GREENPOINT
The Dark Knight and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus aren’t Heath Ledger’s only gifts from the grave. Five Leaves is another. Ledger and Jud Mongell, the actor’s friend and countryman, had been collaborating on the restaurant right up until Ledger died in January 2008. The Ledger family decided to honor their son’s financial commitment to Five Leaves, and Mongell and his wife, Kathy Mecham, opened the restaurant in August that same year.
Located in a triangular building at the corner of Lorimer and Bedford, Five Leaves is an appealing mashup of French bistro, Australian café, and New England sailor’s bar. The restaurant’s prevailing personality depends on when you’re there and where you’re sitting. On a sunny summer day, it’s all Paris—small round tables line the perimeter outside, the word OYSTERS etched in bistro font on the glass above your head. But when you sit down and scan the menu, Australia starts to assert itself. The Five Leaves Burger is a direct import, as is “The Big Breakkie,” a gigantic breakfast of two organic eggs, hash browns, wheat toast, and any two of the following: grilled chorizo, fried tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, baked beans, avocado, and bacon. Five Leaves keeps going until late at night, when the bearded, flannel-shirted crowd slurps down Blue Point oysters and muscadet with cans of Dale’s Pale Ale. The nautical theme is subtle—sea vistas on the tabletops, a porthole on the bathroom door, fishing weights dangling from the fixtures—but the clientele can definitely drink like sailors.
Five Leaves had been percolating in Mongell’s mind for years. “I used to open his wardrobe and find bits of paper notes everywhere with ideas for the café he was someday going to do,” says Mecham. The couple did a long stint at Café Gitane, and that Nolita institution’s influence is all over Five Leaves (not least in the customers, who seem to have mastered the art of devoting entire days to coffee and cigarettes). They worked at Moto in Williamsburg, too, another odd-shaped restaurant whose seemingly disjointed parts add up to a cohesive whole. (Moto’s designer, John McCormick, consulted on Five Leaves’s look and feel.) And Mongell was a waiter at DuMont (page 50), yet another neighborhood hangout built on the strength of an addictive burger. Actually, Five Leaves does two great burgers: a straight-up version with one modern twist (harissa mayo) and the hair-on-your-chest creation on page 170.
SERVES 4
1 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into ½-inch-thick rings (you will need 4 rings for this recipe)
2 cups seasoned rice wine vinegar 2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dry mustard
2 heaping tablespoons peeled and thinly sliced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon prepared harissa (we like Dea Harissa Hot Sauce)
4 tablespoons prepared mayonnaise
Zest and juice of 1 lime
2 pounds ground beef chuck, preferably grass-fed, not too lean
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, divided
4 ciabatta buns
4 slices prepared pickled beets
4 large eggs
Yes, this recipe sounds like the work of a drunk person, and it may have been. “It’s an especially great hangover cure,” says Kathy Mecham, an Aussie who owns Fives Leaves with her husband, Jud Mongell. But against all odds—grilled pineapple ring?—it totally works. “It’s something we always missed, being in New York,” Mecham says of the sloppy sandwich, an Australian import. “So we decided to do a similar burger, but using high-quality ingredients.” Note that the pineapple should be prepared the night before.
1. Place 4 pineapple rings in a large heat-proof glass or stainless-steel bowl. In a medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the vinegar, honey, coriander seed, peppercorns, olive oil, mustard, and ginger. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Pour the mixture over the pineapple, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
2. Combine the harissa, mayonnaise, and lime zest and juice in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Prepare the grill for cooking or heat a ridged grill pan over mediumhigh heat until hot. Remove the pineapple from the marinade and grill for 2 minutes per side.
4. Season the beef with salt and pepper and form into 4 burgers. Grill the burgers, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, about 5 minutes total for rare or 6 minutes for medium-rare.
5. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Lightly brush the cut side of the buns with butter and grill for 1 or 2 minutes. Spread the harissa mayonnaise on the grilled buns.
6. In a nonstick pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Break each egg into a small bowl and add it to the pan. Gently fry the eggs until the whites are set (sunny-side up), taking care not to break the yolk.
7. Place a burger on the bun and top each burger with a pickled beet slice, grilled pineapple slice, and sunny-side-up egg.
SERVES 4 TO 6 AS A FIRST COURSE
For the beets
3 medium red beets, about 4 ounces each, stems and root ends removed
2 medium golden beets, about 4 ounces each, stems and root ends removed
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 fresh rosemary sprig
2 garlic heads, broken into cloves, skins on, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups coarse salt, plus more to taste
For the yogurt dressing 6 ounces goat’s-milk yogurt Grated zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon honey Pinch of cayenne pepper
For the vinaigrette
2 shallots, peeled
¼ cup sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup whole macadamia nuts
6 ounces baby arugula, about 4 cups
3 blood oranges (about 1 pound), peeled and sliced into rounds
Here’s an alternate take on all those beet-and-goat-cheese salads that seemed to take over America in the past decade or so. This version has a goat’s-milk yogurt dressing instead of goat cheese, a decadent crunchiness from the toasted macadamias, sliced blood oranges, and a beet vinaigrette (yes, there are two dressings) that turn the whole thing into the culinary equivalent of an Ellsworth Kelly painting—a color explosion that tastes as bright and vibrant as it looks.
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Wash the beets and pat them dry. In a large bowl, toss the beets with the herbs, garlic, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Cover the bottom of an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with the 2 cups salt. Set the beets, herbs, and garlic on top of the salt, cover the dish with foil, and bake until the beets are tender when pierced with a sharp knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
3. Set the pan aside to allow the beets to cool, then peel the beets and cut them into wedges, reserving half of 1 red beet for the vinaigrette. Keep the red beets and golden beets separate or their colors will bleed together.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
5. To make the yogurt dressing, combine the yogurt, zest, honey, and cayenne in a small bowl. Set aside.
6. To make the vinaigrette, in a blender or food processor, puree the shallots and the roasted red beet half with the vinegar and mustard. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a slow stream, blending until emulsified.
7. Place the macadamia nuts in a shallow baking dish in a single layer. Bake for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan once halfway through to evenly brown. Allow to cool slightly, then roughly chop.
8. Combine the red and yellow beets with half the yogurt mixture in a medium bowl and toss to coat. In another bowl, toss the arugula with the beet vinaigrette to coat.
9. To serve, divide the beets and blood orange slices among 4 or 6 plates, top with the arugula, and garnish with the macadamias and a drizzle of the remaining yogurt dressing.
