Sole Kitchen

When I was about eight years old, my father sat me on the butler's knee and told him "Son, your stomach is an exclusive supper club. Your tongue is the red carpet. YOU are the doorman. Be very selective about what, or whom, you let in past the door." I was already quite the little gourmand, but after I heard this stern lecture, I vowed to leave the culinary mausoleum that is New Orleans and live in the edible crazy quilt that is New York City. Since arriving two years ago I've taken my meals at hundreds of amazing restaurants, several of which are still operating. In this blog I'd like to share some of my discoveries with you.


A few weeks ago I had a great meal at The Dusty Skillet in East Bushwick (1272 Flatlands 3rd St., near the Rockaway Parkway L stop. No phone.) Owner Chris Gaines had worked in several Denny's in New Jersey before he became a raw-food devotee ("I burned my finger on a hot pan during a dinner rush. That was it.") He now serves all-organic, locally sourced meats according to the "paleolithic" raw-meat diet.



Here is the Berkshire trotter on ciabatta ($18), served with rocket and Kopi Luwak coffee beans from Brush Fire Roasters.The hoof meat was cold and chewy to perfection, the skin leathery with very few bristles.




I asked Chris whether there were any all-raw dishes. I was offered the pastured Heritage chicken feet on a pigfoot roll, clover garni ($20). The chicken toes were lightly stained with clover from the fields, which I licked off greedily.



I couldn't resist the Grand Slam Head Cheese Plate ($16), one full pound of homemade Berkshire head cheese, so fresh I could almost taste what the pig was thinking when it was slaughtered. Flecks of tender eye and jowl gave the cheese a nice marbling. All in all, an AMAZING meal!