Lucky Restaurant Dishes for the New Year
It’s one thing to make resolutions for the New Year, but how about increasing your odds for a happy, healthy and wealthy 2015 by edibly upping your luck? We’ve rounded up a number of restaurant dishes designed to do just that, from long-life noodles at Ivan Ramen on the Lower East Side, to kale and cornbread (green and gold; the color of money!) at Egg in Williamsburg.
Ivan Ramen
An integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations are swirls of long noodles, believed to represent — what else? — a long life. And we can’t think of a more delectable way to thwart the aging process than with bowls of Triple Pork Triple Garlic or Spicy Red Chili Ramen from the talented Ivan Orkin; tumbles of rye noodles deposited in a dashi and chicken broth, with a silky smashed egg and plenty of minced pork.
Read MoreUpland
Sweet and shaped like coins, round fruit are frequently enjoyed on New Year’s Day. Which makes the puffy Yuzu Souffle at Stephen Starr and Justin Smillie’s Upland an especially lucky dessert; spiked with rivers of the tangerine-shaped Japanese citrus, and augmented with a sour cherry and kalamansi curd.
Read MoreBarchetta
Where better to enjoy whole fish (served with the head and tail intact, to ensure a good year from start to finish) than at Barchetta, a sophomore project from shellfish guru, Dave Pasternack? Choose between Orata; Mediterranean sea bream flavored with rosemary and capers, Sogliola; local flounder with oregano and lemon, and Spigola Nera — whole black sea bass served with crispy potatoes.
Read MoreDojo Izakaya
Symbolizing money, delicate grains of rice tend to swell significantly when cooked. So if you’d like to encourage your wallet to do the same in the New Year, visit David Bouhadana’s small plates offshoot of his popular sushi spot, Dojo, for Noto Salt-dusted Rice Balls, Rice and Dashi Soup topped with seaweed, and Soba Risotto, made with tiny, nutty buckwheat seeds.
Read MoreBirds & Bubbles
Double your money (literally) by ordering the Bitter Greens Salad at Sarah Simmons’ Birds & Bubbles, which boasts crisp leaves of chicory (which look like bills), and beluga lentils (i.e., coins), finished with savory deviled egg sauce, pickled onions, and candied sunflower seeds.
Read MoreEgg
Another Southern-inspired dish guaranteed to bolster your bank account in the New Year is the Carolina Kale at Brooklyn brunch favorite, Egg. The supple, cooked greens represent wads of folded money, ladled on top of slabs of buttery cornbread — meant to emulate glittering blocks of gold.
Read MoreArrogant Swine
This brand new Bushwick joint specializes in North Carolina barbecue — i.e., pork, pork and more pork. And since pigs are thought to symbolize progress (because they “root forward” with their noses whilst eating), they’re an ideal protein to consume in the New Year; so stop by Arrogant Swine for platters piled high with Spare Ribs, Pork Belly, and Outside Brown Shoulder with Piedmont Dip.
Read MoreShelsky’s
With a silvery color considered emblematic of good fortune, and found in abundance throughout Western Europe, pickled herring is frequently thought of as a lucky food. Shelsky’s of Brooklyn provides multiple means for getting your fishy fill; served smothered with cream sauce and onions, formed into “roll mops” around slices of dill pickle, or even smeared onto sandwiches such as the “Peter Shelsky,” along with nova, sable, and scallion cream cheese.
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