"Rabbits' Food"

[Nick F.]

So, this is actually stolen from my blog (insert shameless plug here) but it's a good, cheap chow-ish place, that's pretty recent and I know that it used to be that if anyone found somewhere, we'd scream it to the hills, or at least, to the message boards.

Anyway...

When I stumbled upon Rabbits', I was dehydrated on a hot late-May day, working for the U.S. Census, bothering people on a weekend and p.o.ed I couldn't charge them my lunch. The first thing they did when I looked in was to sneer at me derisively ("Ah, the census man!" The owner proclaimed.) to which I looked around sullenly and then left.

Later though, when I came back really tired and abused from the whims of SoHo residents and their numerous walk-ups, they invited me in and gave me water in a big, cool metal cup, with ice that clanked on the cast-iron like gravel.

I looked at the menu and took a shock. There was little to be found there over 10 dollars. In fact, the only way I went over 10 dollars there was to order a big bowl of pre-vinegar-soaked french fries which came over in a small wooden bowl, looking like someone had just tossed a potato into a pan, with a samurai swish at the end.

The fries were delicious and salty and unexpected. Rabbits' is in close proximity to Jane, known for their manicured and copious "rosemary fries" which are delicious, but are always the same. Rabbits' fries are think and strangely-shaped and pungent and uneven in a way that reminds you that they were made with some casual care and interest, as opposed to the master plan of a brunch-fortress like Jane.

Of the entrees I've had there, ther Jerk Chicken was average, a little strange in it's spicing, but the Chicken Parm was delicious and tidy and just enough to feed you, stuck on a bun. The best thing I've had there though from their "miscellaneous" section of their frequently changing hand-written menu, were the BBQ Chicken Cheddar Nachos with Relish, which were crisp and warm and were described to me as "having chicken on every nacho" which they did, to great effect.

In it's home-grown feel, it's low prices and it's neighborhood un-pretentiousness, so out of touch with the rest of SoHo, Rabbits' seemed somehow out of time, like a nicer version of Shopsin's, back when it sat over on Morton St in my childhood.

It's not Perry St, not even Jane really. But it's simple improvised good cuisine in a neighborhood that has otherwise become largely uninspired and fixed in its food choices.

I'd check it out now, before the five or so tables-for-two and the three beige stools that make up the restaurant either draw bigger crowds or vanish into a sea of raising rents.

-Nick F.

[squid kun]

Anyone else wander in? I'm wondering how a vegetarian would fare here.

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Rabbits
142 Sullivan St, New York, NY 10012

[Nick F.]

I am a poultritarian (go ahead, laugh) but my girlfriend is a veggie and she really dug. She got the Black Bean Burger with Sprouts (they were out of avocado). It was 10 bucks and she has repeatedly expressed to me since her desire to go back.

-Nick F.