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“The Fat Hippo”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Lower East Side	Moderate	Good

You may think that what our country needs now, in light of the state of our financial markets, is a healthy dose of accountability, responsibility, and job-creating stimulus, and I’d agree with you. But what we might also need to make it through this period of swan dive economics is something called Burger Fondue. Yes, folks, mini-burgers, the size of silver dollars, dipped into a molten lava of melted cheese are my suggestion for how to weather our recession (er, depression?). Now, hear me out. It’s not that I am in denial about the deep financial hole we’re in, but in all honesty, we’re going to be in this economic abyss for a long time, and in my view the best way to ride it out is serious amounts of old fashioned comfort food shared among friends. What’s better? And that’s the goal of the happily named restaurant, The Fat Hippo.

Located in the former temple of haute gastronomy, Wylie Dufresne’s storied 71 Clinton, the Fat Hippo is an about-face from its predecessor. If Wylie chose to look forward and break convention, chef Ten Vong is looking backwards to comfort classics, giving us an exercise (heck it’s more like a full-on triathlon) geared toward guilty pleasure favorites from pan-fried mozzarella balls with herb roasted tomatoes ($6) to pork chops with stuffing ($13), and free range turkey meatloaf with green bean casserole. You’ll be expecting June Cleaver to stroll out of the kitchen.

While the menu reads like it might be served in a wood-paneled den circa 1975 with shag carpeting and a Hi-Fi playing records, the renovated space is set to the sounds of an iPod (playing everything from Echo and the Bunnymen to Bowie), and rather than boast the design equivalent of bell bottoms, it’s sleek and super mod, with U-shaped banquettes of white button tufted leather, a 12-foot exposed brick barrel ceiling, and a sleek bar fashioned from smooth polished wood.

Diners, who tend to congregate in large groups snuggled into banquettes or in close knit pairs at the welcoming bar, are also of the mod fashionista set; the women look like they’ve just strutted off the runway or a plane from Miami—sun-kissed, dewy, and gorgeous—while their male counterparts are all uniformly dressed in grungy hipster gear topped off with tight wool caps with various levels of facial hair from mustache to lamb chop sideburns, to full beard. Somehow it’s very Brookly ... [more, click below]

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Posted: March 15, 2009

Other restaurants in Lower East Side :
+ Mojo   + WD-50   + Schiller's Liquor Bar   + Azul Bistro   + Barrio Chino   + 71 Clinton Fresh Food-- Closed   + Little Giant   + Kuma Inn   + Falai   + The Stanton Social   + The Tides   + Thor   + The Orchard   + El Bocadito-- CLOSED   + Bondi Road   + Rayuela   + Suba   + Bun (boone)   + Sorella   + The Fat Hippo   + Pulino's   

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