Knife + Fork

Moved to Ave A. and 13^th… look it up!

RIP
You will be missed

An intimate spot with some excellent food. The six course tasting menu with wine pairing is the way to go ($ 85/​person). I would say half the dishes were standout, half simply pretty good, with no missteps. The wine pairings were serviceable if not inspired.
Unfortunately, I was informed they are closing soon, although they may re-​open in a new location (Chelsea?).

Had the tasting menu — and to be honest I think they are trying a little too hard. Couldn’t put my finger on it exactly — I had a whole bunch of dishes that made up the tasting menu — but there was no real flow or progression in the flavors. I think the place has potential — so not aiming to be too harsh — but would prefer them to stick to a smaller yet better executed menu before heading back.

Came here for a late afternoon wine and chat. The place was quiet, nicely lit with filtered light from the open entrances. White table cloths hadn’t been placed, so the reflection of candle light on the bare tables were quixotic. The place were a peaceful gem in the busy east village.
I suggest small plates and samplings of recommended wine, a lovely date required.

Went here for my birthday, and they did not disappoint.
The wine was great — they had my one of my favorites!
The food was good — We both ordered the $ 45 tasting menu. Everything interesting and original, with a lot of different tastes per plate. We each had one dish we weren’t crazy about (me, grilled skate; him, salmon sashimi), but 1 out of 6 isn’t too bad. My boyfriend commented that the portions were a little small, but he was still satisfied by the end.
The service was good — absolutely no complaints.
We will probably go here again once the seasons change!

We had an incredible evening here for Valentine’s Day last night. The staff was wonderfully kind and accommodating. The restaurant had a charmingly romantic and cozy ambiance. The Valentine’s Day tasting menu for $ 45 was a steal and outstanding.
Course 1: Blue Point Oysters with pickled ginger, quail egg, yuzu vinaigrette and shallot confit. A++ Absolutely Outstanding, I’ve been craving it since we left.
Course 2: Wild mushroom risotto with black truffle, mascarpone and red wine poached fig. B very good, but it needed a little seasoning
Course 3: Lamb Terrine with black olive tapendarde, cauliflower cream and pickled mushrooms. B+ really delightful
Course 4: Sea bass with aubergine caviar, fennel purée, carrots, confit shallots and edamame served with a saffron broth. B The fennel was a little overpowering, but the fish was cooked perfectly.
Course 5: Braised short rib with parsnip vanilla purée, red onion marmalade with foie gras, red wine and veal reduction. A++ Outstanding… I would live in that plate forever if I could have.
Course 6: Passion fruit, orange, lemon grass and ginger crème brûlée. B+ a nice way to end the evening.
Overall, we can’t wait to go back. It was wonderful and perfect for a quiet, romantic date! Plus, you can’t beat the prices!

Had the 6 course chef’s tasting menu for $ 45. They serve a 3 course $ 24 prix fixe meal before 7 PM.
The meal itself was pretty disappointing, as the flavor profiles didn’t have any semblance of a plan. All night we were eating nicely presented dishes that just lacked a memorable punch.
Starters:
Ginger Scallop on top of a seaweed salad in a Tom Yum soup like base — pretty bland but not overly awful. The scallop was still a little fishy tasting, and the seaweed was rather normal.
Lamb terrine — pretty decent dish, and there were a few interesting sauces that accompanied the dish.
Braised Pork Belly — a pretty good dish, first time having pork belly and it was pretty tasty. The fat melted in your mouth. One of the better dishes of the night
Main courses:
Sea bass in a saffron broth — The portions were not uniform throughout the four of our plates, so some got more than others. A few plates had bones still in the fish. The fish was cooked well, but the flavor was just lacking
Duck confit — best dish of the night. Excellent flavor and accompanied by flavorful sauces and chive mashed potatoes. If only all dishes packed the flavor of this one.
Dessert:
Passionfruite crème brûlée and irish coffee panna cotta — light and tasty, best part of the meal.
The restaurant is very small and had a big birthday party tonight at the wine bar, making it quite loud and crowded. Only several diners tonight as the place was booked up. For the price of a 6 course meal, it’s a decent restaurant, but the meal was just lacking tonight. We left rather unimpressed and slightly hungry.

