I am not a regular at very many NYC restaurants, simply because there are so many of them that I don’t make multiple visits to the same place all that often. Gouie is one of the exceptions, for a number of reasons: it’s close, it’s very good, it’s reasonably priced (well, for food of the quality, anyway), and we like the staff a lot. They just celebrated their one year anniversary, so the host/server/whatever guy joined us in a yuzu liqueur toast after the meal. Then he asked how our grandchildren are doing, and that was a first. We don’t have children, so grandchildren would be tough, and sheesh, I must be looking old! Anyway, I always stick mainly to the specials, so last night was a grilled lobster with uni sauce, daikon and onion, with some pumpkin chips. And barracuda, amberjack and…something else. Can you ID the one on the left?
Gouie’s home, the Market Line under Essex Market, went belly up. So Gouie morphed into SSAW (it stands for Spring Summer Autumn Winter) and staged a popup last night, as a precursor to moving into new digs in Brooklyn. The food is similar to non-sushi offerings at Gouie, except that it’s a lot bigger. I ordered three things, which would have been a light-ish meal at Gouie; at SSAW, it was pretty hefty.
Smoked bonito with spring greens. The greens were fantastic, but most of the bonito was a little over-smoked, if you ask me. The last piece was perfect. The broth was amazing.
House-made sesame tofu with uni. Very well balanced (you never know with sesame stuff - so much danger of overkill), and again, a lovely dashi broth.
Thin udon with firefly squid. I probably should’ve stopped before this, because the first two dishes were pretty filling. But I love firefly squid - I don’t know how to put this nicely, but you can really taste the guts.
Sake tasting. I confess I did not stop here.
Here be the menu.
I look forward to visiting once they get settled. Even though it’s in Brooklyn. Even though you have to eat with a fork now, because it’s “new Japanese.”
I had to laugh when you mentioned this restaurant’s new name. You might remember that there was a restaurant called Park Avenue Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring which not only changed its menu with the particular season but also the interior decor. Originally known as Park Avenue Cafe and was located on the UES, it became SFWS while still up there but eventually moved to the corner of Park Avenue S. & 26th St. We ate at the original PAC as well as at both locations of SFWS in different seasons. The Park Ave. S. location closed in 2020. Last year, Chef James Kent announced he will open a fine dining seafood restaurant in that space sometime this spring.
I thought they got watered down by the gimmick when they moved down to Park Ave S, but I also couldn’t understand how they could make the economics of redoing the interiors every 3 months work.
I was thinking of that too! Out of business. That Park Ave S space is lovely and has had a lot of different restaurants there. There was a rum-based spot at one point. The Hurricane Club.
