When most people think of chic, trendy New York restaurants, jars of preserves and seasonal foods are not what come to mind—at least not yet… Asian fusion, sure, but house-made sodas with flavors like concord grape and quince? Pickled carrots? Northern Spy Food Co., a new restaurant and local artisanal market located in Alphabet City, has all of these things, and seamlessly blends a hip, trendy atmosphere with seasonal, locally sourced, rustic cuisine.

Liddabit Sweets at Northern Spy Food

The aesthetics of the space itself are a warm and effective blend of the traditional and the new. A simple concrete bar encloses the back of the narrow dining room. The bar top is covered with jars of handmade goodies that seem to have been handpicked from a Rockwellian past, treats from Liddabit in Brooklyn, home-made cookies. Further back, wooden shelves, choked with mason jars of pickled vegetables, sit next to a refrigerator with quarts of local milk, a crate of seasonal apples, artisan cheeses, and a whole range of esoteric sodas, fruit juices and beers. Despite the rustic fare, Northern Spy Foods comes off as more edgy than homey; the bare concrete and clean, simple wood paneling seem more evocative of a contemporary industrial aesthetic than a country one.

The food displayed a similar blend of the avant garde and the traditional. I started with a homemade lemon-lime soda that was just sweet enough without being saccharine, and was unmistakably citrus in a way ‘lemon-lime flavored’ soda never is. Appetizers included simple toasted flatbread with rosemary, marinated olives, and pickled hardboiled eggs served with a light tangy dipping sauce.

Lia had the kale salad, which featured a very mild dressing and generally straightforward flavors. For our main course, I ordered the roasted chicken which did not disappoint. This dish exemplified North Spy Food’s skill at subtlety; by accentuating the simple flavors of a typical American roast chicken with a suggestion of Asian sweet and sour. Like the rest of the dishes I tried, the range of flavors was relatively simple, letting the quality of the food speak for itself, but had just enough interest to keep me on my toes.

Overall, our experience was satisfying. Though the dining room was crowded when we entered and we waited at the bar to be seated, the service was excellent and the wait was not very long. The menu is extremely friendly from an economic standpoint with no entree breaking the $16 mark. Most were well below.

The below is an editorial comment from Zachary Adam Cohen:

Roasted Chicken in Jus

Northern Spy Food Co. is a perfect model for cities like New York City that are clamoring for more restaurants with locally sourced options. In fact, I could very easily see Northern Spy Food Co., once they get the minor kinks in service worked out, opening several locations around the city. The proprietors clearly have enough restaurant and hospitality experience that, if they are supported by the community, will respond in kind.

Foodies of all stripes have been making pilgrimages down to their East Village location and the color one gets is that Northern Spy Food Co., is quickly garnering the respect of the community. I get the sense that Northern Spy Food Co. is a big step in the direction of demystifying local foods for urban audiences, but more importantly making the food delicious and approachable by the general public. The effective blending of market and restaurant shows us a model that very well might be the best to date of increasing exposure to local foods. Only a few similar developments come to mind that could have more of an impact on increasing local foods dining and consciousness-raising in the New York are. I, for one, would like to see a Northern Spy Food Co. in every neighborhood in the city.

Photo credit: Khaled and Lia Allen