Fatty Crab

Wrote this review for class. Class is over which makes me sad. Once school is over I'll do a massive top chef recap. I promise.

Fatty Crab

Zak Pelaccio has a great deal on his plate. The chef at 5 Ninth and Fatty Crab, he is also the consulting chef at Chop Suey in Times Square and is consulting on a restaurant with friends Will Goldfarb and Josh DeChellis. I thought it might be interesting to see how his second restaurant Fatty Crab was holding up considering how busy the Mr. Pelaccio is.

Dedicated to Malaysian street food, Fatty Crab is a tiny store front in the West Village. When we arrived on a chilly Monday evening weekday evening the place was packed, always a good sign. My party and I opted to sit outside than wait for a table or squeeze three people onto a table for two. Service was a bit lacking as we were ignored outside till we went back inside to ask for a table inside or some menus. We decided to sit back outside, and once our waitress did appear she was quite kind and courteous. She helped us navigate the menu and informed us that it was smarter to share rather than to order individual entrees.

The food for the most part was bright and tasty with few missteps. The fatty tea sandwiches, pork belly on white bread with sambal mayonnaise, were for the most part successful. They were fatty and tasty though in my opinion they could have used some acid to cut the richness of the pork belly. The best dish in my opinion came next, the malay fish fry, with fried fish, cilantro and chilies served with tamaki rice. The fried fish was light with no trace of grease, the rice was well balanced with sweet and spicy and the cilantro added a spark of freshness. My other favorite dish of the night was the fatty sliders, small hamburgers made of pork and beef with sambal mayonnaise served on a potato bun with bibb lettuce and a pickle. The combination of meat was perfectly seasoned and juicy and the spicy mayonnaise and the pickle added the perfect spicy sour counterbalance.

Less successful was the fatty duck. Meant to be eaten with your hands, the duck was slightly overcooked and the dish was grossly unbalanced. The sweet glaze on the duck was also on the tamaki rice that the duck came with making it far too sweet for my tastes. The vegetable bun while tasty did not blow me away by any means.

Overall I left satisfied, our meal was under thirty dollars per person and everyone in my party was full at the end of the meal. I feel like Fatty Crab is the kind of restaurant where there are hidden gems on the menu. I look forward to going back to try and find them.