Shukette

Dined 6/4/23

🚨 Welcome to our new subscribers! This newsletter is a part of our Waiter Favorites series. This one was recommended to us by Erin Norris, owner of Grindhaus in Red Hook. You can learn more about the overall thought process here - in our PageRank newsletter. Let us know with a like / comment if you enjoy! 🚨

Things that happened to me recently:

1. I ate at Shukette in New York

2. I turned 25 years old

3. I ate at Vetri in Philadelphia

4. I moved apartments

Motivated by social capital, and my job in some cases, I’ve had a whirlwind past few days. I will tell you about each of these things in reverse order, culminating in a fantastic meal at Shukette with Grant - and our waiter Ivan. Read on to see an extensive list of Ivan’s many favorite NYC restaurants.

I moved apartments

Moving sucks. Like the act of putting all your stuff into boxes, lugging them onto a truck, re-lugging them off of the truck, and un-putting your stuff out of boxes is just not fun. It’s like if exercise and chores had a baby. Nobody ever really wants to do either of those things - and surprise - their kid isn’t cute.

Complaining aside, this particular move represents a major milestone in my life. It’s the first time in these 25 years that I’ve ever truly lived by myself. There’s nobody else in this apartment, or larger building containing the apartment for that matter, that I know or care to get to know. It’s just me and my trusty Jimmy John’s “Free Smells” neon sign right now. And I’m excited by what the future holds. Interior decorating? Higher rent payments? Worse water pressure? Dinner parties? Who knows. Stay tuned Philly peeps.

I ate at Vetri in Philadelphia 

There are very few restaurants in the world that I love even close to as much as I love Vetri Cucina in Philadelphia. (Is this a Philadelphia newsletter now?) I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been lucky enough to dine there, but every time I leave feeling warm, fuzzy, and deeply cared for. Possibly even loved. 

My birthday dinner there last night was just as good as it always is, but this time we splurged for the wine pairing. On the beautiful second floor of the restaurant, we ate and drank our little hearts out. Bill, our server, was a wonderful guide through the various flavors and textures of Italy. Post-pandemic, you get to choose your own adventure on their Menu Degustazione. It’s four courses: appetizer, pasta, main, and dessert. In my opinion, the heaviest hitters are the onion crepe and the molten pistachio dessert. But you really can’t go wrong.

Dry aged duck breast … bruh!

If you have Vetri on the calendar, come hungry. Bring friends. Don’t look at the price tag at the end lol.

I turned 25 years-old

Welcome to the beginning of my quarter life crisis. I’m in the process of acquiring an orange Corvette. 

25 is a weird milestone birthday because it’s not significant in that you unlock some new feature of life. It’s the first birthday I’ve experienced that is noteworthy only because it’s kind of a lot of birthdays? Like - oh, you’re 25 now … that’s a big one! But not big because you can drink or vote or anything cool like that. Maybe you get a better deal on rental cars or something. It’s like oh you’re 25 now, and the next one is 30! You’ll be enjoying the old folks home in no time, brother! 

I’ve had a lot to think about on this birthday. I’m getting older. There is a lot I still want to accomplish. And I have a great support network to help me get there. I love you all.

Shukette

Let me tell you the story of our trip to Shukette last Sunday. This one has been such a long time coming. We’ve had Shukette in the hopper since March 31 - back when Erin Norris of Grindhaus let us know that it’s one of the few restaurants in Manhattan worth leaving Red Hook for. After eating at Shukette, we definitely understand where she’s coming from. The menu was creative, the dishes were all well executed, and the hospitality was top shelf. Shout out to our server Ivan.

Grant and I arrived at the restaurant a bit early for our 4:00pm reservation. One of the reasons why it took us so long to get to Shukette is the insanely limited number of reservations they release. I had to book that 4:00pm Sunday lunch / dinner hybrid spot two weeks in advance! And when we sat down, there was like nobody else in the restaurant. The hosts at the front of the restaurant blame a positive Pete Wells review for the lack of reservation availability. I think it’s more fun to blame God, but in the world of New York City food that might be the same thing.

One of many lessons that Ivan taught us during our meal was that restaurants almost always have space for you. Even if the online reservation portal is trying to turn you down, Ivan claims that you can typically just walk in. He says he never makes reservations anywhere. I don’t know if this would work at a place like Carbone, but I do know that at Shukette it certainly seems to be the case.

