An unusual nigiri will soon be on offer at Bar Miller, a new omakase restaurant in New York City’s East Village: the humble bluefish, sourced from the New York-New Jersey coast, served raw. “Bluefish has this reputation as being a lesser tier, like a poor man’s fish. But if you treat it with care, it’s incredible,” says Jeff Miller, the executive chef. “When it’s in season, it’s rich, fatty and buttery, with a little bit of subtle tuna iron quality.” Featuring bluefish on a sushi menu is surprising when the city is awash with omakase that, like those in Tokyo, offer prestigious (but unsustainable, according to Seafood Watch) fish like bluefin tuna, Japanese yellowtail and Japanese eel. “Sometimes I think my life would be so much easier If I’d gone that route,” Miller says in reference to the classic omakase menu for which there are standard suppliers. Instead, through trial and error, he built a menu entirely from domestic fish. Bar Miller, which is set to open on Sept. 27, serves San Franciscan anchovies, Hudson Valley eel head trout, and Long Island porgy. (The latter, Miller says, tastes sweet and “super subtle [with] a deep oceanic flavor.”) Miller’s attention to local delicacies extends beyond marine life: The restaurant’s sushi rice is farmed in the Hudson Valley; its sushi vinegar is fermented in Pennsylvania; its soy sauce comes from Connecticut. Even its sake is hyperlocal, fermented in Sunset Park and Bushwick. For Miller, sourcing locally is about expanding on his lifelong appreciation of Japanese cuisine; sustainability is an attendant benefit. barmiller.com.
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A Printmaker’s Proliferating Vending Machines
The Portland, Maine-based linocut printmaker Anastasia Inciardi has found a new way to connect with collectors. Last weekend, she installed a vending machine at the specialty grocer and boutique Big Night’s Brooklyn location. Visitors put in four quarters for a surprise miniature print about the size of a playing card. Inciardi, whose work is focused on food, allows the vending machine’s host to customize the selection of prints; at Big Night, options include a stick of butter, a piece of farfalle, a green olive and a tin of sardines. In Maine, where Inciardi has a vending machine at the downtown Portland shop Soleil (among her offerings are a Cheez-It and a slice of clementine) and the Brunswick bakery Wild Oats, she’ll typically sell a hundred prints a day in each location. (She also…
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