FORT GREENE
Ever since it opened in the summer of 2004, iCi has had to dispel misconceptions about itself. Misconception number one: Since it was opened by a French couple, it must be yet another French bistro in a neighborhood that already had a few. Wrong. “Obviously I couldn’t be more French,” concedes Catherine Saillard, the statuesque woman from northern Provence who now runs the spare, elegant restaurant alone, after she and her husband, Laurent, split a couple years ago. “The idea of iCi is to just serve good food. You will never find steak frites or pâté. We have grits on the menu because grits are fantastic. Fried green tomatoes, you would never see that in France. So the idea is, like, whatever is good, in season, and local could get on the menu.”
Misconception number two: With the restaurant’s interest in “natural” wines, its close relationship with the Red Hook Community Farm, and its emphasis on sustainability, it must lean in a vegetarian direction, yes? Nope. iCi’s tightly edited menu has plenty of meatless options—including the two perfect salads that follow—but also a crispy “sweet-and-sour” pork belly; a duck cassoulet with white beans, root veggies, and escarole; and a robust entrée of Spanish mackerel (the opposite end of the fish spectrum from mild white fishes like cod and halibut) with a ginger rosemary beurre blanc. Chef Emily Sims is from South Carolina, so she’s more than comfortable with hedonistic food. “We’re natural,” says Saillard, “but we’re far from vegan.”
Misconception number three: Since Laurent had been the primary face of the restaurant—and before that, the villainous manager of Rocco’s on the reality show The Restaurant—iCi couldn’t possibly survive after the couple divorced and he returned to France … right? Wrong again. “When I split with Laurent, all of a sudden people think I’m going to be dead,” she says. “Most of the industry thought the restaurant would die within a few months. The mother with two kids? What does she know about restaurants?” She pauses, a look of defiance on her face. It’s not like she didn’t have any experience in the restaurant world. Before taking a break to raise her two boys, she’d worked for Alain Ducasse, Keith McNally, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “But guess what? I’m doing great.”
SERVES 4 AS A FIRST COURSE
3 large eggs ¼ cup whole milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
3 green tomatoes, sliced 1 inch thick
¼ cup packed fresh basil leaves, plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup canola oil, for frying
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kernels from 3 ears fresh corn
1 pound fresh fava beans (also called broad beans), shucked, blanched, and hulled, or 1 cup frozen fava beans, blanched and hulled
½ large red onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
½ red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch dice
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
4 tablespoons goat fromage blanc*
Here’s a fun summer dish that’ll lift you right out of Brooklyn and set you down in the South Carolina of chef Emily Sims’s youth. Sims started out with a vague notion to combine fried green tomatoes with succotash; owner Catherine Saillard later suggested the pesto underneath “to give it a little kick.” If you can’t find the goat fromage blanc, substitute soft spreadable goat cheese or regular fromage blanc.
1. Beat the eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Place the flour and panko in two separate bowls. Place each tomato slice in the flour bowl and coat thoroughly. Transfer the tomato slice to the egg bowl and coat it in egg, letting any excess egg drip off. Lay the tomato slice in the panko, coating both sides thoroughly. Remove to a large plate.
2. In a small food processor or blender, combine the ¼ cup basil leaves with the olive oil and puree. (If this is too small a quantity for your machine, you can finely chop with a knife. Just add the oil a little at a time and drag the blade across the chopped leaves to create a paste.) Set the basil puree aside.
3. Heat the canola oil in a shallow pan until a deep-fat thermometer registers 300°F. (If you don’t have a thermometer, test the oil temperature by adding one battered tomato to the pan. If it bubbles vigorously, the oil is ready for frying.) Fry the tomatoes in batches until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from the oil and drain on a rack or paper towels. Season with salt and pepper immediately.
4. In another pan, heat the butter until bubbly. Add the corn, fava beans, onion, and bell pepper and sauté until the corn is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Stir in the chopped basil, the chives, and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spread the goat cheese on the tomato slices. Smear 1 tablespoon basil puree on each of 4 serving plates. Spoon the succotash on top, then lay on the fried green tomatoes, overlapping them like shingles.
“We could call this the Added Value Salad, basically,” says owner Catherine Saillard. Added Value is a nonprofit organization that runs the Red Hook Community Farm, where local high school kids grow greens, vegetables, and herbs—and learn the principles of sustainable agriculture—on a formerly vacant lot in one of Brooklyn’s grittier neighborhoods. “We love Added Value and what they do,” Saillard says. So do her regulars. Sometimes the greens are still warm from the sun when she serves the salad to customers who know exactly when Added Value delivers—and time their lunch dates accordingly.
1. To make the dressing, combine the buttermilk, mustard, and herbs in a bowl. Add the olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly to emulsify it. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. To make the salad, in a large bowl, mix the lettuce, arugula, carrots, radishes, snow peas, onions, and fennel. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the salad mixture with dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
SERVES 4
For the dressing ¼ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs: sage, chives, parsley, thyme
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
1 large head loose leaf lettuce, such as red leaf or green leaf
2 cups arugula
8 to 10 greenmarket baby carrots, white or orange, peeled
1 or 2 radishes, thinly sliced
¼ cup snow peas, cut into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup thinly sliced sweet onion
2 heaping tablespoons chopped baby fennel or regular fennel
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
