58 Second Avenue (between 3rd and 4th Sts.) 917-892-6350 www.neat-nyc.com
Nordic. It’s not like you can find Nordic food on every corner. Or practically any (even in NYC). Enter N’eat, with enough flavor and friendliness to earn instant devotion. Rarely have I begun a meal more blissfully than with their Buckwheat toast (crimini, aged Cabot clothbound cheddar). Maybe the magic is in that cloth, because it is possibly the best cheddar I have ever encountered. I had no choice but to request seconds and, in the meantime, become acquainted with the scotch quail egg (rye, blackcurrant mustard). It was different – in a good way – as were the sunchokes with lemongrass, parsley, and cheese sauce. The potato pancake brought me back to the familiar, but its accompaniments (salt pork, pear marmalade, chives) were like nothing I had experienced before. I then indulged in grilled prawns (meyer lemon, egg yolk jam) and arctic char (blue mussel, oil, trout roe). Both were proof positive that the Nords are seafarers. Also sweetfarers (a term I just made up but which profoundly applies). So began my initiation to chamomile ice cream with cucumber sorbet and burnt lime merangue. The combination is compelling. And delicious. And unique as a Nordic restaurant in New York City. Now perfectly accessible in a neighborhood near you.