Interview: All the dish: how New York City restaurateurs are raising the bar and grill

Long associated with the sort of cooking that's an afterthought to the frosty mug it accompanies, "pub grub" has recently been seized by a handful of enterprising restaurateurs who have awoken to its possibilities. Whether you choose to call such places "gastropubs" (the unfortunate moniker the trend has been awarded in England) or simply "a bar and grill with good food," the following three operations prove that pub dining may soon come to mean a whole lot more than soggy fries and a tepid burger.

SWEETWATER

105 N. Sixth St., Brooklyn, 718-963-0608

Along with NoLIta and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, Brooklyn's Williamsburg has emerged as one of the city's most attractive areas for fledgling restaurateurs on the cutting edge. It's no surprise, then that it would prove fertile ground for a concept as revolutionary as a tavern where the grill is given equal weight to the bar. Such is the case with Sweetwater. It is located in what for years was a smoky dive, but its owners have spruced the place up by stripping it down and adding just enough paint and polish to reveal its most vibrant features: turn-of-the-century pressed-tin ceiling and walls and an ornate tile floor that slopes southward the further you head into the dining room. Add some Old sepia photographs and you have a nostalgic setting that's the perfect environment for the restaurants French and American standards. For starters there's a creamy potato-leek soup crowned with tasty oyster fritters, an appealing charcuterie plate with ample amounts of smoked and dried meats, and an unimpeachable frisee salad. Entree standouts include the hamburger served on an English muffin, with your choice of either Gruyere or a fried egg; the tasty sliced hangar steak with its tower of salty onion rings: or the Fred Flintstone-sized pork chop. For dessert there's one clear winner: the warm chocolate cake--drizzled with orange sauce and topped with whipped cream, it's proof that even the most unassuming places can challenge our assumptions.

SIDECAR

205 E. 55th St., 212-317-2044

Looking to capitalize on the success of legendary saloon P.J. Clarke's, its collective of recently installed owners transformed an upstairs office into what is now known as Sidecar. Accessible speakeasy-style through a side entrance--a door that opens only after patrons press an unmarked buzzer--the restaurant attempts to recreate Clarke's early 20th-century atmosphere while marrying it to 21st-century realities (comforts and service inclusive). In many ways it's a successful union. Sidecars large open space is a mostly restrained affair notable for its rough-hewn beamed ceiling and the salvaged antique bar that holds pride of place in the center of the room It s a straight-ahead approach that's in perfect harmony with the kitchen To begin the meat, there are fine Maryland crab cakes, meaty (if overly breaded) clams casino, and a tasty iceberg wedge with bacon and blue cheese. The roast chicken with parsnip puree and e recent special of Kobe-style hangar steak both proved satisfying entrees though the grilled lamb chops fall short of expectations. Desserts, unfortunately, can prove a problem as well, as demonstrated by the banana-coconut-cream pie recently sampled, which had clearly sat too long in the fridge. Stilt, solace can always be found one flight below in the form of P.J. Clarkes consistently reliable apple cobbler.

THE SPOTTED PIG

314 W. 11th St., 212-620-0393

One taste of chef and co-owner April Bloomfield's creative cooking and it's not hard to understand why diners are willing to wait an hour or more for a table at the Spotted Pig, heralded as New York's first official "gastropub." What is harder to grasp is how a restaurant that specializes in comfort food could be so very, well, uncomfortable. Cramped seating and an often raucous bar crowd spilling over into the dining areas detract from what under any other circumstances would be described as a pleasantly homespun setting. Still, it's testament to the strength of the Pig's kitchen that complaints are quickly silenced once the food arrives. The menu here changes regularly, so with the exception of a few hallmark items, a visit to the Spotted Pig generally holds an element of surprise. Over the course of several recent meals here, I was treated to a terrific Jerusalem artichoke salad, wonderful roast pumpkin splashed with balsamic vinegar, and the item that has quickly become the restaurant's signature: ricotta-stuffed dumplings in brown butter. Entrees range from a homey pork sausage with braised fennel, to moist roast striped bass in a parsley sauce, not to mention the Pig's deservedly famous burger nestled under a layer of Roquefort cheese. There's plenty to tempt in the way of dessert, but for my money you can't do better than the warm ginger cake: comfortingly familiar but with a spicy kick, it's everything a neighborhood pub should be.

Brad Goldfarb is Interview's executive editor.