Where to Eat: New York City
Let’s make some peak fall memories.
Hello! I’m Sara Bonisteel, an editor on the Food desk, filling in for Nikita and Becky this week. For so many of us, a food memory is a powerful evocation. When I miss my grandmother, I make one of her pies. And every year around this time, when the wind carries the first sharp screech of autumn, a childhood hunger ignites within me. I want cider. I need doughnuts. I must have a soft pretzel kissed with salt.
All three are made exceptionally well in Dexter, Mich., where I went to grade school. A cider mill on the Huron River, in operation about as long as Lady Liberty has greeted newcomers to New York City, turns out golden brown doughnuts pleasingly dusted with sugar and best washed down with cold apple cider. On Main Street, a bakery that dates to 1915 churns out my Proustian ideal: soft pretzel sticks.
These days, I spend less time chasing the flavors of my youth and more creating core memories for my son. Our meals are often eaten on the go, way-stops between adventures because at his age, 6, an activity is always the main attraction. So over the last few weeks, we went on a treasure hunt for seasonal fun and flavor.
‘The city’s best pretzel’
At least that’s what it says on the menu of Werkstatt, an Austrian restaurant in Prospect Park South. This burnished pretzel ($13) arrives on a quarter sheet pan, with a sauce cup of liptauer, the Hungarian cheese spread, and one of mustard. My son is such a fan that he ate this pretzel as a post-camp treat every day for a week this summer. (Pretzels fall into his current dinner plate period: beige.) But fall is truly prime time for this behemoth. Add an order of cheesy spaetzle, rich with bacon and caramelized onions, and you’ll chase away the chill.
Werkstatt, 509 Coney Island Avenue (Turner Place)
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