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FORKPLAY October 31, 2016
Dear Friends and Family,
The firefighter who
inherited Chumley's
after the chimney next door fell and destabilized the jazz age pub had spe
nt eight years trying to get it reopened. Then a contractor introduced him to Alessandro Borgognone, the ambitious cook from the Bronx who dared to dream up
Sushi Nakazawa.
With its team of men
in black suits, the
counter
around the corner on Commerce Street did not look like any other sushi b
ar. Taking note
of Daisuke Nakazawa giggling and
painting cool slivers of fish behind the bar, the
Tim
es
Pete Wells quickly gave it four stars. Borgognone had
recently collected the local board's approval for his next neighborhood project.
No one could have predicted his new passion  would involve shoring up and gilding the lily at Chumley's, even quoting Simone de Beauvoir and William Faulkner in the press release that signaled the opening.
"I know how to get things built," Borgognone had
 said, offering his heft to Jim Miller, a firefighter who worked as a part-time bartender and wound up inheriting the shuttered Chumley's. "I get things built." Borgognone offered.
Alessandro is not very tall, but he dreams big. He  was cooking avant-garde Italian notions at Patricia's, his family's makeover of their popular Bronx pizzeria with its menu of Italian familiars, when a friend brought me to taste. Click here to read Patricia's: The Son Also Rises.
He was watching "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" in bed one  night when he announced that he would open a sushi bar. "You're crazy," his wife said. Now he had committed to restore Chumley's in nine months before the Buildings Department permit ran out. "You're crazy," she said again.
"We did it in eight months," he boasts. The Historic District does not permit a sign outside. Chumley's never  had a sign. Finding the door, slipping past the armoire, stepping into this astonishing recreation of a Chumley's that probably never was quite this grand is exciting. Just seeing the names on the vintage book covers that stretch in a lineup around the room makes me shiver. Theodore Dreiser, Somerset Maugham, Edmund Wilson, William Faulkner, my adolescent heroes.
When the wounded Chumley's shuttered, its  longtime curator James DiPaolo had stored the artifacts to preserve them. Not all the jackets once wrapped around Fitzgerald, Kerouac, and Salinger survived; some needed to be replaced or copied. DiPaolo consulted with the new self-appointed savior, showing him old house photos he'd stashed away.
"The room is square and utterly simple, with its little tables lined against the walls," Simone de
Beauvoir wrote. "But it has something so rare in America -- atmosphere." Alessandro had never been to Chumley's. There were only ghosts there by the time he arrived, just a bare white space created in the rehab, not even a floor.
Not everyone was thrilled by his fantasy of
Chumley's. It would not be the same modest pub and literary hangout after he decreed textured gold and black Venetian wallpaper, a green marbled fireplace, and seductive lighting. "What Chumley's in the '20s should have looked like," he told James Barron. Atera alum Victoria Blamey would design the food. The steak for two would be $150. Reservations would be taken online. It couldn't survive as only a bar, he noted, defending the swank and ambitious prices
Crafted cocktails would be mixology statements at $16. "These days drinks have to be more elaborate," he  points out. Indeed, my smoky "Just a Little Drink" is dazzling, definitely worth $16. In three sips, I'm already feeling wonderfully woozy from the mix of 12-year-old rum, amber agricole rhum, applejack, China Angostura, orange bitters and absinthe.
The three of us are crowded around a small,  bare mahogany tea table in a tufted leather corner (replacing bare wood banquettes). I've always had a crush on F. Scott Fitzgerald. Here he is with perfect profile in blowup overhead. Adding theater to our dinner too is Alessandro standing near, hissing commands to the waiters, confiding tales of his master-builder triumphs.
He insists on sending oysters with avocado mignonette. I suspect I'd be just as thrilled sharing the excellent foie gras terrine with ham hock, savoy cabbage, and a puddle of tangy apple cider gastrique, even if I weren't quite so coddled. The beef tartare laced with confit tomato and hazelnuts under a blizzard of grated Ombra cheese is excellent too.
There are only five entrées on the reproduction of  Chumley's hand-written menu. The "86'd Burger" seems a perfect choice to me -- its two patties with shallot crisps, the house's bone marrow sauce, and American cheese sliding off the bun may not sound like $25, but these masterly browned fries are the best I've had since I can remember.
The kitchen offers ocean trout with Hubbard  pumpkin and shishito peppers for those who must have fish, and an autumn tart for vegetarians. For us, crispy fried chicken perched on black trumpet mushrooms is more appealing. It doesn't need the cognac sauce, even though Borgognone's pleasure in the waiter's pouring it from a ceremonial silver teapot makes me giggle.
I usually ask the price when it doesn't say. Alas, the 30-ounce, 30-day dry-aged steak for two with  horseradish in Madeira jus is a very fatty mess at any price, never mind $150. Vanilla ice cream with parsnip and pistachio is not amusing either. But the raspberry ice cream sandwich inspired by the Carvel flying saucer classic makes up for the parsnip.
"There was no dessert at Chumley's," Borgognone  advises. He makes sure we notice the excellence of the espresso. "Look at that crema," he says. "One of my family members and his wife roast coffee in Brooklyn. But it's not just the coffee. It's the coffee maker and how the cup is packed."
The room is dark but there's an aura of neon light  surrounding Alessandro. It's the delight in surpassing even great expectations. And yes, he does have one or two other projects percolating. You'll know soon enough.
86 Bedford between Grove and Barrow Streets. 212 675-2081 Open Tuesday through Saturday 5:30 to midnight. Closed Monday. Food served only to customers who have reserved "for now."
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To see this week's BITE with all its photographs, please
CLICK HERE.
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Today's Forkplay colors are genuine leather camel and brown for brown study.
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The photographs of Chumley's oysters with avocado mignonette, the darkened front room, Alessandra Borgognone, the hamachi crudo, illuminated book covers behind glass, the reproduction of the original menu, beef tartare, the foie gras terrine, its 86'd burger with extraordinary fries, the fried chicken, the too-fatty steak, parsnip ice cream, and the shared ice cream sandwich may not be used without permission from Gael Greene. Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.
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