Upcoming Events

Later this summer, for one night only, we're going to be the best, funnest, cheapest, and least abusive steak house in the country. With that end in mind we've been researching the finest beef in the land, making some friends in green places, and conspiring. I'm having a strategy session with our butcher, Jeffrey Ruhalter, next week. We're going to order rib steaks from six of the best farms and ranches, from Pennsylvania to California, and narrow down our choice to the best of the best of the best. After Jeffrey works his dry aging magic, it will be time to eat. Be ready for a simpler menu and wine list, and a friendlier price than last time.

We're also thinking about combining meals and classes. How would you like to come to hog butchering class, led by Jeffrey, followed by a Berkshire pork roast and Belgian ale tasting? Let us know what you think.

And I wanted to share the menu from a private dinner we just served, the first of the summer:

-white neapolitan-style pizzas with prosciutto, fennel, and ramps

-bourride (Mediterranean fish soup with sea bream, leeks, swiss chard, aioli),
side of kale with shallots and blood orange

-mixed greens and edible flowers, honey grenache vinnaigrette

-financier cake, vanilla cognac ice cream, fresh berries

March 22 Dinner, pictures and press

We've posted some pictures here. All the pics in the top and bottom row are by Jothan Cashero.

Maggie Shi wrote about the meal on The Scout.

And Nikoya Lightbourne has posted a full reoport on her blog.

Stay tuned for more!

March 22 Dinner

The dishes have been washed and stowed, the candle wax has been scraped from the windowsills, wine glasses have been recovered from odd corners of the loft, and the last remnants of lamb coulis and celeriac purée have been scoured off the copper pans and the ceiling. Surveying our notes we see there were no fisticuffs, no looting, and nothing but bare bones sent back on the plates to the kitchen.

In other words, a fine evening.

Special thanks to Jeffrey Ruhalter, our master butcher and sideshow artist, who secured for us a lamb from one of the two most lauded farms in the country for pennies on the dollar, and then stepped in to help on all fronts when the director of the eGullet society cancelled his appearance. Jeffrey was so enamored with the food and beautiful, drunken guests, that he wants to forge a permanent partnership with underbelly. So look for announcements about future collaborations.

And many thanks to chef Mitch Weinstein, for the hors d'ouevres, for the many strategy consultations, and for his tireless help on game day. And to the lovely Elizabeth Spackman, who kept the dinner running smoothly and kept smiling in spite of near-hallucinatory sleep deprivation.

Thanks most of all to everyone who came for dinner. Without you it would have been a pretty lame party.

For a copy of the night's menu and wine list, click here.

First Dinner, Sunday March 22

We're going to launch with a recession-friendly dinner later this month.

We've been working hard these last few months sourcing ingredients from the Hudson Valley and Pennsylvania, and making special arrangements with our friends and local purveyors.

The menu will include:

assorted hors d'oeuvres

corn chowder with porcini cream

roasted rack of Jamison Farm lamb,

lamb coulis with lapsang souchong,

hen of the woods mushroom

celeriac and fennel purée

salicornia with lemon butter

home made bread with farm butter by Saxelby Cheese

chocolate marquise with ginger

banana tart with black sesame, brown butter cognac ice cream, salted butterscotch

a succession of four wines selected by our sommelier to make you very happy.

(details may change subject to ingredient availability and last minute tinkering)

The lamb is being raised by what we believe to be the best lamb farm in the country. It will dry aged for us by our master butcher, Jeffrey Ruhalter.

The suggested donation is $70.

(the wine alone would cost more than this at a restaurant!)

To make a reservation, please send an email to dine@under-belly.org. There will only be fifteen seats so please reply soon.

A portion of the procedes will benefit the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts and Letters.

The dinner will take place at our home base in a rustic, Civil War-era Brooklyn brewery that's been taken over by artists, We'll send you all other details when you RSVP.

Welcome. This blog will report on past and future goings on at underbelly. Stay tuned.