Now married for over seven years, my wife Jun and I have been to all kinds of restaurants throughout our culinary journey and admittedly at this point, it would be a little challenging for a new restaurant to blow our minds away (in a good way, obviously). That is why when we visited New York City since moving down to the DC metro area three years ago, we would usually stick with our favorite restaurants we know well instead of venturing out to new ones. One new place that I have really wanted to visit since last year was Foxface Natural, which has opened up as a relatively unassuming restaurant in East Village (before blowing up after critical accolades like the three-star review from The New York Times’ Pete Wells). Not surprisingly, the restaurant had my attention with the kangaroo tartare; more importantly, I wanted to see if Foxface Natural would offer the kind of novel experience that would stimulate and inspire our palates spoiled from all kinds of finer things we had eaten. The restaurant delivered on that mission with some really fascinating dishes we hadn’t encountered at other places.

We were supposed to be joined by a long-time foodie friend who unfortunately was not feeling very well that day and had to cancel. When he texted me with the sad news, he asked if we were going to order the kangaroo tartare. When I told him we were on the fence, he practically begged us to give it a try. I’m very glad we ended up listening to him, with the raw kangaroo surprisingly not as gamey as we had feared, and with the charred eggplant puree providing a wonderful complement to the meat. The other starter dish was just as interesting. Jun remarked she had never seen pickled skirt extracted from a scallop until now, when it was added to the pork ear underneath salsa verde and pil pil sauce (originating from the Basque region). The textural combination between the chewy pork ear and the scallop skirt was quite ingenious, although Jun was not fully sold by the combination of these ingredients. What she wholeheartedly endorsed, on the other hand, was the BBQ Boer goat, a beautifully smoked meat accompanied by polenta beignets and sour orange sauce. As for me, I am a more duck breast than a confit person, but if I had had one like a phenomenal plate from Foxface Natural, I would’ve been easily convinced to change my mind. The dry aged duck confit had a more or less perfect texture, and was even more addictively delicious with a side of green rice and aji amarillo sauce that provided just the right amount of spicy kick. Even the dessert section at the restaurant was not ordinary. Our server highly recommended apricot and Sichuan pepper (!) sorbet with mochi cake and apricot pudding; the sorbet was fortunately not as spicy as we had feared and the sour and spicy blend demonstrated the high level of creative energy behind the kitchen.

Getting a reservation at Foxface Natural is difficult, especially given the modest size of the dining space designed around one long counter along with a small number of high tops and tables. I highly encourage advance booking, especially if you are planning a dining group larger than two. The minimalist décor of the restaurant also quite worked well with the overall vibe from the food and friendly service of the staffs who seem to really take pride in the restaurant but do not act like they rule the culinary world. I was also pleasantly surprised by the wine list at the restaurant, with a lot of interesting bottles from all over the world. In my personal experience, when I see at least one German pinot noir (which is still hard to get in the States compared to the more acclaimed whites from the country) from a wine list, I see that as a sign that the restaurant takes its beverages very seriously, and Foxface Natural had three on the list. I’m really glad we finally made the trip to Foxface Natural, and I hope the restaurant sticks around for a long time. It will certainly be added to a very selective list of restaurants we would like to visit anytime we visit NYC.

KenScale: 8.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.5/10)

Address: 189 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009

Website: https://foxface-nyc.square.site/

Reservation via Resy