Skeen's 5 & Diamond

Admittedly, I haven't done nearly as much legwork on the NYC dining scene as I did when I was in LA. Somehow not having any income puts a damper on dining experiences. Go figure. Additionally, I live so far uptown that whenever I tell people I'm in Morningside Heights, they stare at me blankly and reply, "You mean Harlem." Well sure enough, when I found out there was an upscale restaurant within walking distance, I made sure to give it a try.

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As I mentioned, having done hardly any research into 5 & Diamond, I had only vaguely heard that some famous chef was at the helm. I noticed the young, bearded man walking to and fro carrying ingredients, but didn't make the connection until I got home. Of course I also didn't realize all the drama that has attended Chef Ryan Skeen. Regardless of the chef's personality, if he can cook, I'm coming back.


Starting with the seared scallops with morel puree, fava beans, pea shoots and sherry vinaigrette, Chef Skeen was already on my good side--beautifully seared scallops at perfect doneness balanced with a hearty, earthy morel sauce and piquant vinaigrette.


The burrata and panzanella with tomato, arugula, melted eggplant, and nicoise olive was huge for a small plate. Unfortunately, such a large dish lacked substance. With something like this, each ingredient has to be able to carry a flavor load on its own and I wasn't getting enough from each disparate piece. In short, no unity of taste.


Iowa Farms Pork Loin with white asparagus, ramps, pickled blueberries. Does food automatically taste better if you reveal the origin of the ingredients? At first, I didn't think that Iowa Farms would be worth mentioning, but apparently it is. It's good to see independent farms. Doesn't everyone hate industrial agribusinesses? The loin was indeed tender and the accouterments were clutch. Pickled blueberries were a clever way to bring in the sweet along with the tart. This dish would have been been improved by some browning however. A few grill marks would've done wonders.


The Burger. That's all it's listed as on the menu. I may not have done much research, but I at least knew this was the burger that Chef Skeen had perfected at Irving Mill. A house-ground combination of beef cheek, flap steak, and pork fatback, the flavor was much more porky than beefy. It made for a juicy burger that certainly stayed on my lips for quite awhile, but lacked the deep beef flavor of Minetta Tavern's Black Label Burger. The waiter mentioned that the chef was experimenting with chips instead of the usual fries. The chips came with a barbecue seasoning fairly typical for barbecue chips. They will leave me forever wondering whether Skeen does his fries thick or thin.


Would this be considered deconstructed cheesecake with grapefruit, meringue and tarragon? Is it deconstructed because it is a cake in a bowl with no real crust? I'm never quite sure what the term "deconstructed" means, but since so many people use it, I'm going to go out on a limb and apply it to my dessert. Having no crust, the cheesecake would've lacked that signature grittiness that all cheesecakes have as the crust gets macerated along with the cheese filling.

Having heard all the news about Skeen's issues with the front of house staff, I would note that the service tonight was clumsy and sophomoric. The waiter didn't know the food well enough; he couldn't tell me what kind of cheese came on the burger. Another table asked him what "ramps" were and he was at a loss. Normally that is not such a huge problem, especially if he just admits he doesn't know and comes back later with the answer, but two in a row reflects badly on the restaurant. I was also the only table at the restaurant for about 45 minutes and still had to wait quite awhile for my food and drink service. This little service issues can certainly be ironed out and weren't bad enough to detract too strongly from the food, but I would be hesitant to come on a busy night when the waiters have even more of a challenge to juggle.

I'll come back for the food. But I'll come back just to support these kind of restaurants. There aren't enough upscale dining options in Harlem, and since downtowners lumps me in with the neighborhood, I should do my best to support it.

5 & Diamond
2072 Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Harlem, NY 10026
(646) 684-4662
$16 Burrata
$13 Scallops
$26 Pork loin
$13 Burger
$8 Cheesecake

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Amy Ruth's: My Secret Truth about Chicken and Waffles

Having been to Sylvia's back in 2008, I was determined to try Amy Ruth's to compare the two. Javier, aka Teenage/Glutster, was in town and tired of being told to try the ramen. Instead, we met up in Harlem for some Southern cooking.

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Soul food, a term typically describing cuisine associated with African Americans, developed in the 1960s. Much of its origins has roots in slave cooking, a combination of African techniques and ingredients and traditional throwaway foods of Southern plantations. As a result, much of the ingredients are untraditional and cheap, such as lard, chitterlings, pig's feet, collards, kale, and other offal. Since the food at the time needed to be calorically dense to sustain hard labor, soul food is commonly high in fat and sugar. This has led to some modern revision of traditional recipes with leaner meats and unsaturated oils. Personally, I'd rather keep the fatty hog jowls and lard and just cut back on the frequency of my soul food ventures.

When I glanced at the Amy Ruth's menu, I realized my embarrassing secret. Having lived in LA for five years, I had never gone to Roscoe's for chicken and waffles. I couldn't take it. For years I've had waffles and chicken, but never together. Even when the dining hall had instituted chicken and waffle night, I avoided the two combined. It seemed unnatural to me to combine them. I always had a natural aversion to eating breakfast foods outside of breakfast time, and I'd never eat fried chicken in the morning. To me, chicken and waffles would be like a tiger and lion fight. It would be interesting to see, but it would never happen because of the different habitats. Well here, at Amy Ruth's, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to make a stand here and get the fried chicken atop a crispy waffle.



We started with cornbread that would've been leaps better if it had been fresh or recently reheated. It's tough for me to eat cornbread before a big meal though. I like my cornbread with a tab of butter and a drizzle of honey. While great as a snack, the sweetness would deter my appetite. The cornbread at Amy Ruth's was good, but nothing special.

Javier was a tad more adventurous than me on the entree front. We shared his salmon croquettes with a side of steamed okra and collared greens. The croquette surprised me. I was expecting more of a crab cake, but got something more like a chicken nugget instead. Steamed okra, as you can imagine, was gooey and lacked much texture beyond slimy. I would've preferred it fried. The collards though, they were amazing. Stewed in what must have been smoked or salted meats broth, they carried a deep meaty flavor. If parents can't get their kids to eat their greens, just make them taste like green fatback.



My plate came out. Here was the moment. But what was I supposed to do, pour the syrup on the chicken too? Luckily Javier saw the confused look on my face and told me to pour a little syrup on the chicken and try it first. I took cut off a piece of the fried chicken thigh. Nicely fried, not too heavy that you taste the grease, but still flavorful. But it was the moment I put the forkful of waffle into my mouth that I knew what Amy Ruth's was famous for. Their waffles was delicious, simply the best waffles I've ever had. As Javier described, you could taste the intricacies of the batter and the cratered syrup made me smile with satisfaction. I had way too much to eat for lunch. A side of coleslaw pushed me over the edge. If I came back, I'd stick to the waffles in hopes of living a little longer by avoiding the fried chicken.

Amy Ruth's
amyruthsharlem.com
113 W. 116th St. (cross: Lennox)
Harlem, NY 10026
(212) 280-8779
The Rev. Al Sharpton (Chicken and waffles) $9.75

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