Well, i was pretty disappointed in our meal here the other night. Everything looked great on the menu and for some reason I wasn’t worried about a 45 dollar 6 course tasting menu. I should have been. It was lousy. We honestly didn’t like any of the courses served to us. I certainly wouldn’t have ordered any of them from the menu.
Course 1: ginger scallop soup. boring, tasted like overpowering ginger.
Course 2: The cured salmon with lime, radish, and a seaweed salad. Yawn. At this point, i was ready for the meat to come out.
Course 3: The berkshire pork belly. Finally! Thank God. Wait… Somehow, this was boring and lousy. And i love pork belly, especially of the berkshire variety. It came with the apple compote, but not the fig salad described on the menu.
Course 4: A catfish dish that was just tasteless and uninteresting
Course 5: The loin of lamb with the chive mashed and garlic escargot. It came with a red paste that tasted like mashed up sun-​dried tomatoes. This course was OK, but just had too many flavors going on at once. This was pretty funny after suffering through 3 tasteless plates in a row after being jackhammered with ginger upon arrival.
Course 6: A measly portion of Orange Ginger Crème Brulet accompanied by some sort of Irish Cream Custard. Miserable.
Overall, the food just had no balance. Very regrettable.
There were only two people serving the food and running the bar and I must say that they did an incredible job with everything. Bravo.

I am surprised at the mixed reviews here. My fellow gourmand and I went last night on a whim. The restaurant was about ²⁄₃ full which is surprising given the excellent meal that followed. We tried the 6 course tasting menu for $ 45 and an excellent $ 60 bottle of cab. All in all a great deal!
We started with a cured salmon, topped with grapefruit, crème fraîche, wasabi and seaweed salad. It was wonderful, probably one of the best items with a sushi-​quality cut of fish. Next we had the porkbelly, then the foie gras appetizers, both excellent. Main courses were a sea bass in saffron broth and then a lamb with chive mashed potatoes over a garlic escargot. Dessert was a small crème bruleee and taste of egg nog pannacotta. I highly recommend this place if you enjoy good food!

I had the six course tasting menu at $ 85.
The way the restaurant opens out into the street makes it fabulous for a warm, autumn day.
The staff is really helpful and knowledgeable about the food.
You know how in «Top Chef,» the dishes with the Japanese soup spoon don’t do well? They had one dish where there was fish in the spoon that you poured on top of a pistachio sauce that tasted like melted popsicle.
However, the rest of the courses were great. What really stood out for me:
* a ginger risotto
* short ribs paired with a Malbec
* a perfectly cooked Chilean sea bass

Best of trip.
Just back from four very brief days in New York and this was definitely the highlight of the trip, foodwise.
Restaurant is small and pleasently dark. Staff are incredibly friendly and attentive. The waiter discussed vegetarian options — already one on the menu with and addiitonal modified meat dish — and made sure we were happy with all provided.
I had the risotto; wonderful. Others had lamb and beef and were very happy. Interesting flavors, distinctive tasting without being exotic for its own sake.
Did not have dessert. Couldn’t possibly eat more.
Appetizers were the size of the main course. But we ate both, happily.
Don’t miss the brown bread. Get some to take home. Get some to send to me.
Ah, if only we had this gem here in the Bay Area…

