Fatty Crab - Upper West Side

[weinoo]

When Fatty Crab "MPD" opened over 3 years ago, it was well received and pretty much immediately started drawing teeming hordes. The eG topic on that location runs 3 pages...click here to see that topic, and after a few visits I decided that the hassle of waiting and being shoehorned and rushed wasn't all that worth it.

Fast forward those 3+ years and now chef/owner Zak Pellacio has a brand new Fatty Crab on the upper west side...at 2170 Broadway to be exact. And other than a few minor service "issues," the food is as good as it is at the "flagship" location.

Our party of 3 (as one of us had a bug and was unavailable for dinner) sampled a nice portion of the menu. From the "snacks" we had both the Jalan Alor Chicken Wings and the Fatty Tea Sandwiches - the tea sandwiches were nice and spicy, kicked up by the sambal aioli, and the wings, big and meaty (they actually serve the whole wing - all 3 joints of it!) were okay, but realize my point of comparison is the wings at Momo Noodle Bar, which are the wings by which all other non-Buffalo wings should be judged.

From the "salad" section, we had to have Watermelon Pickle And Crispy Pork, made famous downtown, and still damn good...though now it's $13 and I think it started out at $7. I just love the way the watermelon, lightly pickled, works so well with the hunks of crispy belly.

We continued to be impressed with the perfectly fried fish in the Malay Fish Fry, and forks and spoons were clashing as well when the Singaporean Black Pepper Mussels were placed on the table - a huge portion of sweet and tender mussels in a broth made spicy by lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper. This dish can easily give Moules a la Mariniere a run for it's money. To round out the dinner, Kang Kong Belacan (Chinese water spinach) and chicken rice made for a nice full table.

Along with 4 pints of beer (and the beer selection is very nice) our bill was a quite modest $100 for all that food and drink - a nice bargain, imo.

But while the food is uniformly delicious, my biggest issue is with the service. Not that it's unfriendly or anything (because it's actually very friendly and nice), but the bum's rush is upon you from the minute you're seated. Nothing I did could slow it down. Tried to just order some starters while perusing the menu, and that didn't work. It's not like the place was slammed with people waiting to eat either - it was a Sunday eve at 6:30, though I'm sure the slamming starts later. These people are trained well - and they must be getting bonuses based on how many times they turn the tables. As for the dessert offering, while a nice touch since there are no desserts on the menu, it's fairly forgettable. Perhaps they should just give it to you in a go-bag so that the table is freed up that much sooner.

[John Talbott]

I would second this whole report except Mitch made no mention of the decibel level which is maybe indigenous to West Side Young People's dives.

This is a great place and I'll go back in a flash.

[BryanZ]

I somehow ended up meeting some friends at Fatty Crab UWS last night. Save for the rare dinner party, I can't say I'm up in that area too often, but I would have to imagine Fatty Crab is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. For now, I think the prices on a few dishes are a couple dollars cheaper than at the WV outpost, so it might even be worth the subway fare to check out the new location.

Service was super laid back and friendly. Our main server had a strong grasp of the menu and made some good recommendations. They upsell pretty hard here--rice with this, rice with that, sides?--but there was none of the attitude you sometimes get at the Momos and other downtown, "cool" restaurants.

As reported in the WV thread, food comes at random intervals, with seemingly little regard to pacing.

From the first section of the menu we had the tea sandwiches and the sliders. The sandwiches were fine but the least favored of the evening. The pork-sambal aioli combo didn't see, all that organic to me and the whole sandwich was more dry than pillowy. Sliders were superlatively moist and quite tasty if not the most innovative dish.

The fish fry was really good. A very simple dish and a bit light on the fish, but the frying was spot on. The hokkien mee is a pretty intense plate of food. The whole thing is kind of one-note and gloppy, making it hard to distinguish the various proteins, but I was really into the burnt caramel nature of the sauce. Very interesting.

From the main section of the menu we had the black pepper mussels, skate, watermelon with crispy pork, and fatty duck. There was a pretty long lag between receiving the duck and all the rest of our dishes so perhaps it wasn't appreciated in the right context. It' a very rich dish and probably too fatty for some but I really liked it. The peanuts and puffed rice strewn through the bottom of the dish added some crunchy texture to an otherwise soft-chewy dish. The skate was a bit challenging for one member of my party--the crust seems to involve a large quantity of small dried fish--but this, too, I enjoyed. The mussels and pork were loved by all, however.

With a couple drinks I spent just shy of $50, making the restaurant not quite as cheap as it perhaps professes to be. I think with all the specials around town it is possible to have a similarly formatted meal that's a slightly better value elsewhere. Still, the style of cooking here is unique and we were able to try a number of dishes that can't be found elsewhere.

[ratgirlny]

I notice that they have a kids menu at the Upper West Side location. Although my kids would be fine with the regular menu, I always imagine that this means the restaurant welcomes kids. Do you think that is true? What are the waits like on a weekend evening, earlyish?

[weinoo]

I notice that they have a kids menu at the Upper West Side location. Although my kids would be fine with the regular menu, I always imagine that this means the restaurant welcomes kids. Do you think that is true? What are the waits like on a weekend evening, earlyish?

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It's the upper west side, they practically have to welcome kids.

Go early - at opening, and you shouldn't have a problem...but they take reservations as well.

[Sneakeater]

You would have to be the biggest idiot in the world to open that restaurant in that neighborhood and not welcome kids.

Since Zak Pallaccio isn't the biggest idiot in the world, I'd feel pretty assured.

[BryanZ]

BTDubs, two stars from Bruni this week. He liked it.