Nyc spots celebrating seasonal produce
Farmers-market-core beyond the trends
My friend Maddie texted me a few weeks ago asking me if I also was going to something called Produce Party, which I didn’t think much of in the moment, had (truthfully) no idea what she was talking about, and had other Friday plans. Now, here, weeks later, I’m actually thinking MUCH about said Produce Party after seeing her posts of probably 50+ rhubarb themed dishes across massive tablescapes and DJ sets in a SoHo loft…
…like, I kid you not when I say that there were massive cakes made out of rhubarb stocks, rhubarb salsa, rhubarb jellies, rhubarb graphic design, stickers, logos, posters….so many New Yorkers spending a Saturday night celebrating the coming of rhubarb instead of the club
I think seasonal produce is something that always has been sexy to those who run the culinary world, but to the consumer, it’s now transcended beyond the quintessential Sunday ‘farmers market run’ into an aesthetic, a…non negotiable when selecting a restaurant, a reason to gather and celebrate, host a dinner party, and frankly being styled more than florals lately in trending moments on Pinterest.
Quintessentially, within the same week of the Produce Party discovery, I, myself was hosting a dinner party for my supper club with one of my dream brands, FreshDirect, and had a visit scheduled to their warehouse in the Bronx which is the living quarters of their famed and fresh produce. As an avid customer of the brand, I knew how particular they were with selling produce that was actually in season, vs. other stores that somehow have the same summer fruits available year round (which I didn’t know was actually a really bad(?) thing until I was an adult), but I wanted to see for myself what was behind the curtain of their seamless delivery experience and quintessential FreshDirect totes that magically appear on my doorstep every Tuesday morning.
I had the pleasure of doing the warehouse tour alongside private chef Isabelle Jardin that I was working with for this particular dinner, which made the experience all the more special to understand just how much quality produce, meats, and fish can get a chef so excited and inspired to architect a particular dish or menu. As soon as we arrived for the tour, I was given a heavy bomber jackets and shoe covers to protect my cheetah kitten heels (not sure why I wore these to a warehouse?), and were escorted into what felt like the world’s largest refrigerator.
Our guide, who had been the director of operations at FreshDirect for 15 years, knew every single thing about every single centimeter of that warehouse. Every watermelon coming in every morning from small farmers, themselves, every single egg that FreshDirect still had, fully in stock, even during the shortage because they took such good care of their farmers that any and all supply that existed was given to them. Beef being out of stock that day from Pennsylvania because the farmer needed to sleep an hour later? No problem, that’s highly preferred anyway to keep the trust and relationship strong. Bananas literally have their own temperature controlled room and dedicated banana employees. Every corner was sparkling clean, and every employee seemed so passionate about their corner of the FreshDirect ecosystem.
What can I say…their corner of the Bronx is a really special place that helped me understand through the lense of New York natives that had been running the business for years, just why everything can’t always be in stock and in season all the time for all of us to constantly be consuming. Instead, we have to eat what’s actually meant to be available that day or that week or that season, and seeing that translate into the NYC culinary scene is something I’ll always be mindful of now.
After finishing the tour with a belly full of their famous banana bread, which, by the way, is all made in house with their own ripe bananas from the famous banana room, I was filled with inspiration to build my entire dinner concept around the concept of seasonality, which transcended into a menu and tablescape emulating an Italian summer night, dressed to the nines in tomatoes, green grapes, lemons, peaches, artichokes, a tomato cake, and of course, spritzes and spaghetts to pair with all.
I don’t know a damn thing about actually running a restaurant, but as a supper club host, the most important piece of the puzzle to having a successful supper club is the quality of the vendors that you work with, so getting to showcase all FreshDirect food on my dining room table in the forms of fresh fruits and vegetables, grass fed meat from small farms, fish cut fresh only when ordered in dishes for my community felt like a true, New York night.
So with that, here are some of my favorite spots that celebrate seasonality instead of popularity, so stop asking for that one dish you got in December that’s no longer on the menu.
1. Chambers
The fact that I have been to Chambers twice in the past two months and they’ve had completely different menus each time says a few different things to me. The first thing is the fact that something has to be really that good for me to go back in a quarterly timespan, and another is that their menu is so seasonal, so anything that you were holding onto from your last visit probably won’t be there again. Our waiter actually laughed when I gasped in delight when he confirmed they still had the Harry’s Berry’s dessert that had popped up in my dreams a few times- usually me swimming in a pool of the sauce they used, or reminiscing on the first fragile snap of the meringue.
It’s hard for me to tell you what to order because everything is so fleeting as seasonal produce is meant to be, but my favorites were the little gem, scallops with watermelon radish, potatoes with ramps, the CHICKEN (trust me, I also think this one has permanent menu residency), the lamb, the scallops, fresh bake focaccia…you truly can’t go wrong with a single thing on the menu, and I’d suggest a group of 4 and every single dish.
2. Rosella
Rosella Sushi takes seasonality to a tier above all as they only serve seasonal fish in addition to all of the seasonal produce that makes up their colorful salads, crudos, and desserts. This is certainly one of my most visited restaurants, but I rememebr the first time I went I asked them for salmon nigiri and they nearly laughed in my face. Salmon, certainly not in season at the time, and also highly farmed, is something they will never have on the menu, for certain.
I love Rosella so much that it became my birthday dinner spot, and the last time we went we absolutely scored with an endive salad that I’d compare to a box of jewels, a few buttery bites of their scallop nigiri, and their toro, strawberry, and basil appetizer that was gardened right behind the counter. Please, for the love of god, spare yourself from asking them if something from last month’s menu will be back. It’s all up to the seasons and the tides that bring us (what tastes like) fish from the gods.
3. Place Des Fetes
Place Des Fetes is somewhere that I associate with both summer and rain because both times I’ve visited I’ve been caught in some of the most torrential (and tropical?) rainstorms that the NYC islands have provided us. I’ve always dried off quickly with their (very dry) natural wine options and summer citrus salads, leafy greens, beets, cheeses, and the hottest seasonal commodity that is their ramp pasta…like…that pasta was made for the Substack food writers who work around the clock to report on ramps the second ramps are ramping up in season (lol). They also change their menu quite often as my friends who are more frequent goers were celebrating as soon as they confirmed some of their favorites would be available, which always makes a few bottles of orange taste even better.
4. King Cafe
I’ve never been to King’s dinner service, but I was highly impressed with the seasonal pastries and effortlessly calm New York City morning that they freshly provided me. They had rhubarb and apricot options which were few and far between amongst their pastry window neighbors, which is just how I like it…(I always get so confused when bakeries have like 50 different options). We tried the apricot danish and the brown butter molasses cookie which had a deep, smoky brown sugar and butter taste that did feel distinguishable from the last few cookies that I’ve had recently, but it’s motivating me to get myself up to Stissing House, which is their upstate extension (and also apparently has incredible rotating seasonal options), and come back in for dinner service. Curious what everyone’s thoughts are if they’ve been.
Runner up…Via Carota
I had to include this, right? I mean no one does vegetables like Via Carota and I consistently fantasize about their towers of fresh lettuce, peas, scallions, and prosciutto that make up their cone shaped salad that we all see from miles away on our envious walks home from work. They’re the restaurant that is always the first to have seasonal ramps the second that they fall from the sky, and the combination of a sidewalk table, the coming of warmer weather, and one of their white negronis makes for the most perfect afternoon.
When I moved to New York I also always bucketed Via Carota in with the hardest tables, and whilst it isn’t easy, I actually think that their walk in policy is fairly digestible. The entire time I sat outside there last time, they had a system that impressed me with the fast moving line and the noting of the names that were told to come back in an hour.