I know Jack N and his experience was slightly different from mine. Maybe it was because the place was virtually empty that everything else was a little better to me. This is really a 3.5 star review.
I was only with two other people so I had plenty of room in the «cramped» seating. Our party did the 3 course pre-​theater menu for $ 35 because I just came from a Memorial Day barbecue where I ate for about 4 hours straight. Maybe if I came hungry, I would be more discriminating. The Celtic bread they give you to start was delish. I didn’t think the dishes were too small, they were normal portions but then again, this wasn’t the tasting menu.
The three courses included Chicken risotto which Jack was right, lacking in meat. I thought it tasted pretty good. I think I was glad because I ate about 10 lbs of meat during the day (may be an exaggeration). We had fish for the 2^nd course which was good but I wish the server warned us that the aubergine caviar under the sea bass was spicy. I don’t expect caviar to be spicy but at least warn me.
Lastly, the crème brûlée was not cold but yes it was burnt. It tasted bitter and I usually love crème brûlée but I could not manage to finish it. Everyone in my party was glad we didn’t get the 6-​course. We glanced at another table and it did not look like it was much.

$ 45 tasting menu is a mix bag. Good scallops, bad risotto, decent duck, bad crème brûlée, and I wasn’t full in the end.
Jeff C. was lucky not to have ordered the tasting menu. If I had read his review earlier, I probably wouldn’t have either. But then again, everyone else in the group did, and I wasn’t about to deviate from the norm (but I know better next time).
First off, their tasting menu is really a «tasting» menu. You get a taste. Every dish that is delicious also make you wanting for more. Good examples are the scallops and the Long Island duck. The scallops had was so tender and delicious, and the duck was perfectly cooked. If I had the full size dish on those 2, I would have been plenty full. But instead, I got 2 pieces of scallops and 2 pieces of duck, which at best, only wet my appetite.
But here comes the bad part. The dishes that they screw up on, they really show the difference. The risotto is a good example. They use the biggest bowl you can possibly find to fill at best, ¹⁄₂₀^th of the bowl with risotto. The risotto was good, but was barely luke warm, and there wasn’t a lot of meat in there. I really thought it was a bisque bowl when they brought it out and I waiting for the bisque. Haha. Then there was the horrible crème brûlée. Not only was it cold, the top was burnt. Yes, I know it is suppose to be made w/​a blowtorch. But I think, at least for mines, someone set it on fire and eventually blew out the flames and decided to keep it and serve it. It was one of the worse crème brûlée I ever had.
They are lucky I’m nice, but I didn’t like their service much either. Our table was cramp and my chair was place just so that I have to move in every time they bring dishes to us. The least they could do is be nice about it, but nope, that wasn’t the case.
2.5 stars. If I continue to write, I might even drop the .5.

Just came back from dinner at this very nice and a little too cozy restaurant (depending on where you seat). place was dimly lit, server was friendly and always back to make sure that everything was ok.
We ordered the 6 course tasting menu;
scallop– can’t remember what was on it but there was 2 small and flat scallops, one tinier than the other. small in size, good in taste. also had a mini flat meat“ball” i think and a mini taco. yum yum
oysters– 2 chinese spoon full of stuff. both with oysters, i think there was lots of greens and one spoon had a half-​cooked quail egg. yum!
chicken rosotto– this was ok. however, chicken was very tender.
duck– skin was so good. meat was moist, not bad but not super awesome. fatty oily juicy skin was tasty! do not like the purple stuff on the side though. not sure/​cant remember what that was.
crème brûlée– orange rosemary brulee. it was served with the cream cold and i assumed it was made fresh but quickly frozen to achieve the slightly hard and thick cream consistency. it was not bad, but sugar tasted kinda burnt. looked burnt!
everything was served in mini portions but it was perfect for me. a little price to pay for creative food. place was lively and casual. i’m not crazily into this place but really, the good was good!

