Best of New York 2009 • Eating

• Commerce

  50 Commerce St., nr. Barrow St.; 212-524-2301

  Some fressers find solace in overpriced cheeseburgers, others in porky bowls of ramen. But we submit that in these trying times, there’s no more comforting restaurant dish than that old barnyard staple, chicken for two. Variations of this old-fashioned delicacy have been popping up all over town, but our favorite is the one being served up by Harold Moore, to the hipsters and night owls congregating at his improbably trendy West Village restaurant, Commerce. An acolyte of Daniel Boulud, Moore inserts little nickels of black truffle under the skin of his country chicken and bakes it to a crunchy golden crisp. The chicken is brought to table for everyone to admire, carved in the kitchen, then set on plates over beds of butter-thick potato purée. The thing that sets it apart from all the other birds in town, though, is the country-bread stuffing, which the chef leavens with furtive spoonfuls of foie gras.

  See Also
  More Neighborhood Feasts From Adam Platt's Where to Eat 2009

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