From the softball-size hulks at Apizz and Gramercy Tavern to the tiny sliders served at The Little Owl and Locanda Verde, meatballs have been gaining big momentum on restaurant menus. Now, with the recent opening of The Meatball Shop on the Lower East Side — which is drawing large crowds to Stanton Street — the craze appears to have hit its zenith. These days, it’s not uncommon to find humble renditions at see-and-be-seen hot spots such as Brinkley’s and Abe & Arthur’s, “meatballs” made with nontraditional ingredients like tuna (as a special at Esca) and even a “spaghetti & meatballs” cupcake at Ruthy’s. We combed the city for the latest and tastiest spins on the home-cooked specialty. Get ready to play ball!
Japanese balls and beer
Salty snacks and premium Japanese beer on draft (Hitachino White Ale, Sapporo) are the draws at Jeffrey Chodorow’s new resto-lounge Tanuki Tavern in the Gansevoort Hotel, whose menu is modeled after an “izakaya,” or Japanese pub. Not surprisingly, the vast menu’s No. 1 seller is the $7 chicken meatballs — “tori dango” — with a crispy rice crust. Reminiscent of the fried Italian rice balls known as arancini, they’ve got an addictive crunch thanks to a coating made from sushi rice mixed with vinegar, kombu (Japanese kelp) and a touch of mirin (sweet rice wine) and sugar. Perfect popped in your mouth and washed down with a glass of beer.
Tanuki Tavern, Hotel Gansevoort, 18 Ninth Ave.; 212-660-6766
More than 1,000 meatballs
A hit since opening last month, Lower East Side eatery The Meatball Shop is doing a bustling business, thanks to a ridiculously tasty assortment of meatballs that can be mixed and matched with all manner of sauces, sides and sandwich breads.
Former high school pals Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow reunited to open this runaway one-hit wonder, which resembles a rustic wine bar with modern touches.
• Meatballs by the numbers: Each day, Holzman and his growing staff (“We started with five cooks and now we have 35 on the schedule”) shape and sell more than 1,000 meatballs. Think beef, spicy pork, chicken, salmon and veggie, plus a weekly special (next up: special balls for Passover).
• Best balls: Our favorites include pork flecked with hot pepper and chicken redolent with rosemary and fennel. Perhaps the easiest way to sample them is by ordering half a dozen tiny sliders ($3 each) — although the menu’s latest addition, “The Smash,” is a pretty perfect meal: two balls pressed onto a brioche bun and served with sauce, cheese and a side salad ($8). Then again, they’re also pretty darn good on top of an addictive mash of white beans or even a healthy side of steamed spinach.
• Getting in: Now, if only you can manage to find a seat at the large communal table that runs the length of the dining room (there’s also bar seating and a handful of small tables). No reservations are taken, so your best bet may be lunch. (The restaurant takes a break from 4 to 5 p.m., Friday to Sunday.) Well, at least there’s always takeout.
The Meatball Shop, 84 Stanton St.; 212-982-8895
Meatballs like Mama used to make
You’ll find Sunday night meatballs on the menu at hip Italian restaurants such as Hearth, but none may be as soul satisfying as the ones being served by chef Jason Zukas at Charles in the West Village. His new Sunday dinner menu features a star-studded lineup of Italian-American classics, including rigatoni with Sunday gravy, which starts simmering around noon. Rich with meatballs (a classic mix of ground veal, pork and beef) and sweet Italian sausage, the gravy is deep in color and flavor. The resulting plate of rigatoni is amply sauced and served with a scoop of herbed ricotta, a link of sausage and two large, intensely meaty rounds ($21). “This is what my family ate every Sunday,” says Queens-born Zukas.
Charles, 234 W. 4th St.; 212-206-1208
Meat with, ahem, balls
Chef Cesare Casella first whipped up his duck meatballs stuffed with pecorino fresco at last year’s Meatball Madness competition at the NYC Wine & Food Festival. We declared them our favorite, so we were happy to learn that they’ve recently made it onto the Friday night menu at his Upper West Side tapas spot Salumeria Rosi. For his duck meatballs ($11; available March 26), Casella grinds the whole bird — including innards — to produce a dish with rich complexity. Casella, who frequently experiments with new meatball recipes, almost always uses the whole animal: His lamb meatballs, on the menu Friday, have even been known to contain a little, um, male organ meat. But the easily squeamish should take note: “It’s not something you taste, like ‘this is pepper or salt,’ ” laughs the chef.
Salumeria Rosi, 283 Amsterdam Ave.; 212-877-4800
Cambodian-style meatballs
Chef-owner Ratha Chaupoli has been experimenting with meatballs for some time now, first at his Cambodian restaurant Kampuchea and now at his Union Square sandwich shop Num Pang, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. “I’m infatuated with meatballs,” says Chaupoli, who brings Asian flair to the Italian meatball by throwing jasmine rice, Thai basil and hoisin sauce into the meaty mix, and stewing the result in tomatoes. He’s made his meatballs with pork, duck and now veal. Served on a baguette with cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and chili mayo ($6.75), the sandwich features a lively interplay of salty, sweet, sour and hot flavors. Back at Kampuchea, Chaupoli has an even cooler trick: He wraps the same meatball around an egg yolk, which oozes out when broken with a fork. “It’s like eating an egg within an egg,” says Chauopoli of the $11 dish, which must be ordered in advance.
Num Pang Sandwich Shop, 21 E. 12th St.; 212-255-3271
Balls with a Korean kick
Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park is emerging as a dining destination thanks to the arrival of eateries like Purple Yam, a modern-looking Filipino/Pan-Asian restaurant with a wide-ranging menu. Developed by Korean kitchen staffer Haegeen Kim, the $9 Korean meatball sandwich is rich, spicy and gloriously messy. A mix of ground pork, chopped kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage), ginger, garlic, scallions, diced carrots, sesame oil and salt, the meatballs are fried then finished in sweet pepper sauce and served on a purple yam flour roll with julienne carrots, jicama, cucumber, lettuce and sesame seeds ($9).
Purple Yam, 1314 Cortelyou Rd., Ditmas Park, Brooklyn; 718-940-8188
Meatballs straight off the farm
Blue Ribbon Bakery specializes in simple, well-executed American and French fare — steak tartare, fried chicken, endive and watercress salad — so when it comes to menu specials, chef Sefton Stallard likes to get creative. He often gets whole animals delivered from small farms in Vermont, and sometimes those goats, rabbits and pigs get turned into meatballs. His latest creation is an earthy dish of rabbit and veal meatballs served with sweet potato gnocchi, Brussels sprouts and a rich sauce made from white wine, veal-and-rabbit stock and cream ($15). Old-fashioned veal kidneys, a classic dish not frequently seen on today’s restaurant menus, lend a touch of gaminess to the lean yet flavorful rounds. “When you buy product from these smaller farms you want to use everything from the animal,” says Stallard. The restaurant plans to have the meatballs on special this week.
Blue Ribbon Bakery, 35 Downing St.; 212-337-0404
Sweetballs!
Two kid-friendly trends collide in the new $5 “Spaghetti & Meatballs” cupcake from Ruthy’s, which looks remarkably (or perhaps disturbingly) lifelike. But one bite instantly removes all doubt. Thankfully, these meatballs are sweet — they’re actually made from dense red velvet cake enrobed in strawberry gel and served on top of sponge cake and squiggles of buttercream frosting. Already, it’s proving to be a top seller in a shop known for crazy cupcake concoctions topped with “French fries,” “sushi” and more.
Ruthy’s, Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Ave.; 212-463-8800