Smithereens

Smithereens opened pretty recently in last November, and is from chef Nick Tamburo (Claud) and beverage director Nikita Malhotra (Momofuku Ko). This is a New England-style restaurant focused on fresh seafood and some different types of cocktails. Their wine list is pretty extensive, and they also have some pretty interesting glasses of white wines as well. I was able to book a reservation for 5:30 PM for 2 on a Friday evening about a week in advance. The restaurant is located in the East Village off 9th Ave, and it’s located in half floor basement of a building.

Ambiance & Service

The ambiance has a tavern like feel. We were seated in a 2 person table towards the front. My partner had the couch which was probably comfortable, and I sat on a small back-less stool. The tables are relatively close to each other, so once diners come in, the crowd noise can get pretty loud. Throughout the course of the night, I wished my stool had a back to lean on.

The service was pretty good in that the wait staff recommended good wines and dishes. However, I checked with them if we had ordered enough dishes (5), and they said that was just enough with room for dessert. Suffice to say, we couldn’t make it to dessert because the bread and beans course was quite filling.

Food

The Cape Codder ($18) came with citrus vodka, cranberry fassionola (fruit-flavored syrup), and tonic. They put some type of grass on top of the ice, so it gives it a nice grassy smell when you’re drinking this. The actual drink itself was nicely flavored and balanced.

The Martha Stoumen ‘Honeymoon’ ($24) came from Redwood Valley, US 2022. It was a blend of 2 grapes, Chardonnay and Colombard. The dry wine had a unfiltered appearance, and the finish was quite tasty. It had some acidity to it, but it had a decent amount of minerality, tree fruits, and earthy tones. My partner surprisingly really enjoyed this probably due to the crisp and notable tree fruit notes.

The Buckwheat Pancake ($24) came with smoked fish. The buckwheat pancake was laying on top of a flat spread of smoked fish. There was definitely a decent amount of smoke, and the seasoning was definitely leaned a bit towards the saltier side. Despite the seasoning piece, the overall flavors of this were quite enjoyable. My partner, who is a fan of smoked salmon, adored this. We cut slices into the pancake, flipped it over, and re-scooped the fish and spread it on the pancake.

The Beans ($36) came with red shrimp, squid, and sea urchin. This was one of my partner’s favorite dishes as it reminded them of their childhood where their relatives would make fava beans with various seafood ingredients in it. The flavors were very rustic and had plenty of nice seafood flavors from the shrimp and squid. The sea urchin was probably more decorative than adding overall flavors. The seasoning was balanced.

The Anadama Bread ($9) came with seaweed butter. The bread was really good, and they intentionally served this with the beans above instead of the first course. We soaked the bread in the beans’ broth, and it was very delicious. The seaweed butter did not have potent seaweed flavors, but it was very delicate and still very good. To this date, I still think the best seaweed butter I had was at The Smyth in Chicago.

The Hot Fried Fish Collar ($25) came with 2 large pieces of fish collar, fried, and drizzles in some hot chili oil. We thought the chili oil reminded us of dende oil. They intended this meal to be similar to eating fried chicken, but I think that concept failed pretty quickly. The difference with chicken and fish collar is that the bone sizes are much bigger. The fish collar still has little bones that you need to be careful of. In addition, the meat is dense, but you need to know how to navigate around the bones. The batter was also very thick, so it was difficult to discern what was skin versus what was batter. The fish collar wasn’t prepared the right way, and it showed when it came out slightly on the fishy side. The one saving grace of this was that dill dip on the side. It was a very bold, cooling flavor, though the fish collar wasn’t particularly flavorful from a seasoning perspective nor was it spicy. I’m sure this was an experimental dish, so we gave some feedback to the staff on this.

The Roasted Monkfish ($38) came with red wine and spinach. The monkfish was served with 4 pieces and a bone. The one had some meat on it to nibble off of. The monkfish was cooked very nicely. The red wine sauce though had some peculiar flavors, and the seasoning was extremely salty. Combined with the monkfish, it was tolerable, but by itself it was very hard to eat. My partner, who has a very salty tongue, said the same.

Final Verdict

Smithereens has some potential, though it feels like they are still experimenting with seasoning and flavors. Perhaps the restaurant is still trying to find its groove because some of their dishes have some issues. Nonetheless once they find their cadence, I’m sure this restaurant will be a very hip spot since it’s already starting to attract a crowd. Some of the dishes sound great in concept, but the execution still needs some work.

Yelp Jabs

I’d pass on the beans though as they’re a little stodgy and eclipse their more thoughtful broth.

The beans was definitely a more rustic dish. Even though it had good seafood meats in it (shrimp, squid, sea urchin), the beans definitely was going to be dependent on people’s preference. I agree with the Yelper in that the broth was much more delicate, but at the same time my partner really enjoyed the beans. I can see both cases, and I did enjoy the beans as it was presented.

I wish I wrote down how this was prepared, because they explained it in impressive detail. Definitely something about pork fat, prepared in the style of something that is quite different from seafood. Few fish could hold up to this preparation, but the meatiness of monkfish really works.

They changed up the monkfish dish on our night, but monkfish is a very dense meaty fish. It literally can be eaten as a steak. I can see how they are trying different ways to prepare the meat, but what matters the most is going to be how it tastes at the end. If the monkfish meat tastes literally the same with and without pork fat, then the story doesn’t really matter much.

Revisions

1. Feb 21, 2025 - Initial revision.