Seven months post-Hurricane Sandy, South Street Seaport is a cobblestoned shadow of its former self, with a majority of its shops still shuttered and tourism at a lull. But if you slip down some of the quiet sidewalks sequestered by construction activity, you’ll discover a small, feisty collection of the most charming restaurants, bars and a cafe — all ready to welcome you in for a hot cup of coffee, a dulce de leche, cayenne and sea-salt brownie or even a sumptuous rib-eye-steak-and-lobster dinner. Yes, folks, the Seaport is open for business, and with more upcoming openings and reopenings, the summer food forecast looks sunny — and very, very delicious.
1. Meade’s, 22 Peck Slip, 212-791-1818
On Nov. 2, Meade’s was the first business in the Seaport to reopen — despite not having menus, food or even salt shakers. “As soon as we were legally allowed to open again, we did it,” says owner Lee Holin. “It’s all of our livelihoods. Eight employees, 20 kids.” A dorm-style fridge and hamburger patties were brought in, and the staff started grilling burgers outside on portable barbecues.
Now, the sign out front reads, “What doesn’t kill us makes our drinks stronger,” and the brew selection has expanded to 45 kinds, including Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout ($5). The still-growing menu includes burgers ($9.50), grilled tuna sandwiches ($12.95) and guacamole ($9.95). A few weeks ago, the bartop, which had been destroyed and temporarily replaced by planks of loose plywood, was permanently reinstalled.
2. Pasanella & Son Vintners, 115 South St., 212-233-8383
In the final days before Sandy, owner Marco Pasanella prepared for the worst. “I was paranoid,” he says. His shop, located just across the street from the East River, already had a close call the year before with Hurricane Irene. “This time, there was a full moon, the tides, the wind,” recalls Pasanella. After Sandy hit, he started work the next morning and reopened, completely restocked, exactly three weeks after the storm. Aside from events like regional wine tastings, Pasanella hopes he’ll get more foot traffic when the New Amsterdam Market reopens late next month across the street. “People who buy great food also like to buy great wine,” he says.
3. Fresh Salt, 146 Beekman St., 212-962-0053
The 9-year-old eatery was deluged with between six and seven feet of water. “Everything was a mess,” says co-owner Sara Williams. “Windows were broken, all of our equipment was destroyed, the bar had been picked up and moved.” Like other businesses, Williams and her partner didn’t have flood insurance, but some regulars started an online campaign that brought in nearly $15,000. The restaurant reopened at the end of 2012.
Favorites on the comfort food menu include creamy mac ’n’ cheese ($8), based on Williams’ grandmother’s recipe. Spice things up with a Salt’s Gimlet ($10), made with jalapeño-flavored tequila, fresh-squeezed lime juice and served with a chili-salt rim.
4. Acqua, 21 Peck Slip, 212-349-4433
Acqua had been serving regional Italian cuisine for 14 years when their bright, corner location flooded with 4 ½ feet of water and lost $20,000 worth of food and wine. “We had to rebuild the whole restaurant from scratch. The stereo, printer, fax, iPod, iPad, freezers, icebox, floors, food, wine, liquor,” says manager Nicolas Mernie. But the restaurant fully reopened after three weeks, and now, a four-course tasting menu ($48), available until May 29, includes fried artichokes with a black-olive tapenade, veal with prosciutto and sage in a white wine sauce, and pangiallo, a spiced chocolate cake.
5. MarkJoseph Steakhouse, 261 Water St., 212-277-0020
When Sandy hit, the 12-year-old steakhouse had been gearing up for the holidays, stocking their dry-aging room with 4,000 pounds of prime meat. They lost all of the beef — worth $40,000 — and everything else in the subterranean space, including liquor and glassware, as well as $6,000 of newly ordered menus, which had been stored upstairs on the main dining floor, just under the water line. “We got flooded by the East River — not the Atlantic Ocean,” says owner Raymond Gaissert.
“It was black and disgusting.”
The steakhouse reopened — complete with its original, refinished mahogany bar — in early December, thanks to the staff, who traded in aprons for workboots to rebuild. The menu includes dry-aged steaks and new items like fried oysters ($19.50) and a pan-fried pork chop with a hot, cherry-pepper sauce ($26).
6. Made Fresh Daily, 226 Front St., 212-285-2253
This bakery is still the only place in the ’hood to serve breakfast — like scrambled eggs with chopped Vermont ham and cheddar on a buttermilk biscuit ($7.75) — on a daily basis. “My side of the street was a little less damaged than the other side,” recalls owner Jackie Goewey who, along with Jeremy’s Ale House, is the only active storefront on the block. “Our electrics were just above the water line, 10 feet above street level.”
But she did lose between $50,000 and $70,000, ranging from equipment repairs to replacing 50 pounds of coffee. But, says Goewey, “The [building’s] owners moved extremely fast to get things up and running — [one is] an architect and knew to call in a team immediately. They were doing demo and tearing out walls before the lights were on.” Another saving grace was the shop’s bamboo floors, which dried out quickly.
7. Jeremy’s Ale House, 228 Front St., 212-964-3537
Flood waters reached about three to four feet above the floorboards at this dive-y pub, which has been a Seaport stalwart for more than 40 years. Fortunately, the surge didn’t reach the watering hole’s famous bra collection, amassed over the years, which hangs over the bar. Pull up a chair al fresco, sip a cold draft and tuck into fried seafood like fish and chips ($9.95).
8. Suteishi, 24 Peck Slip, 212-766-2344
After Victor Chan’s “dining fine” Japanese restaurant Suteishi was gutted by 6 feet of water, Chan went on the hunt for a temporary commissary. He found it a block away at Jackie Goewey’s Made Fresh Daily.
After closing up for the day, Goewey reopens her kitchen so Chan can serve a limited menu that includes favorites like the Crunchy East roll, with spicy salmon, avocado, cucumber, scallions and eel sauce ($15), and the Red Dragon roll, with big eye tuna and spicy mayo ($16). Chan, who brought in his own refrigerator, shares Goewey’s icebox and starts service at 5 p.m. (an hour after she closes), says of his new partner: “[She’s] been really accommodating, and we don’t step on each other’s toes.”