Meet Me at Mischa?
A very hot dog, a sticky bun pie, and more, on the menu at Alex Stupak’s new tribute to American Food
Acclaimed Chef and Restaurateur Alex Stupak of Empellón is at this point synonymous with serious Mexican food. Now, after 11 years, he’s heading off in a new direction, opening a swanky contemporary American restaurant called Mischa (the name his parents were going to give him if they had not decided on Alex) up in the Citicorp Building (157 E. 53rd Street) in Midtown. Good for him, and so very good for us.
“I’m opening Mischa because I, and more importantly, my team who have all been with me for so many years, are ready for a new challenge,” he said. “We are still deeply dedicated to all the creative things that can come from being inspired by Mexican cuisine. But, apart from that, we had been looking at a growing list of ideas that we simply didn't have a home for. Mischa is that home.”
The menu digs into classic New York eats with a ballsy flare to be quite frank: for example, instead of the ubiquitous burger, at Mischa the Hot Dog gets some love in the form of a housemade dry-aged beef brisket dog in a natural casing (yes, you still get that necessary snap), seared on a flat-top grill, and served on a house-made potato roll. To garnish, Alex is serving dry-aged brisket chili, a pimento cheese made with ají dulce, a bacon-habanero chili crisp, a yellow mustard made in-house and stained yellow with turmeric and marigold petals, cucumber relish, and kimchi. Yeah, so not exactly your average Central Park cart water dog with mustard and relish.
Beyond the ambitious dog, the rest of menu is equally compelling: Fried Chicken that highlights Puerto Rican flavors of adobo seasoning and sofrito; a big, thick steak, dry-aged and juicy, served with dill potatoes and red adjika, and for the vegetarians at the table, an impressive Mushroom Patty Melt homemade from minced hen of the woods and shiitake mushrooms. Stupak dug deep into his days at wd50 and bound the burger with a plant-based gelling agent, so you’ve got a vegetable patty that is almost exclusively mushroom, no unnecessary filler, with a great crust. Mischa’s Pastry department even designed a cylindrical marble rye that fits the patty perfectly. Topped with white American cheese, and aleppo pepper, the burger also comes with ketchup, mayonnaise, pickles, and another Stupak creation - Long Tots. Yes, please.
Stupak’s Ukrainian heritage and New England upbringing is also at play on the menu— Apple Varenyky is a pasta with sour cream and salt pork inspired by his father’s home cooking; while The New England Clam Chowder is his tribute to Massachusetts. “A good clam chowder should be thick with ingredients, not with flour,” he said. “I use lots of potatoes and chopped clams for that purpose, and we make our own common crackers to go with it.”
Empellón pastry chef Justin Binnie’s desserts are reason enough to pop in for a meal: Sticky Bun Pie (!), Sour Cherry Coffee Cake, Apple Pie, and Banana Pudding Eclairs. Binnie is also collaborating closely with Stupak to bake breads for a broad selection of sandwiches at lunchtime.
Mischa’s bar is under the care of Empellón Beverage Director, Noah Small, who has developed a creative cocktail program (with plenty of nonalcoholic options) that leads with a non-traditional vodka Martini, a Cosmo riff that deploys pomegranate molasses in lieu of cranberry juice, a spicy Horseradish Margarita, and an Old Fashioned “Elmo Style” inspired by an Indiana classic. Cheers!
More about Mischa is here. Follow the restaurant here.