The Hungarian Roots of Agi’s Counter | The New Yorker

"At Agi’s Counter in Crown Heights, I was struck by chef Jeremy Salamon’s Nosh Plate—huge, undulating, Frank Gehry–like crackers made of spelt flour, water, olive oil, and sea salt, speared into a silky chicken-liver mousse and surrounded by pickled vegetables, a soft-boiled egg crowned with whipped devilled-egg filling, and a ramekin of körözött, a kicky Hungarian pimento cheese. Named for his ninety-four-year-old grandmother Agi, who fled Hungary in ’56, the genial counter-service spot serves an exceptionally thoughtful Hungarian-inspired breakfast and lunch menu (dinner with a Hungarian wine list is planned for late spring) and reflects Salamon’s background cooking at Via Carota and the Eddy. The décor feels like a diner meets a millennial’s apartment—blond wood, terrazzo counters, open shelves of Depression glass and vintage floral china, and faux-Victorian wallpaper. Standouts I had included the hearty Leberkase (a thick slab of spongy pork pâté with fried egg and pear mostarda between Pullman-style bread) and a tender, herb-flecked dill biscuit spread with mayo and stacked with a soft fried egg and assertive Alpine Cheddar; at lunch the Confit Tuna is topped with fried shoestring potatoes, pickled pepper and a shower of shaved horseradish, and the Jammy Egg Mousse sets oozy egg halves atop bread piped with more of that devilled-egg filling. Pastry chef Renee Hudson turns out an impeccable seasonal array—Gerbeaud cake layered with walnuts and apricot jam and topped with fruity chocolate and flaky salt, a cardamom-scented Ferdinand bun, and a shortbread with the satisfying crumb of a caraway sandie—and on Sundays they offer fánk doughnuts that are cotton-candy–like, super fluffy and wispy (mine were speckled with lemon zest, filled with pear-vanilla-bean jam and dusted with powdered sugar). Pastries are $3–$10 and dishes $5–$18, and drinks include Thumpers sodas made from house syrups such as lemon verbena and fennel, spritzed from oldfangled glass bottles by the fourth-generation, family-run Brooklyn Seltzer Boys." - Shauna Lyon