By KATIE PARLA
JUST steps from Carnaby Street,patrons line up to sample pulledpork and beef ribs and washthem down with bourbon andPabst Blue Ribbon in a dining
room that would not seem out of placein Lexington, Ky. The restaurant, PittCue, though, is actually about 4,000miles east of Lexington, in London.
Chefs and restaurateurs there haveincreasingly been traveling across theAtlantic for inspiration in recent years,fostering a boom in ambitious Americancomfort dining. Burgers and chili dogsare replacing standbys like fish andchips and Sunday roast. A look at threeof the newest and most popular suchrestaurants in the city provides a hint ofthe varied culinary landscape that Brit-ons have mined in American cuisine.
Pitt Cue (1 Newburgh Street;pittcue.co.uk) opened as a 30-seat res-taurant in Soho in January after a suc-cessful nine-month run as a food truckoperated by Jamie Berger.
“I draw on experiences that go backto my early childhood and the time Ispent in the South, where not only mymother was born, but my grandparentslived out the rest of their lives,” Mr.Berger said. He has supplemented hisbackground with recent trips to Ken-tucky, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Ten-nessee to research cooking techniques.The result of his efforts is tasty, thoughnot quite authentic, barbecue. Still, the
interminable lines several months afterPitt Cue’s opening suggest that it’s closeenough.
Another restaurant, Rita’s (33-35Stoke Newington Road;ritasbaranddining.com), opened lastmonth on the ground floor of a buildingin Dalston whose basement houses theclub Birthday’s. It packages American-influenced food for a north Londoncrowd. “What we’re trying to do is notnecessarily copy anything, but takeideas that work there,” said GabrielPryce, a chef and one of Rita’s founders,who lived in New York for five years.“So eat late, open late, have alcohol thatcomplements that kind of food.”
That kind of food is a menu builtaround fried chicken. “We said, Londonis full of these cheap fried chickenshops,” said Jackson Boxer, a chef and amember of Rita’s team. “Why, whenfried chicken is the most delicious thingin the world and universally loved, doesno one do it well?” Rita’s has changedall that with its satisfying deep fried de-boned thigh served with sriracha-roast-garlic aioli on a white crusty roll. Thecost: £6.50 (about $9.80, at $1.50 to thepound).
A more glamorous interpretation ofAmerican cuisine is on hand atShrimpy’s (the King’s Cross Filling Sta-tion, Goods Way; 44-20-8880-6111;shrimpys.co.uk). The concept for therestaurant, which opened in May on thebanks of Regent’s Canal, had its be-
ginnings in a trip that David Wadding-ton and Pablo Flack, business partnersat Bistrotheque in Bethnal Green, tookthrough South America and Californiathree years ago.
“All of this was sort of food researchbut in a low-level kind of way,” Mr. Wad-dington said. “As we started to get allthese bits of information in our heads,we started to pull together an idea of thekind of place we’d be interested in open-ing and we felt quite strongly that a sortof West Coast experience was going tobe a way forward.”
The idea came together partly be-cause of a joke based on a fictional char-acter called Shrimpy that the two creat-ed. “In lots of ways she helped us makedecisions, from menu items to the glass-ware to the linen to the decoration,” Mr.Waddington said. Shrimpy apparentlyprefers bright, modern spaces and crisplinens. And her dish of choice is likely tofeature avocado, fish or salsa. Theplace, an abandoned gasoline station,was renovated by Carmody Groarke,whose futuristic take on the filling sta-tion of the American West features un-dulating panels of fluted fiberglass. Justas the architects adapted an iconicAmerican form for London, so too haveMr. Waddington and Mr. Flack createdan American-inspired fantasy fit forKing’s Cross.
“It’s not a Californian restaurant atall,” Mr. Waddington said. “It’s a feelingand it’s a restaurant that belongs toShrimpy.” Æ
H E A D S U P
In London, a Taste of the U.S.HAZEL THOMPSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Dining at Shrimpy’s at the King’s Cross Filling Station, where avocado, fish and salsa can be found on the menu.
TR 5THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012
UPSHOTA slick and cheeky addition to Mar-
seille’s quiet back streets, with dou-bles from 79 euros ($95, at $1.20 to theeuro).
BASICSThis 127-room hotel opened in the
spring, becoming a prominent trendyyet casual boutique establishment onMarseille’s hotel scene. Conceived bythe French philosopher and urbanistCyril Aouizerate and the Trigano fam-ily, who are also behind the Club Medventure, this Philippe Starck-designedhotel is the second outpost of thebrand, which opened Mama ShelterParis in 2008. The aim is to offer ahigh-quality experience at low-endprices. The result is impressive. Mr.Starck’s whimsical touch and the con-vivial atmosphere of therestaurant and bar go far.In the industrial lobby, aformer butcher’s shop, theunconventional details —a bench with school chairbacks at varying angles,staff aprons printed withbright Pop Art-inspiredportraits of the founders’mothers — will make yousmile.
LOCATIONMama Shelter is nestled
in a cluster of charmingstone houses in the Notre-Dame-du-Mont neighbor-hood, close to three metrostations. It is a short walkto the old port, popular forits bars and restaurants and for theNotre-Dame church atop a hill thattowers above it all. It is also a five-minute walk to the arty Cours Julienarea, with independent cafes andshops.
THE ROOMAt check-in, a friend and I were giv-
en three options: a patio view, a streetview or a rooftop view. We went withthe rooftop view, on the sixth and up-permost floor. The tiny room — 215square feet — felt cold and bland. Thedouble bed faced the wall instead of awindow, the flooring was thick lino-leum and the walls were of exposedconcrete, one with a hanging alumi-num-framed mirror. But it did have el-ements of warmth. That bed, for ex-ample, was supremely comfortable,dressed in white high-thread-countcotton and an array of different pil-lows to suit a range of sleepers. Theroom’s highlight was the sloping roofand skylights, allowing you to look at
the stars or across Marseille’s terra-cotta chimneys and tiled rooftops.
THE BATHROOMSmall and basic but sleek and func-
tional. Delicious smelling Kiehl’sproducts and fluffy towels made usfeel pampered. The only drawbackswere the harsh lighting and the sinksmade of a material that made it hardto rinse away debris.
AMENITIESBoth Wi-Fi and video on demand
are free in the rooms. There is noroom service, which doesn’t count asa drawback because you’re not meantto stay in here. On the ground floor,the bar and restaurant has a residentD.J., the local celebrity D.J. Bobzilla,
who during the daytime can often befound giving guests advice on what tosee in the city. On Wednesday to Fri-day evenings live bands selected bythe French rapper Roçé perform inthe restaurant. In addition to music,the bar serves up creative cocktailsthat shouldn’t be skipped, despitetheir 12-euro price tag, and anotherbar offers Pastis on the patio until 10p.m. The restaurant serves Frenchfood with a Mediterranean twist, andeverything on the menu, from the bur-ger and fries to the sea bream cevi-che, is a sure bet.
BOTTOM LINEThis fun, stylish and upmarket ho-
tel, with an excellent casual restau-rant and bustling bar, provides a com-fortable base for exploring the charmsof Marseille’s old port without break-ing the bank.
Mama Shelter Marseille, 64, rue dela Loubière; (33-4) 84-35-20-00;mamashelter.com.
ROOKSANA HOSSENALLY
Check In/Check OutMARSEILLEMama Shelter Marseille
MAMA SHELTER
A room at the Philippe Starck-designed hotel.
PROOF User: 156910 Time: 14:48 - 08-06-2012 Region: SundayAdvance Edition: 1
