Whole roasted branzino
$38
A whole fish for one, cooked hard in the wood oven, with charred lemon and a herb salad. Served on the bone.
Woodside, Queens · since 2016
A restaurant in Woodside, NY
Lunch, weekend brunch and dinner on 61st Street, two minutes from the station. Seasonal American cooking out of one kitchen and a wood-fired oven, bread and puddings baked here every morning, and a twelve-seat bar that takes no reservations at all — so there is always somewhere to eat without a booking. Closed Mondays.
The menus
Written as web pages rather than photographed as a PDF, with every price on them, updated the day a dish changes in the kitchen.
Some of what is on at the moment
Six things from the dinner menu. About a third of it turns over with the season, so this is a snapshot rather than a promise — which is a page of its own.
Roast chicken for two
$62
Half an hour to cook and worth the wait. Brined overnight, roasted whole, carved in the kitchen, served with the pan juices and a plate of greens. Ordered for the table.
Handmade pappardelle, pork ragù
$29
Wide egg pasta rolled here, with a ragù that has been on the stove since morning.
Wood-roasted carrots
$14
Whole young carrots from the oven, cooled and dressed with buttermilk, dill and a spoon of their own roasting juices.
Dry-aged sirloin, 10oz
$46
Aged five weeks, cooked over hardwood, rested properly, with bone marrow butter.
Olive oil cake, crème fraîche
$13
Baked each morning, served at room temperature, which is how it is meant to be eaten.
No bookings, ever
The bar
Twelve seats along a brass rail, first come first served, always. Not on a Saturday, not for a birthday, not at all — which is the entire point of it. A restaurant that books out every seat three weeks ahead stops being any use to the people who live on its street, and those are the people who keep it open in February.
It keeps longer hours than the kitchen does, every night, and the full dinner menu is available at it while the kitchen is on.
22 seated · 28 standing
Private dining
One room with a door that shuts, off the back of the dining room. Not a screened-off corner, and not a banqueting suite either — it seats twenty-two around tables and that is the whole of it. A set menu agreed five days ahead from the same menu everybody else is eating, and one server assigned to the room for the evening.
The minimum spends are published on the page rather than quoted on the telephone, so you can work out whether it is the right room without ringing anybody.
Things worth knowing before you book
The questions people telephone to ask, answered properly rather than in a line.
How long the table is yours
90 minutes for one to four, 120 for 5 or more. On the booking form before you book rather than on a card when you sit down — with the arithmetic that makes those the real numbers.
One kitchen, and what that means
We can tell you exactly what is in every dish and leave a named component out of several. We cannot promise a plate has touched nothing, because there is one kitchen here and no separate allergen line.
The service charge, and who gets it
Nothing automatic on a party of eight or fewer. Twenty per cent above that, shared across the whole team including the kitchen, on a published split. The house takes nothing.
Questions
Do you take walk-ins?
Yes, at the bar always and in the dining room whenever there is room. The twelve bar seats are never reservable, which means there is somewhere to eat here on a Friday night without a booking. On a Saturday evening the dining room is usually full from seven to nine and the honest answer is that you may wait.
How long do I have the table for?
Ninety minutes for parties of one to four, two hours for five or more. We do not stand over you at the end of it, but the table is booked again after you and being honest about that in advance is fairer than hurrying you at the time.
Can you cater for allergies?
We can tell you exactly what is in every dish, and the kitchen will leave a named component out of several of them. What we cannot do is promise that a plate has not touched an allergen: this is one kitchen with one set of surfaces and no separate line. If a trace matters to you medically, please read the allergens page before booking rather than after arriving.
Do you have a vegetarian menu?
Not a separate one, deliberately. There are five vegetarian dishes on the dinner menu including two of the three oven plates, and they are cooked with the same attention as everything else rather than being an afterthought at the bottom of the page.
Is there a dress code?
No. People come here from work, from the gym and from the airport, and nobody has ever been turned away for what they were wearing.
Can I book for a large group?
Parties of nine or more go through the private dining enquiry rather than the booking form, because a group that size needs a set menu and a room, not a table. Eight and under books online in the usual way.
Tuesday to Sunday · closed Mondays
Book a table
Pick a date, tell us how many of you there are, and the form shows the times we can actually seat that many — not every time we are open. Parties of eight and under book instantly; nine or more becomes a private dining enquiry, because a group that size needs a room and a set menu rather than a table. The twelve bar seats are never reservable, so there is always somewhere to eat here without a booking.