The Musket Room
Mary Attea rewrites this menu often enough that the MICHELIN Guide lists its favorites as past highlights: razor clam chowder with leeks, mackerel with tomato water, pork jowl with red eye gravy. You can take it as a prix fixe, as an omnivore or vegan tasting menu, or a la carte.
Why go
The Vitagliano sisters, Jennifer and Nicole, opened this as the first room of Elizabeth Street Hospitality in 2013, and it still sets the tone for the group.2 Attea runs the kitchen with chef de cuisine Noah Ponjuan, whose Louisiana roots the restaurant credits for the flavor and technique under the seasonal menu, and executive pastry chef Onika Brown, who owns the bread service as well as the desserts. The inspector describes a rustic, cozy room with Danish-style chairs, wood tables and a welcoming bar.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the vegan tasting menu if there is a vegetarian at the table, because the kitchen runs one alongside the omnivore menu. Otherwise take the chef's prix fixe and let Attea decide.
- Avoid: booking for a dish you read about somewhere. The plates named above are ones the inspector ate.
What locals & experts say
- MICHELIN Guide New York, on the kitchen:
Under Chef Mary Attea, the cooking keeps close watch over the seasons and changes frequently.
1 - The same inspector, on the floor: he calls the service easy yet informed, and reads it as matching the tone of the room.1
Good to know
- Booking: essential.
Verdict
should-visit — Book the format here and let the dish be a surprise. If you want control, take the a la carte and keep some. At $$$$ on the guide that is a lot to pay for a menu you cannot read in advance, and Attea has been at it long enough that I would pay it. Warm weather changes the answer, since the outdoor half is the better room.