The New Nordic Wonder: Aska

RECOMMENDED: Food & Drink Awards 2013

There hasn’t been a Norse invasion this major since the Viking era—New Nordic cuisine infiltrated Gotham this year, with the city’s toques venturing beyond the well-beaten terrain of Paris and San Sebastian to Europe’s tip-top boreal locales, taking notes on the old-school methods and delicate, modern plating employed in Sweden and Denmark. Foraging, pickling and smoking became ubiquitous buzzwords, trends exemplified by Noma-meets-Noho hot spot Acme, smørrebrød-slinging Aamanns-Copenhagen, and Scandinavian pop-up phenom Frej, from wunderkind chefs Richard Kuo and Fredrik Berselius. Frej planted the seed for Berselius’s permanent venture, the gorgeously spare Aska, at Kinfolk Studios. The young gun’s tasting menu turned the forest’s prickly underbelly—all hairy roots, funky fungi and fallen leaves—into some of the most stunning plates of the year: pale shrimp perched on top of their golden-fried hulls; a lush, sugary beet, red as rare meat, webbed with caramelized onions. If medieval Nordic dining had been this masterfully done, the Vikings would never have left. Aska, 90 Wythe Ave at North 11th St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-388-2969, askanyc.com)