Now be honest, how many of you had just forgotten about this little dining room on East 4^th Street? It has been around since early 2006, and in these penny-​pinching times the headline has to be that the price of the chef’s tasting menu hasn’t changed: five courses, $ 45.
But is it good? Chef Damien Brassel earned a Michelin star at Peacock Alley in Dublin as a very young man. Somewhere along the way, he developed a passion for a more experimental approach, and for reasons unknown to me, he brought his skill and enthusiasm to a cramped kitchen in the East Village and tried his hand at cooking complex, multi-​layered dishes virtually single-​handed.
With mixed results, it had to be said. When I first visited, in the early days, I noted an awful lot of foams. I well recall a duck breast so tenderly cooked — sous vide? — that it was almost duck sashimi, and pungently scented with lavendar. I strove to be a fan, but the food was almost too challenging. I was also skeptical that one chef and a dishwasher could maintain standards at this level of ambition once the place took off.
So I made one of those armchair judgments — this can’t work — and waited to be proved right. Well I was wrong. One day recently I made up my mind to go back. The $ 45 tasting seems to be put together from the carte, with an appropriate downsizing of portions. First up, a silky risotto with tea-​smoked chicken and an «overnight» tomato tapenade. Brassel smokes the chicken himself, and the taste and texture are luxurious. I strongly believe this was followed by a really good scallop dish, but it’s absent from my notes so I may have dreamt it. I have incontrovertible evidence of pork belly however — a juicy slice paired with black pudding served the Irish way, in crisply fried slices. This dish, simple in conception but very tasty, reminded me of Richard Corrigan’s cooking at its best; and that is intended as high praise.
Pollock is a fish which has made a sudden appearance on New York menus, perhaps because it’s more economical to serve than cod. If it’s fresh and well cooked, that’s fine, and this was, with the skin nicely crisped. Lentils lurking beneath, and some sparkling fresh micro-​salad green things on top. On the carte, it’s paired with sweetbreads and served in a Veronique sauce.
It has been the season for short ribs, of course, and I’ve eaten my share. In fact, fresh from a disappointing rendition at p*Ong, I wouldn’t have ordered the dish at K+F; but the tasting is the chef’s choice, and I’ve have been wrong to miss it. Sourced from Elysian Fields, the meat was good — but preparing tender, long-​braised ribs is not rocket science. These were lifted above the norm by the depth and richness of the braising juices, whatever was in them; the sauce, at any rate, was veal jus and truffle, and there were slices of black truffle as a garnish. Also notable is the bread service: doorstep-​thick hunks of home-​made six grain Irish soda bread, dark, moist, malty, with a hefty crust. Loaves can be purchased.
Impressed, I returned to explore the carte. This provided confirmation that the tasting menu is the way to go. For one thing, with entrées around $ 28, a three course meal of your own choice costs more than the chef’s tasting. In individual dishes, Brassel gives himself a wider canvas and more freedom — not always a good thing. The use of very large, square white plates affords an opportunity to multiply the variety of ingredients in a dish, and unlikely combinations result.
Take the Hudson Valley foie gras. The firm texture of the three — was it four? — torchons arrayed across the plate persuades me that it is prepare inhouse. It’s good, although I found it useful to sprinkle a little of the sea salt which had come with the bread and butter. Each torchon was topped with a slice of blood orange, caramelized to crispness but with that slight gassy accent grilled fruit can develop. A very rich blood orange marmalade was also served, as well as some crisp pickled shallots. As a final touch, there was some Wylie-​esque gravel on the plate which I identified as cocoa nibs (the dishes aren’t described when they’re served).
I followed the foie with the lamb loin. Although Brassel’s skill was evident again here, with each component of the dish faultlessly prepared, the overall composition pulled in different directions. Lamb served over a stew of pearl barley and carrots is a taste of childhood for me. It’s a classic Irish, not to mention English and Scottish, combination. And yet the lamb here was rubbed with a Middle Eastern spice mix. The barley was touched with saffron. The main garnish was a large helping of tapenade, and there were crisp brussel sprouts, trumpet mushrooms, and some goat cheese in the somewhere too.
Working within the constraints imposed by the $ 45 multi-​course experience, Brassel is turning out food worth much more than he asks for it.
Your stomach and wallet will thank me.

