Bar food: what’s not to love? Yes, it’s there to help soak up alcohol or enable a total lack of self-control after four beers. From a diner’s point of view, there’s more experimentation in these snacks than in many entrees in New York these days. To whit: Peppadew lollipops at Company Bar.
Company Bar is wholly unremarkable in the universe of East Village watering holes, though, strangely, it has a kitchen. Chef Rob Ziser, himself an alum of a few fancy New York kitchens, rented the kitchen from the bar and sends out a tasty selection of bar food, all coming in at under ten bucks. It’s bigger news than the bar’s high-tech, low-quality jukebox (low-quality unless you’ve been searching endlessly for a jukebox with Rush’s brand-new album) and eclectic sampling of patrons (drunks and preppies, on a recent Monday night).
The Peppadews are stuffed with cream cheese and garlic before they get put on a stick. On the outside, Peppadews look like tiny Macintosh apples, and indeed, they are classified as a fruit and not a vegetable. The flavor of the Peppadew, a South African pepper, is both sweet and spicy, perfectly complemented by the addition of the cream cheese. Sure beats salted peanuts or the constantly recycled Chex mixes you find elsewhere. The lollipops encapsulate Ziser's philosophy at Company, gently tweaking foods that you know and love.
Peppadews are said to be the first new fruit on the market since the kiwi, itself introduced two decades ago. According to the literature on the official Peppadew website, Peppadews have a 24-month shelf life. Maybe they’re like maraschino cherries, and naturally belong in the bar, but let’s hope they don’t sit in your stomach for the whole two years.
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