Follow the eater

Reiner chows on a chicken kebab sandwich at Mamoun’s

Photograph: Dan Eckstein

Late- night eats with Julie Reiner Co-owner, Clover Club

Julie Reiner, Flatiron Lounge’s cocktail celebrity, has been staying up late serving New York’s lushes for 11 years—and has no problem designing a food crawl of wee-hours edibles. No problem, that is, other than a little separation anxiety. The new mother—who has been “too busy to eat” for weeks—is taking her first steps away from her “five-day-old infant,” Clover Club (210 Smith St between Baltic and Butler Sts, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; 718-855-7939. Open Mon–Thu till 2am; Fri, Sat till 4am; Sun till 1:30am). Lucky for us, she’s hungry.

Tiny Italian wine bar ’ino (21 Bedford St between Sixth Ave and Downing St, 212-989-5769. Open daily till 2am) has been Reiner’s postwork pit stop since it opened ten years ago. “If you get your order in by 1:59am, they’ll serve you,” she says, tucking into the popular truffled egg toast ($9), a thick slice of bread laden with fontina and a runny, saffron-yellow yolk, all drizzled with a deliciously funky truffle oil. “This is one of those things that you try once and then start dreaming about,” she effuses. The seven-table ’ino also turns out famously excellent panini—Reiner likes the tomato, mozzarella and prosciutto variety, which “you have to have with basil pesto”—for $11 each.

At Mamoun’s (119 MacDougal St between Bleecker and W 3rd Sts, 212-674-8685. Open daily till 5am), Reiner orders her usual: a chicken kebab sandwich ($4.50) and baklava ($1.50). “The sauce in this is ridiculous,” she says of the smoky tahini that coats morsels of browned chicken, slices of tomato and lettuce inside a warm pita. “And the baklava is absurd.” Indeed, the so-moist-it’s-dripping piece of nutty pastry makes her eyes roll with delight. The one problem: At 3am on a weekend, the small cave is usually more crowded with drunks than any bar Reiner has managed. “Yeah, see, I only come during the week,” she laughs.

Loosening our belts, we settle onto high stools at Reiner’s cozy Spanish “wind-down spot,” the candlelit Bar Jamón (125 E 17th St at Irving Pl, 212-253-2773. Open daily till 2am). There we opt for pan tomate ($5), a toasted baguette rubbed with a healthy dose of raw garlic and tomatoes—perfect vehicles for translucent slices of the buttery jamón serrano ($15 for a plate for two people). Why stop there? To complete the round of traditional Spanish fare, we order churros ($12)­—fried flutes of dough rolled in sugar and served with a cup of warm, cayenne-spiked bittersweet chocolate.

While the ambience at the gritty, cafeteria-like Great NY Noodletown (28 Bowery at Bayard St, 212-349-0923. Open Sun–Wed till 3:30am; Fri, Sat till 4:30am) isn’t worth a midnight pilgrimage, the steaming-hot, flavorful fare is. “Recently, I randomly ordered the Chinese flowering chives because I’d never heard of them, and now I’m hooked,” Reiner says. The novel kelly-green veggies—flatter and thicker than Western chives, with a much milder taste—come with a choice of shrimp, sea bass chunks, scallops, squid or beef ($10.95–$13.95). At Reiner’s urging, we order the house’s succulent roasted pork ($6.50) and a plate of crispy panfried noodles with chicken and black-bean sauce ($9.95) that alone could have sated four hungry diners. “Thanks!” chirps Reiner, as she heads back to Clover Club for the last few hours of service. “Now I don’t have to eat for two days.”Kate Lowenstein

Pichet Ong of P*ong and Batch | Sohui Kim of the Good Fork | David Waltuck of Chanterelle |

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Time Out New York / Issue 667 : Jul 10–16, 2008

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Comments

1. Posted by erin on Sun, Jul 26, at 02:49am

   Eater blows.

   Flag as inappropriate
2. Posted by J.A. on Tue, Mar 24, at 11:34am

   Hey guys, there is more to life than just Manhattan. Why don't you try coming to the "outer boroughs"!

   Flag as inappropriate
3. Posted by Donald on Sat, Jul 12, 08, at 9:31am

   The article was written by someone who didn't understand what Pichet Ong was saying. The writer talks about pad thai as though it means any and all Thai fried noodle dishes. But I think Pichet Ong was talking about a couple different kinds of noodle dishes, and it doesn't sound like either of them was pad thai! The article still makes the food sound good, but pad thai is never served with red sauce, even in the US, and is never stir fried for hours.

   Flag as inappropriate
4. Posted by Donald on Sat, Jul 12, 08, at 9:29am

   The article was written by someone who didn't understand what Pichet Ong was saying. The writer talks about pad thai as though it means any and all Thai fried noodle dishes. But I think Pichet Ong was talking about a couple different kinds of noodle dishes, and it doesn't sound like either of them was pad thai!

   Flag as inappropriate
5. Posted by Gary on Fri, Jul 11, 08, at 9:55am

   You guys should stop focusing solely on Downtown and Brooklyn. There are other parts of the city too.

   Flag as inappropriate

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