Great deal at the bar $ 8/​plate for popular dishes such as the duck, pork belly, foie gras, etc. We weren’t hungry enough for a full meal so my friend and I shared 4 dishes and were surpisingly full afterwards. My favorite dish was the short rib — meltingly tender and much better than most places I’ve tried. The duck is well made — medium rare, and the pork belly is very tasty. The foie gras was actually my least favorite — a few too many things to dip it in but everything was well done. The portions are good, the food is tasty, and the service is friendly. This is a great neighborhood restaurant and I would definitely recommend the bar menu (of which many of the items are in the regular menu) if you’re not hungry enough for the tasting menu.

Best. Meal. Of. My. Life.
Honestly, and I have had lots. My boyfriend and I came here for Valentine’s Day and had the tasting menu. Risotto, pork belly, lamb, crème brûlée. Get your ass to this restaurant STAT.

Knife + Fork is a cozy, intimate, romantic little spot in the heart of the E. Village.
So naturally, what a cozy spot to have a nice Valentine’s Day dinner. The tasting menu was 4-​course prix fixe. The tables were only for 2 people, so all around the restaurant were couples, with dimly lit candles, and a nice selection of oldie love songs playing in the background. I loved the atmosphere. Although, if you weren’t seated at the booth along the wall, you were elbow-​to-​elbow with tons of couples sitting right next to you… so you could not really have an intimate conversation knowing the couples to your left and right could hear you (think cafeteria style).
It definitely was New American cuisine, as they mixed great flavors together to bring you new and exciting things. The first course was a chicken risotto — very delicious and full of flavor. Second course was Berkshire Porkbelly in an apple purée sauce with a cucumber salad — very tender, soft and tasted great. Third course was braised rib in a veal sauce with escargot and onion. Yum. The courses were just enough, and didn’t make you feel bloated at all. Finally, our dessert was a lemongrass ginger crème brûlée. I’m not a huge crème brûlée fan, but it was decent. I would have loved ice cream, or something more light and refreshing.
The only downside to the meal, is we got there around 9:05, and we were done with all 4 courses by 9:50pm. The courses came out extremely fast, even though I was hungry when I arrived. However, I will say the service is excellent, and the three waitstaff would ask us how each dish was. My bf went to the bathroom, and the waitress came to fold his napkin nicely back on the table.
It was probably because it was Valentine’s Day, and as we were leaving the place was crowded and everyone was waiting for their reservation.
I would come back to this place, as it seems like the menu offering is extensive and changes frequently. Definitely a hidden gem.

Really 3 ½ Stars.
My fiancée and I wanted to try this place with another couple (My brother and sister-​in-​law) and met with positive but mixed results.
Like most people, we all got the 6-​course-​meal for $ 45, My sister-​in-​law is a pescatarian, so she had to beg off all bacony, meaty dishes. ‘
The food was very good, not great, but solid. I particularly enjoyed the gnocchi and braised beef, while I did not like the fois gras (though my fiancée did). The Crème Brulee was fantastic, one of the best I’ve had.
The service was distant, occsionally describing the dishes, sometimes not. And despite few people at the the restaurant the servcie was slow and inconsistant (constantly the 3 meat dishes were brought out followed by the vegetarian dish a few minutes later). Also, we got hit for a $ 7 charge on flat water for a quarter cup each. Not too impressive there.
They had some delcious beers on tap including Youngs Double Chocolate Stout and a Trappist Ale.
Overall, a great deal for the price, the food was solid if not spectacular, but the lack of warmth and the overall pretentious feeling of the place bothered me a bit (which is way different than this review, which sounds mroe pretentious than it really is)
If you want a slow, relaxed meal in the east village where you can try a bunch of things, I recommend it highly, Just make sure you clearly ask for tap water.
Another Note: I don’t know about the regular menu, but they went out of their way to push the 6-​course-​meal on us.