RESTAURANTS • First Person
The bartender at Ridgewood’s low-key great cocktail bar, Sundown, leaned over as he sized us up on a recent Saturday night: “Rolo’s?”
A reasonable guess. Opened during the pandemic, Rolo’s has blossomed into one of the most exuberant places to dine anywhere in the city. The menu, by three Gramercy Tavern alums, is built around a wood-fired oven; what emerges from it ranges from great to unforgettable. The room always crackles with contagious energy. But Rolo’s also remains stubbornly impassable: A drop-by just after 5p on a recent weekend night found the entire walk-in-only front room completely claimed, and the maitre’d discouraging us from having hope going forward. (Weekends are often bookable a few weeks out on Resy.)
No, on this Saturday night we were headed to a tiny spot around the corner from Rolo’s, the latest reason to consider a trek to this corner of Queens. It’s called Plein Air (above), a restaurant so petite, onions are stored beneath the coat rack, and staff move a ladder around to grab bottles of wine racked precariously above the kitchen. It brings to mind a Montreal wine bar, a rarefied vibe I’m perpetually in search of (and always extremely pleased to find anywhere beyond Québec).
First to hit our table: a half dozen pristine Sand Dune oysters from Prince Edward Island, served with a dreamy mignonette. Then, chicken liver paté a FOUND tipster claimed “rivals Ryan Hardy’s at Charlie Bird” (confirmed) and a simple plate of thinly sliced Serrano ham served with sliced baguette. For mains, pork shoulder with white beans and salsa verde, and coq au vin, all washed down with a bottle of Marsannay pinot noir (Domaine Coillot 2020 for $97, the upper end of the list). C'est délicieux.
Plein Air is the sort of place where everyone ends up talking to everyone, whether you mean to or not. It turns out one server used to work at York Cellars, our favorite Dumbo wine store; the Ridgewood local at the table next to us comes here all the time (breakfast and lunch are also on offer) and observed, with no small amount of authority: “Everyone comes to Ridgewood for Rolo’s, but this place is better.”
I wouldn’t say better, but I would say “delightful” and “very much its own thing,” right down to the on-the-house Amaro shots that closed out our night. –Lockhart Steele
→ Plein Air (Ridgewood) • 6838 Forest Ave • Reserve.
→ Rolo’s (Ridgewood) • 853 Onderdonk Ave • Reserve.