When it comes to the menu, we were told that 2 hungry people should order 6 - 7 dishes total. The restaurant gets its name from shuk, which is the Hebrew word for open air market. Expect a variety of breads, dips, and grilled proteins / vegetables. Ivan recommended the below, and we ordered the stuff in bold:

Spreads + Dips + Breads

1. Labneh - strained Middle Eastern yogurt with rhubarb, celery, and black pepper

2. Frena - Moroccan flatbread with roasted garlic and oregano 

3. Gozleme - stuffed flatbread with spinach, mozzarella, and fontina

Small Plates + Mains

1. Pea Party - spring salad with snap peas, snow peas, and asparagus

2. Shaved Baby Artichoke Salad - garlic yogurt, parsley, toasted almonds

3. Charred Broccolini - orange fresno chili sauce

4. Adana - beef + lamb kofta (meatballs), spicy tahini

5. Lamb Chops - pistachio, lemon, yogurt, pickled chili, cilantro, arugula

Some call outs from the above. Everything was phenomenal. I think Shukette is one of those places where you bring a big group and load the table with as much food as possible. That way, you get to try as much as possible - mixing things together, dipping bread into stuff, getting your hands dirty.

Labneh - nothing like Danimals

In my opinion, the labneh is a must order. They drain it well, so it’s the consistency of clay. So many places give you a runny Danimals-esque product and call it Labneh. Not here. It’s cold, thicc, and plays perfectly with the hot, crispy frena. Very memorable combination.

The gozleme, while not my favorite of the breads we ordered, was kind of like a big, flat spanakopita. The expo, who was speaking Spanish, was calling it “pupusa.” Both a fantastic player comp and a funny moment of cross-cultural fusion.

I usually shy away from ordering adana / kofta, since the meatballs are typically heavily mixed and almost spongy in texture. Ivan recommended them as maybe his favorite of the small plates, and they were truly exceptional. Tender and rich, but the spicy tahini and raw onion salad made the plate worth coming back to. Save the remnants to dip your bread into - meat juices and spicy tahini sauce is a good combination.

According to Ivan, Shukette gets their whole lambs for the week every Sunday. They break them down that morning, and thus lamb chops are only available on Sundays in very limited quantities. We were accidentally dining in prime lamb chop time, and you should too if you like lamb. The double chops were big, perfectly cooked, and dressed with some chili sauce. This one paired really well with the bang bang shata and toum (see below).

Bang Bang Shata, Toum

One of the cool things about sitting at the bar was seeing the kitchen in action. We couldn’t help but notice that the whole back of house was wearing these black hats with “Bang Bang Shata” written on them in white letters. After some research we learned that was the name of the house-made hot sauce. Ivan recommended that we pair it with some toum. The shata was spicy and savory, made from crushed chilis almost like a Middle Eastern sambal. Toum is a garlic condiment that is sharp while being fluffy and creamy. If you didn’t know better, you might think it was mayo based, but toum is made of only garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. The mucilage (basically plant glue) in garlic helps form a creamy emulsion when whipped with olive oil. Both condiments were flavor bombs and welcome additions to the party.

Ivan’s Favorite Restaurants

I want to use this section to thank Ivan for a fantastic service. Having grown up in the restaurant industry, his knowledge and recommendations made our dining experience all the better. He clearly appreciates good food and broke Grace from Wildair’s record for most waiter restaurant recommendations. You can find them all below.

1. Achille’s Heel - drinks, good times (Greenpoint)

2. Wei’s - old school Chinese takeout (Williamsburg)

3. Laser Wolf - Israeli, OG location in Philly (Williamsburg)

4. Win Son - Taiwanese / bakery (Williamsburg)

5. Rolo’s - apparently just added huge dry aged steaks to the menu (Ridgewood)

6. Eyval - Persian (Williamsburg)

7. Kafana - Serbian restaurant. Good place to watch the Nuggets (East Village)

8. Saint Julivert - seafood + cool wines (Cobble Hill)

9. Mesiba - Israeli (Williamsburg)

10. L’Industrie - “best pizza in NYC” (Williamsburg)

11. Mama Yoshi Mini Mart - Japanese sandos (Ridgewood)

12. Carmenta’s - unreal meatball parm sub (Bushwick)

13. Nene’s Taqueria - former Jean Georges chef, now making birria (Bushwick)

14. Tong - “super spicy Thai place” (Bushwick)

15. Sigiri - “Google Sri Lankan restaurant, East Village”

16. Falansai - Vietnamese / Mexican fusion (Bushwick)

17. The Commodore - fried chicken sandwich (Williamsburg)

18. Llama Inn - Peruvian, good for groups (Williamsburg)

19. Chola - Indian (UES)

20. Gage & Tollner - Steakhouse (Downtown Brooklyn)

21. Red Hook Tavern - best burger in NYC (Red Hook)

22. Hometown BBQ - BBQ from the man behind Red Hook Tavern (Red Hook)

Have a great week everyone.

Served,

The Supper Club