Hot orange clothing and fancy burgers aren’t the only things in this season—now’s the best time to indulge in tomatoes, carrots, beets, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, leafy greens, leeks, peppers, string beans, summer squash, berries, peaches, plums, and apricots. Alas, for most New Yorkers, the closest we get to a farm is when we wear a trucker hat or visit the occasional Greenmarket. Maybe you can’t get your hands dirty plucking summer’s harvest, but you can use your digits to dial in a reservation at one of these seasonal-driven restaurants.
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Red Onion Confit and Gorgonzola cheese @ Parlor Steakhouse
Parlor Steakhouse
1600 3rd Ave. (@ 90th St.)
Upper East Side 212.423.5888
Meat-and-potatoes joints aren’t usually known for offering seasonal ingredients, but it all makes sense when you realize that Parlor’s executive chef, Lucas Billheimer, is an alumnus of Park Avenue Cafe and Lure Fishbar. Farm-fresh corn, summer beans, peaches, and herbs are just some of the fresh-picked items tossed throughout the steak and seafood menu. Forget the tomato scare and get a summery crunch with the heirloom tomato salad with red onion confit and Gorgonzola cheese ($10). Another seasonal starter is the crispy soft shell crab with spiced mango, arugula, and strawberries ($12, pictured on homepage).
Forge
134 Reade St. (Hudson & Greenwich Sts.)
TriBeCa 212.941.9401
With its cast iron stove and reclaimed cedar walls, this restaurant feels like a rustic farmhouse minus the barnyard kitsch. Chef Marc Forgione is a familiar face at the TriBeCa Greenmarket, where he picks up corn from Long Island along with carrots, sweet peas, and leafy greens. Taste the ocean as you bite into diver sea scallops with summer corn, sorrel, and cockles ($26), or you and your date can share the leg of suckling pig with mustard crushed fingerling potatoes, broccoli rabe, porcini mushrooms, and spring vegetable cassoulet ($68).
The General Greene
229 DeKalb Ave. (@ Clermont St.)
Fort Greene 718.222.1510
This farmhouse-meets-diner from talented pastry chef Nicholas Morgenstern (Gramercy Tavern) and consulting chef Ryan Skeen (Resto) serves American comfort food, tapas-style. Settle into a tractor seat at the butcher-block bar and nibble on crispy chicken with fennel, sweet corn, and tarragon ($10) or salt and pepper roasted pork ribs with sweet and sour tomato chutney ($10).
Park Avenue Summer
100 E. 63rd St. (@ Park Ave.)
Upper East Side 212.644.1900
With a different menu and décor each winter, spring, summer, fall, this Upper East Side restaurant is more serious about staying in season than some fashionistas. In a dining room inspired by the Galapagos Islands, feast on baby beet salad ($16) with ginger and yogurt or fluke sashimi with plum and cilantro ($16).
Rose Water Restaurant
787 Union St. (@ 6th Ave.)
Park Slope 718.783.3800
This romantic restaurant is dedicated to finding the most local, seasonal, organic, and sustainable food for its clientele, so the menu changes quite often but you can always expect it to be impressive. This summer, chef Marcellus Coleman offers dishes such as spring pea and smoked prosciutto risotto with pea tendrils, parmesan, and shiso ($19), and suckling pig confit with apricots, chanterelles, lavender, and pattypan squash at Rose Water ($30)
Irving Mill
116 E. 16th St. (@ Irving Pl.)
Gramercy 212.254.1600
Bales of hay and serves in suspenders signal this restaurant’s focus on haute barnyard cuisine. Just half a block from the Union Square Greenmarket, chef John Schaefer (Gramercy Tavern) has easy access to farm-fresh produce. Try the grilled baby octopus with pepper caponata, shaved fennel, and lemon ($14), or the roasted salmon, sweet pea cream, chanterelles, and rhubarb at Irving Mill ($26)
~ Selena Ricks
