Swiss Dishing It Out
ALPHABET CITY, EAST VILLAGE, NYC | Like any true fan of anything, often the fun part of indulging a great passion is when you find or discover something new. Or at least new to you. Such was the case as a random activity—uploading photo to Yelp—that I came across a image of some toasted, melted cheese being scraped from a half moon wheel of cheese and onto a plate of roasted potatoes, fresh arugula, and cornichons.
Turns out that this is a classic Swiss service known as raclette (from the french verb racler, which means "to scrape"), which is also the name of the dish and the Alphabet City restaurant, Raclette, owned and operated by Edgar Villongco.
On my first (of what should be many) visits, I ordered the Suisse Raclette, described as "gruyere, viande sechée, tri-colored new potatoes, cornichons and pickled white pearl onions. rock melted Alpine cheeses over seasoned potatoes, pickled and cured meats. served with a rocket arugula house salad," as you can see above.
The spot features a small but delicious-looking variety of "raclettes", as well as croques (sandwhiches) and tartines (tarts). Villongco has a great, passionate history with these dishes, and executes them to order with great care and skill. And you really can't beat the table presentation, which definitely kicks the appetite into full gear.
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RACLETTE | 195 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009 | (917) 853-5377
