HIGH STREET ON HUDSON

THE BEST BREAD IN TOWN DESERVES OUR SUPPORT

High Street on Hudson in NYC was the last restaurant I dined at before the global COVID-19 shutdown. It was an optimal—albeit unintentional—farewell to a way of life that so many of us took for granted. At their base, restaurants are places to order and eat food. But they also offer connection, community, and storytelling. The direct line to farmers and local suppliers is felt through intimate conversations on history and agriculture with servers, GMs, bartenders, and somms. For gourmands, this is the most sorely missed aspect of normalcy. But before social isolation forced us away from each other and back into our own kitchens (and inexplicably introducing the masses to breadmaking) the bustling neighborhood hub of High Street on Hudson was the go-to West Village spot for all things bread—sticky buns, bagels, and chocolate babka among its top sellers.

*Acclaimed baker Melissa Funk Weller is known for her bagels.*

It's easy to have high standards for bread these days. Gone is the era of pre-ordered, bleached- and enriched-flour loaves delivered to restaurants in twist-tied plastic; thrumming back is the revived ritual of daily baking. Natural yeasts and housemade sourdough starters have become the bedrock of nearly every discerning brunch hub (before they hit our own kitchens). Charred, hardy crusts with sticky, soft centers have become the prized side to artfully-plated entrees at highbrow dining tables. Bread is here to stay.

*The front of the restaurant functions as a coffee shop.*

So then, what sets a particular restaurant's bread apart? If nearly every establishment is offering le pain quotidien, what's all the hullabaloo about High Street on Hudson?

Watching the career trajectory of well-established boulangeres Melissa Funk Weller, it's clear her interest in making dough from scratch predated the current trend—perhaps even, hers was one that led it. With grocery store shelves void of panic-bought all-purpose flour, it's safe to say that novice breadmakers are learning the art with a staple that is easily discarded. But if you're Weller, you're baking with select locally-grown and -milled grains—and you undoubtedly have the expertise to do so. Weller championed the seed-to-table bread movement years ago as head baker at Per Se. She has also led baking at Roberta’s, Smorgasburg, Sadelle’s, and Philadelphia's Walnut Street Café. In 2019 she joined High Street on Hudson, the all-day dining hub nestled between NYC's charming West Village and the city's recently repolished Meatpacking District.

This café-in-a-restaurant offers three menus a day: grain-focused breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In bringing on Weller, the corner-perched neighborhood eatery became a sensation for those hoping to salvage their beloved dough in an increasingly gluten-free era. To understand the phenomenon, let's tease ourselves and imagine a day at High Street: breakfast includes eggs on sage-black pepper biscuit. Lunch? An avocado, egg, and watermelon radish tartine on einkorn bread—or, soup with Fougasse, a Provençal bread, chewy like focaccia and crispy like a baguette. Then comes dinner: skillet chicken with "crispy drippings" bread; fennel pollen, garlic, and rosemary to garnish—or, a bone marrow burger with caramelized onions. Dessert can be any pastry displayed in the entry-way café. My favorite is the strawberry Financier (below). Someone, please turn back time.

*The Bodega: eggs, aged cheddar, breakfast sausage, spicy mayo, sage-black pepper biscuit*

High Street on Hudson's conscious-cultivation focus transfers from menu to cup. The beverage team brings in low-intervention wines such as Dirty and Rowdy's "untinkered" bottles, Standing Stones' Saperavi—which is sourced from "plantings rooted deep in the shale slopes that define the Finger Lakes region"—and Day Wines' Vin De Days skin-contact L'orange. Sommelier Jordan Salcito (former director of wine special projects at acclaimed Momofuku) predated the explosive wine-in-a-can trend with her Ramona rosé spritzers; these too are found at the cornerstone restaurant.

One feature that often sets cherished eateries apart from chain establishments is strong collaboration within the seed-to-plate community—often in the form of pop-up events or weekly themed nights. Last Fall, critic-favorite Joe Beddia brought his beloved #PizzaCamp event to High Street on Hudson. The best pizza in America. That evening, the team poured Matthiasson Wine's 2017 Tendu—a wine which the growers say "bears an agricultural stamp" as fresh and alive as produce from a farmer's market. The ensuing pizza popularity birthed the Hudson Street restaurant's "Women in Wine Pizza Nights" where patrons purchase tickets to support oscillating local causes—each centered on supporting women in the industry.

*High Street on Hudson has each day’s New York Times for guests to enjoy with their coffee and pastry. An appreciated touch.*

New York City has been one of the hardest-hit by the coronavirus. It's deeply dispiriting to see the effects the pandemic has had on the local restaurant, winemaking, and farming communities. Unlike in other cities, those in Manhattan don't have the option to continue take-out orders or to offer delivery through apps. The devastation is all-encompassing. To keep their staff supported, owners Ellen Yin, Eli Kulp, and Melissa Weller have made gift cards available online with 100% of the proceeds going toward paying their hourly staff. If you have the means, this is a place that certainly deserves some relief.