BWW Reviews: PULLMAN KITCHEN - On-trend Comfort Food

Read through the menu at Pullman Kitchen in Midtown East and glimpse through some of the better-known dining developments of the past few years: artisanal condiments, chicken and waffles, kale, and grilled cheese. This list may prompt you to look back over recent food trivia--after all, grilled cheese was GQ's 2011 Sandwich of the Year--but not before your mouth begins to water. Media aside, locally-sourced ingredients and elevated comfort food aren't passing fads, and personally, I'm looking forward to visiting the Pullman Kitchen fifteen years from now and enjoying the same waffle fries and spiked milkshake I enjoyed last weekend.

The Pullman Kitchen menu was devised with the help of Bruce Dillon, who was also part of the team behind the Buttermik Channel bistro. With its wood grain tables and matte metal chairs, the restaurant itself comes as close as any restaurant can to feeling like an oversized picnic--perfect for your inner child and, if you have them,your actual children. You're more than welcome to start with dessert, too; drinks like the Captain Crunch and Nutty Banana milkshakes are mainstays of the menu, and can be upgraded with shots of Sailor Jerry and Buffalo Trace.

Although the Pullman Kitchen offers appetizers such as a sweet potato pancakes and blue crab beignets, the restaurant's focus is grilled cheese and overstocked sandwiches. (The name is a giveaway; sturdy and versatile pullman bread used in several of the entrees.) The Pullman Classic is a favorite, with its sharp NY cheddar, beefsteak tomatoes, and optional Neuske bacon. The chicken and waffles are also rising in popularity, and the Pullman Kitchen recipe can seem more Southwest than Deep South: the waffles here are made of cornbread and the dish is garnished with pepperjack cheese. All of this is great if you're in the area for museums and shopping, or if you're headed across townafter a long day of work. More determined diners could try a sandwich that the Pullman Kitchen calls The Grilled Beast of Midtown Easy: a pile of cheese, meat, chicken and waffles, and more cheese and moremeat, all of it accompanied by a heap of house-made pickles and fingerling potatoes.

Sadly, I didn't get to see any bouts with The Beast (which weighs in at five pounds) when I last stopped by. From what I've heard, though, these contests seldom go as expected: 250-pound men have been known to give up about halfway through, while as of this writing, the last guest to devour The Beast (and receive the resulting meal discount and complimentary T-shirt) was a young woman who barely broke five feet tall. Entertaining enough, but I was more interested in Italian-inflected sandwiches such as the Little Italy and Sunday Supper. Classic Italian food hasn't been getting much hype recently, but maybe Dillon and his colleagues--who use ingredients such as sweet fennel sausage and house-made ricotta in these two recipes--are onto something. Count on an eatery that can assimilate trends, and will apparently outlast them, to be ahead of the curve.

The Pullman Kitchen,959 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10022

Phone: (212) 888-7404

www.thepullmankitchen.com

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Pullman Kitchen

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