Breaking the British Mold at Pub & Kitchen


Adam Erace checks out the second act of the popular Pub & Kitchen where the interior has been redecorated and Eli Collins is the new chef.

“I wanted to get away from the English pub mold,” Collins says of his initial alterations to P&K’s menu, a change echoed by renovations that freshened the furniture and whitened the dining room. There are still tureens of mussels and a noteworthy burger (double patties, American cheese) with fries that are still called chips, but looking beyond, for instance, to the bread service, you’ll find slices of semolina with cloud-like interiors and crusts that crackle like M&Ms shells. Collins scents the loaves with fennel, working honey into the dough for a subtle sweetness, a thread connected by the bee pollen dusted on the softened butter. Ingredients often link up this way on Collins’ menu. Flowering lemon thyme and candied lemon peel reinforced the lemonade-like citrus notes in gingered chicken-liver mousse studded with pickled blueberries.

Pub & Kitchen Gambles on a New Chef and Wins [City Paper]
Pub & Kitchen [Official Site]

Photo via Mark Stehle