Last year, Upper West Side comfort food shop Say Cheese won our approval for their exemplary grilled cheese sandwiches. Now, they're passing the Dutchie to Amused, their new weekend pop-up restaurant geared towards comfort foods. It's a menu that seems to be geared toward those of us who may favor a toke or two of some sweet ass grass.
Take the Pig in a Pretzel ($12), for example, a kosher beef hot dog inside a pretzel nugget topped with mustard. Or the Truffle Popcorn ($8) with frizzled herbs or Black Angus Beef Mini Corn Dogs ($8) with Cracker Jacks or String Bean Frites ($9)—aka fried string beans—served with green goddess dressing. And then there's the Ramen Carbonara ($16), a rich mix of ramen noodles, peas, pork belly and a poached egg in a carbonara sauce, cheekily served in a Cup Noodles-style serving vessel.
They're sticking by their grilled cheese roots, too, offering many different styles of sandwiches from Monteray Jack-Muenster-Pesto ($10) to Smoked Gouda-Fig ($12) to a Baby Cuban ($11) with Swiss, Muenster, mesquite beer mustard and house-made pickles. Those sammies can also come as Grilled Cheese Sliders ($4), served in handy wax-paper bags marked with each of the ingredients in the sandwich.
Here you'll find cocktails with beer, wine and sochu instead of hard liquor. There's one called the Rx Party Starter with blackberries, lime juice, sochu and mint, served in what look like little bottles of cough syrup. Off-putting, but practical considering it's cold season at the moment. There are also beer cocktails like the Ginger Panache with light beer and sparkling lemonade, plus bottles of Mother's Milk stout, Southampton Double White Ale and Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold.
142 West 83rd Street, 212-799-0080; website. Note that the restaurant is open Friday (6 - 10 p.m.), Saturday (5 - 10 p.m.) and Sunday evenings (5 - 9 p.m.) and again for brunch Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cash only.
