Elevating Comfort Food

“In the global landscape of New York City dining, New Zealand is underrepresented,” The Wall Street Journal’s Lauren Lancaster writes. “Chef Mark Simmons, best known for a stint on the fourth season of Top Chef, brings New Zealand cuisine to Park Slope [with Kiwiana]. The summer vegetable pie ($9) is stuffed with a mix of zucchini, baby carrots, peas and cauliflower. It’s a vegetarian homage to meat pies sold at gas stations in New Zealand. ‘It’s kind of like taking simple comfort food from New Zealand and then elevating it,’ Simmons said. Classic brunch dishes include eggs benedict, featuring perfectly poached eggs served on a thin layer of braised pork belly.” Kiwiana is on 847 Union Street at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York.