Small Pleasures

Eat, shop, give

Jan 31, 2025

The Things

Eskandar Caucasus High Neck Raincoat If Eileen Fisher is giving The Row vibes for less, Eskandar is a lateral move. I visited the store on E. 10^th St. for the first time in decades and was seduced again by the housewares in front — vintage French glasses and porcelain; British pottery — and the forgiving clothes in (mostly) excellent fabrics that I am happy to see are once again in style, especially the cashmere overcoats, shirtdresses and stand-collar shirts. Sure, there are lots of what my friend Alex calls BAM Gala Mom looks (think Pleats Please and a statement accessory) and it’s vertiginously expensive. Here’s the move: Figure out your size and favorite styles — they repeat through the seasons — and drill down on vintage: The supply is untapped.

Sofreh Café Latifeh Cookie Melissa Clark was right (as always) when she deemed this ethereal Persian delight — fluffy rose cream between two airy cookies — one of the best bites of 2024. If you’re meeting in Brooklyn, this confident café, the sister of the hard-to-get-into restaurant, is a great breakfast or tea spot.

Nuxe Rêve de Miel Lip Balm It’s the time of year when you need a lip and nose balm. This honey-scented salve softens cracked lips and soothes the red skin around your over-blown nose. Thanks to my friend Sheila, who pulled it out of a duty-free kit when I showed up looking like Rudolph.

Bells of Ireland Trader Joe’s flowers are a guilty staple, especially when they have Bells of Ireland. The green flowers last forever, and take on new shapes as the weeks go on.

Tortoise Barrette A round tortoise clip to dress up your ponytail. Remember barrettes?!

Homa Studios Double-Stack Carafe Young designer Altarik Banks is making magic in his Newark studio, from this graphic carafe (or lopsided vase) to these fun glasses.

Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce When a friend generously lent us his apartment for a couple of weeks, I doubt he expected that my son and I would blow through a full bottle of this sweet and savory sauce, which goes on everything from rice to protein to salad. The sticky blend of soy, mirin, garlic and ginger is just right.

Schoolhouse Harlow Double Sconce Love the shadows cast by this sconce, available in my favorite: matte army green.

The Table/ Cafe Kestrel

293 Van Brunt St.
Brooklyn
When was the last time you had a sweet evening at a New York restaurant? You know, friendly, delicious, charming and genuinely genuine — where you felt like you were in someone’s dining room, not their moodboard? Cafe Kestrel, which opened over the summer and quickly gained a following, still feels personal and scrappy, from the 70’s Kliban cat poster that greets you to the dishes on offer, an eccentrically retro Mediterranean gourmandise that will remind you of Prune if you’re over 35, or of your cookbook collection if you’re over 75. (It felt like the owner had gone to my mom’s yard sale, from the posters on the walls — I had the matching cat sheets! — to the white tablecloths and scallops with brown butter and celery root.) The magic here is that those references fade and it’s all so good in the moment.

Set on a windy strip of Red Hook, chef-owner Dennis Spina’s 20-seat restaurant is as hard to get to as it is hard to get into. That’s not the only reason the diners are so invested in enjoying it. If you and your neighbors start reading the menu at around the same time, you’ll hear yourself echoed in their choices: fried halloumi with honey, chilled shrimp with mayo and pickle relish, trout terrine, café salad with almond praline, maybe the duck confit and a side of marinated greens. Oh, and fries. Eventually, you’ll find yourselves comparing notes to devise the perfect order should you get in again.

There are just six wines by the glass, and the cocktails are quirkily assured. (Calvados and tonic? Whiskey and apple juice? They work — as does the V. Cold Martini.) Desserts solidify the vision, from a German-inspired applesauce sundae to a sticky toffee pudding-y apricot cake with a wig of whipped cream.

Spina nailed it when he described his food to Priya Krishna of the New York Times as “what I assumed adults ate as a teenager.” You can feel him sitting at the top of the stairs during his parents’ dinner parties. This is a rotten time to be an adult — or a teenager. For a couple of hours at least, Cafe Kestrel gives you access to the best parts of both.

Who to invite/ A date for a seat at the bar. A friend for a snug two-top. There will be eavesdropping.

What to wear/ Something fun but not dressy. And walkable shoes.

How to get there/ Oh, Red Hook. I took the A/C to Hoyt-Schermerhorn and jumped on an electric Citibike for a very fun 9-minute ride. (There are docks at either end of Pioneer Street, worth a stroll for its Conran House Book vibes.) My bf took the train to High Street and got a car. Or just spring for the full Lyft!