Food
Agi’s Counter is a slice of the Old Country in a hipster paradise
The Brooklyn-based restaurant is a updated slice of Hungary’s history
July 19, 2024 07:15
The Brooklyn-based restaurant is a updated slice of Hungary’s history
July 19, 2024 07:15I never had a bubbe, but I do have a safta. She’s small and she’s old and she lives in Israel. Every time I see her, she serves me lots of very simple food on flowery plates that’s she’s had for decades. The schnitzels might not be particularly unique or fancy, but they’re perfect because they remind me of summers on her kibbutz and being a child with no responsibilities. Nostalgia in breadcrumbs.
This is the feeling that Jeremy Salamon is trying to invoke at Agi’s Counter. A small, cosy spot a stone’s throw away from the modern Jewish ghetto of Crown Heights, Agi’s is a little slice of old-world Jewishness, packaged in a yuppie exterior. The Agi in question is Salamon’s Hungarian grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who left the continent during the Hungarian revolution of 1956, eventually settling in Jewish expat paradise in Boca Raton.
According to Salamon, Agi was a huge influence on him, both culinarily and emotionally growing up and you can tell his fondness for her in the way he has lovingly refreshed classics like chicken paprika and deviled eggs.
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The food at Agi’s hits the sweet spot of small but not too small, fussy but not too fussy. The deviled eggs are largely how you’d expect, but come plated over a dill reduction that invigorates the dish, making it feel light rather than claggy, fresh rather than stodgy. It’s not your grandmother’s cooking, but it harks back to an earlier time, nothing is overcomplicated, it's all thoughtful and well-executed.
