It is not difficult to understand why BKB's owner, Adam Miller, is very good at what he does – he is the king of charisma, whether chatting and laughing with his staff and customers, or with Manhattan Sideways. Upon entering, he immediately invited us to sit down with him, ordered some of his favorite drinks, and began sharing stories about his first Manhattan restaurant, his background, and his passions.
Adam has lived on Long Island his whole life. His father and partner, Eric, is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who was named "Chef of the Year" by the Aspen Times and has earned three stars from the New York Times. Adam reminisced about going clamming as a young boy in a fresh pond in Amagansett with friends and coming home with thirty or forty clams. His father would make delicious seafood pasta from the bunch, already rehearsing "sea-to-table" style cuisine far before they put it into practice at BKB.
The first venture that the father-son team embarked on was Madison and Main in Sag Harbor in the summer of 2013. They followed with Bay Kitchen Bar in East Hampton a year later and then opened another BKB in 2015 on the Upper East Side, where many of their Hamptons customers reside off-season. Despite the modern interior, which clearly pulls inspiration from the Hamptons, Adam told me that he was specifically looking for a historic building and was pleased when he found the current space, which is adjacent to the Bohemian National Hall. He said that there are some fun quirks to inhabiting the building, since he leases it from the Czech government, including having to keep the special Czech beer system, which pours beer four ways and is visible through the see-through glass bar. Adam is very proud of this, as there are not many of these coil systems in the States. BKB also has a Czech pastry chef, Czech Pilsner on tap, and caters all of the affairs throughout the Bohemian National Hall.
When the drinks arrived, the conversation turned to the interesting cocktails that had been poured. The whiskey-based Italian-American club was served two ways – on the rocks and with root beer in a Collins glass. The gin-based Giddy Up was a perfect citrus end to a hot day, and the rum-filled Dr. Funk, served in an enormous black Tiki mug with an umbrella, was a fun tropical libation that rounded out the trio.
The food was no less impressive: Adam brought out a plate from the new "Shuck and Slide" section of the menu, containing four different kinds of sliders: lobster roll, short rib, fish and chips, and crab cake. Like the drinks, the Manhattan Sideways team found each slider to be a different yet equally scrumptious sensation. The fish and chips slider, delicately layered with battered fish, French fries, and a smoky tartar sauce, was especially innovative. Tom and Olivia, Sideways team members, also tried the special of the day, a sea bass, perfectly smoked and salty, served over a fig ratatouille that did not overwhelm the freshness of the fish. The Marinated Tasting, a final dish that was composed of raw fish paired with salsa and citrus, was equally impressive in its freshness. As Adam said, "If it didn't come out of the ocean that morning, I'm not serving it to you." Each fish has a tag from that day to prove how fresh it is. Adam says it is not as easy as in the Hamptons, where fishermen sometimes clomp up the back stairs, still wet from their day boats, and hold out a fish, saying, "I just got this, do you want it?" He is still extremely pleased with the quality of the food that he offers his guests, commenting, "I only serve what I think is the best."
