BRADLEY HAWKS
Jinhee Park and Johney Han recently got engaged, and then they decided to open Nosh Borough.
“When we can make this restaurant work, we will set a date and make our marriage work,” laughs Park.
“For right now,” her fiancé interrupts, “we are just trying to do great slow food cooking — served fast.” They are no strangers to the restaurant scene in New York, and finally parted ways with their last kitchen to open their first independent endeavor.
Slow food is the antithesis of fast food. At Nosh Borough, their brisket is smoked for 12 to 13 hours, and they brine their chicken for two days in a special sugar and salt solution. Burgers are a house blend of brisket, ground chuck and sirloin — and they knock ‘em out of the park. Order one banh-mi-style and savor a marinated beef patty topped with a choice of sweet roasted garlic or tangy onion white sauce with lettuce, cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro, pickled daikon and carrots — or just try the Nosh Burger with cheddar, caramelized onion and bacon marmalade.
Chicken, pork belly and brisket are available as entrees served with side dishes and a biscuit, or you can have your meat served as a “wafco” — like a taco that uses a paper-thin waffle as a shell.
As supporting characters, roasted brussels sprouts with crumbles of bacon are fantastic, and so is the decadently velvety havarti and cheddar mac and cheese. Southern-style dirty rice is speckled with piquant sausage, collard greens are braised with salty bits of ham hock, and corn-on-the-cob is slathered with mayo and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
A creamy country-style sausage gravy can come on a buttermilk biscuit, or you can have it slathered on a pile of French fries and topped with pico de gallo. Now that’s a whole new kind of disco.
And they are also serving a pretty killer chicken pot pie, with the typical pastry crust replaced by a buttery crown of warm buttermilk biscuit.
Vegetarians will return for the vegetable tamales, which are built with masa and potato, a blend of poblano and guajillo peppers, earthy mushrooms, sweet onions, a dollop of crema, and pico de gallo.
Homemade desserts include a smooth, light and creamy cheesecake topped with seasonal fresh fruit — we devoured a slice loaded with fresh mangoes — or a crazy tasty peanut butter and chocolate tart which arrives like a Reese’s Cup on steroids, built on a blonde cookie crust.
If their first month is any indication, this sweet little shop on Astoria Boulevard between 21st and 31st streets is poised to score a grand slam, with an inventive all-star menu that changes monthly.
There is ample seating if you want to settle in after ordering from the counter. You can also order delivery from eat24hrs.com. They are even open for lunch. But however and whenever you do, we recommend you stop by and check ‘em out and show ‘em some love.
Nosh Borough
25-17 Astoria Blvd., Astoria
347-813-4677
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