VERNISSAGE
Comfort Zones Vegan, schmegan: restaurant critic Joshua David Stein likes his Milanese crispy, his beans creamy, and his noodles cheesy
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he word “restaurant” comes from the same root as the word “restorative.” When it’s cold, restaurants warm you. When it’s hot, they cool you. When you’re hungry, they feed you. If you’re in a tizzy, a restaurant calms; if you need some excitement, it can titillate. As much as I’m for restaurants as portals into the unknown and unfamiliar corners of far-off cuisine, I am also sensible to the pleasure of being fed that which you already know you desire. Not every concerto is a Schoenberg. Sometimes it’s a Bach. Sometimes it’s a Bacharach. Not every meal, in other words, need be an exploration. Perhaps sensing this communal need for restoration, many ambitious New York restaurateurs have of late opened new venues devoted to that once derided genre: comfort food. Sometimes, goddammit, you want a plate of beans to console you in a world gone off the rails.
EVAN SUNG/COURTESY HANCOCK ST.
BOX SEATS Outdoor dining at Hancock St.
AVENUE MAGAZINE | MARCH—APRIL 2022
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2/23/22 10:22 AM
