sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier, and their teams are directing performances that would make Broadway a bit jealous.
Dante, our waiter, was a man on a mission. I swear he was everywhere at once that night, so we appreciate his taking the time to teach us about Chambers. The menu is not large - 5 small plates, 5 mains, and 3 side options. For two people, Dante recommended 2 appetizers, 2 mains, and 1 side. Everyone eating dinner gets a free piece of sesame pizza bianca (like a sesame focaccia), so we left completely stuffed. Unless you haven’t eaten that day, I’d recommend hemming Dante’s suggestion down by 1 appetizer. In contrast to the terse food menu, the wine list at Chamber’s is a chapter book. I enjoyed a dry, French white with my meal, but if you’re a big wine person, Lepeltier gives you a lot of room to run. Chef Karis hails from Massachusetts, and is a Gramercy Tavern alum - leaving in June of 2022 to run the kitchen at Chambers. Dante described the food at Chambers as “hyper local, hyper seasonal, and comfort food forward.” They get a lot of their produce locally and build the menu around what they can find at the Union Square Farmers Market. Expect offerings to change frequently.
Dante recommended the below, and we ordered the stuff in bold.
Bread
Sesame Pizza Bianca - complimentary with dinner
Small Plates
Steelhead Trout - honeycrisp apple, toasted almonds
Forono Beets - endive, candied pecans
Veal Sweetbreads - tokyo turnips, garlic chives
Mains
Ricotta Cavatelli - mushrooms, treviso, roomano (aged gouda)
Snowdance Chicken - spinach, sherry, thyme
Monkfish - bok choy, sunchokes, sauce americaine
Sides
La ratte Fingerling Potatoes - brown butter hollandaise
Broccoli Rabe - japanese sweet potato
Some of the dishes at Chambers were showstoppers, but others we probably wouldn’t order again. Our favorite dish by far was the chicken, it was some of the best poultry that we’ve had recently. Dante and I introduced Grant to sweetbreads, the thymus gland or pancreas of a cow, which came sautéed with house-made sauerkraut. The organs themselves were cooked perfectly, but the dish overall lacked pizazz. Forono beets are Italian, and are long and cylindrical unlike the more rotund varieties you’re likely used to. They were juicy, the walnuts were crunchy, and there was enough acid to keep things from being boring. We got excited about the Cavatelli because the mushrooms were from Smallhold, and Grant is a mycology nerd. This dish was extremely comforting - warm and heavy like a gourmet mac and cheese. The broccoli rabe was the only dish of the night that didn’t really make sense. The rabe was bitter and nearly raw, and the sweet potato mash was just kind of there on the bottom of the plate.
For dessert, the mascarpone mille-feuille stood tall. Extremely delicate, creamy while still being light. I could have eaten 3 of these if not for being so full!
We’ve got photos and additional commentary down below. To summarize, Chambers is an exciting (relatively) new addition to the Tribeca food scene with an impressive wine program. We have no doubt that, like its wine, the restaurant will improve with age.
Sesame Pizza Bianca - complimentary with dinner
Pizza bianca translates from Italian to “white pizza,” which you would typically assume is just pizza without the sauce. This is the Roman al taglio rendition which means it’s thicker like a focaccia and topped simply with olive oil, salt, and sesame seeds. It’s rich and has a satisfying chew - definitely the type of bread you can enjoy by itself. Be careful, though. Resist the urge to finish this before your food arrives! Use the pizza bianca to clean up the leftover sauce from your pasta or chicken.
Forono Beets - endive, candied pecans
I don’t usually get excited about beets, but at Chambers they are electric. They’re so juicy that they eat more like an heirloom tomato, and they’re sweet like honey. The vinaigrette brings an acidic punch, and the candied walnuts crunch satisfyingly. Also on the plate is a “game changing” charred endive with an earthy bitterness that you can mix into bites at your leisure. Forono beets are often called “chef’s delight,” but this dish is a diner’s delight as well.
Veal Sweetbreads - tokyo turnips, garlic chives
Sweetbreads may be one of the most confusing misnomers in food. They aren’t sweet, and they aren’t bread. They’re the pancreas or thymus gland of a cow - or in our case veal, supposedly the tastiest of all sweetbread varieties. Grant had never had them before, and the table next to us cleaned their plate, so we had to try these out. The organs themselves arrived perfectly cooked and seasoned, but the accompaniments were comparatively lackluster. A very mellow sauerkraut didn’t do much to elevate or complete the dish. Not unpleasant, but not the best thing on the menu.
Ricotta Cavatelli - mushrooms, treviso, roomano (aged gouda)
Dante is a self-proclaimed lover of fresh pasta, so he strongly recommended we try the cavatelli. I’m very glad that he did. The noodle was extremely soft, silky, and swimming in a luxurious mushroom sauce. Treviso is a variety of radicchio that was heavily caramelized and played nicely with the funky, salty roomano cheese. Not a typo, a deeply aged Dutch gouda. Order this if you’re a mushroom lover, a pasta lover, or it’s cold outside. This one will leave you feeling full and warm.
Snowdance Chicken - spinach, sherry, thyme
The chicken at Chambers has no business being as good as it is. It’s a dish that makes all the other chickens you thought you really enjoyed feel bad. Why? Because look at this plate. Chicken, spinach, sauce. It’s shockingly simple, and for that very reason immensely satisfying. There are no bells and whistles here to distract you from the juiciness of the meat, the lip-smacking glossiness of the sauce, or the slight bitterness of the spinach. After my first bite, I called the chicken “ridiculous” - it is the best thing we ate at Chambers.
Broccoli Rabe - japanese sweet potato
We wouldn’t order this one again. The rabe was bitter, and nearly raw. The sweet potato was simply mashed and spread on the bottom of the plate. The serving dish was a bit too small, so leaves were spilling out on the table as we tried to eat. Dante also recommended the fingerlings, which I think we wished we ordered instead.
Mascarpone Mille-Feuille
Dessert was a grand finale, the perfect ending to a big, satisfying meal. The phyllo was paper thin and perfectly crisp, while the mascarpone was light, creamy, and speckled with vanilla bean. Fight with your table mates over who gets to break the top layer of phyllo - and who gets to have the last bite.
Me so stinky
thx for this