Penny
Something fishy is happening on East 10th Street…
There must be something about them that draws me to Geminis, because I’ve spent the past weekend mostly preparing for or attending birthday celebrations, including a belated celebration of my own. (Thank you, Alex!) I love other people’s birthdays: I’ve found that the joy of having friends as an adult is that most of them are collected individually from all over life, which makes it all the more interesting when I’m in a room filled with strangers and acquaintances with only the love of one person connecting us. Here’s to those friends of friends—I’d say my friends have great taste.
Having said that, there’s nothing like being with the OGs, the people that saw me through my high school flannel shirt phase, and I’m so lucky that so many of them have ended up in the same city as me. Last week, fresh off of a lovely summer Friday spent seeing the Paul Klee exhibition at David Zwirner (it’s really good and closes this weekend!), I joined Viraj and Aiden at Penny, the raw bar that opened earlier this year above the buzzy East Village wine bar Claud.
Penny was one of those restaurants stuck on my hit list since it opened—there are too many d*mn restaurants in this city, and most of them lie forgotten in Notes app purgatory until I get a sudden wind of productivity. Or, in this case, Aiden does. Two days after bringing up Penny to me, Aiden (impressively) had a reservation lined up. Love it when others take initiative so I don’t have to.
Upstairs from the team’s first restaurant, Claud, Penny is its casual sibling, the pre- or post-game that’s a party in itself. The space’s large windows bring plenty of natural light and views of East 10th Street, which lights up the long white marble bar that runs along the entirety of the restaurant. While decidedly an upscale restaurant—I know this because their wine glasses had stems so thin I thought they would snap at any moment—the atmosphere and service provided a laid-back experience. Adding to this were the few standing-only spots in the restaurant that allow for a glass and a quick bite, creating the ambiance of a very fancy house party.
We ordered almost everything on the menu, and almost everything was worth it, but I’d recommend starting a meal at Penny with an ice box—raw oysters, countnecks, shrimp, mussels and scallop. Penny knows how to make seafood shine through complicated manipulation, like oysters confited in chicken fat, but the team also nails a shrimp cocktail. Apparently, the cocktail sauce took years to perfect, and it’s absolutely magical in a way that I thought cocktail sauce never could be.
The second item you must order is the sesame brioche paired with butter and anchovies. Yes, without the anchovies it’s one of the only dishes on the menu that doesn’t feature seafood, which makes it a nice way to break up the meal, but it’s also probably the best bread I’ve had at a restaurant in New York. (Bold claim but it’s true!) Its pillowy softness makes it a bit of an unusual choice to be served at a raw bar, but with that perfect bite of brioche and butter and anchovy, all is forgiven. We ordered this twice: once at the beginning and once a few glasses of wine in…
Beyond those two recommendations, you can’t go wrong with anything else. I’ve been on a potato salad kick recently after my friend Talia made an excellent one over Memorial Day weekend, and it turns out potato salad is even better topped with octopus (with some pickled daikon sprinkled in). Their stuffed squid, stuffed with tuna and chard with a satisfyingly spiced sauce, reminded me of Spanish tapas, while the dover sole had a possibly Japanese inspiration.
The confit oysters were perhaps one of the most interesting dishes of the night, oysters swimming in lip-coatingly rich chicken fat paired with creme fraiche and spiced Club crackers. I’ll be honest: I didn’t love it, but I do prefer my seafood on the fresher and lighter side, which this was not. But, I can appreciate when a restaurant accomplishes a flavor that’s rich and powerful, and I’m honored to have tasted it. The oyster pan roast, on the other hand, had the balance of fresh and rich that I was looking for. A version of a pot pie, it’s oysters and vegetables topped with an impossibly crisp puff pastry.
Finally, we ended the meal with the razor clams, since we wanted one last bite. Maybe it was a weird note to end on, but once again, don’t overlook the raw portion of the menu.
It’s a bit out of character, but it’s been a while since I’ve gone out to somewhere new to eat, especially for the express purpose of writing these newsletters. Instead, I’ve been enjoying the great outdoors and time with my friends, sans me asking them if they’d like to spend their life savings on a meal. Don’t worry, One More Bite will keep on chuggin’, but the vibe for this summer for me, if there were to be just one, is to take a chill pill and take it all in—a little less planning and fretting and a little more wandering aimlessly.
Luckily, Penny saves most of its seats for walk-ins. Easy breezy.
Bite it!
Definitely just try to walk in at Penny, but you may be able to snag a reservation on Resy, which releases one week in advance at 9 a.m. ET.