At Sungold restaurant in the Arlo Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn, N.Y., seasonality is the menu mission. And right now, that means making the most of the first spring vegetables that are popping up from the ground.
But this year has been more challenging than most, said Michael King, the restaurant’s chef and procurer. The unusually cold and snowy winter in the Northeast has delayed some of his favorites, like ramps, and he’s had to adjust the menu a bit.
“I’ve spent a lot of time at the Union Square Greenmarket [in Manhattan] and got to know the vendors there, so they let me know when produce comes in,” said King. “We try to source locally when possible.”
Despite the delay, Sungold made a seasonal switch last week, offering new dishes starring spring-dug parsnips, asparagus, radishes, morels and more.
Flavor first
“The goal with market vegetables—especially those that won’t be around as long—is to enhance the natural flavor, not overshadow it,” said King. He explained that spring-dug parsnips are ones that stay in the ground over the winter, which concentrates the sugar and turns the vegetable sweeter. “We cook the parsnips and then make a simple, creamy puree with a secret amount of butter,” he said. “The puree is served with our wood roasted chicken entrée, which we finish in the pizza oven.”
Asparagus is also cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven. “We blanch them very briefly and don’t shock them in ice water. We just lay them out to drain, which is very un-French of us, but it keeps them drier. Then when we roast them in the pizza oven they get a nice caramelization,” said King.
The asparagus go into two dishes: a side called Wood Oven Asparagus with bagna cauda and preserved lemon aioli, and a white pizza topped with a little mozzarella, a lot of aged provolone, the asparagus, chili flakes and a sprinkling of lemon zest.
Morels just came on the market, and were immediately added to the new menu as a side called Spring Mushrooms with onion soubise and fiore sardo—the latter a firm, sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia.
Chef King's shallot tattoo reflects his love of vegetables.
King is also preparing a pasta dish with the morels. “I discovered this new ingredient called a three corners leaf, which is like a very tiny leek,” he explained. “Since ramps are not quite ready, I’m using this instead.”
To highlight the flavor, the kitchen cooks the leek-like leaves on the grill then chops them up to build the sauce for the pasta. “You get some of that ash flavor as well as the nice bright taste of the leaves and it pairs well with the morels,” said King. The combo is tossed with house-made long chitarra pasta, named for the guitar-style wires used to cut it and finished with preserved lemon.
Another new side that more or less bridges winter and spring is Ash Roasted Sweet Potato with tahini, radishes and Calabrian chiles.
Looking ahead
Showing up soon are artichokes and fava beans—two well-loved spring vegetables that King intends to put on the menu but will leave the prepping to his kitchen team. “Not my favorites to process—very time-consuming,” he said.
And as spring turns to summer, the chef is looking forward to tomatoes, especially the restaurant’s namesake Sungolds. “Bucatini pasta with tomato confit is one the favorite dishes I've ever created,” said King.
He also brings in an assortment of heirloom tomatoes that go into dishes that you might not see at other restaurants, like the ubiquitous tomato burrata salad. Last summer, Sungold offered a tartine with a variety of tomatoes.
“I also really like peppers of all kinds, both sweet and spicy,” said King. “They're similar to tomatoes in the sense that there's so many heirloom varieties that you don’t see year round. Tomatoes are pretty easy. Peppers, a little bit more of a challenge to get creative with, and that's something that I'm excited about later in the summer.”