(This venue is closed.) On Sunday's walk back from Sandy's to the West Side, I'd seen a little poster (featuring a little shark) on the north side of 116th St., offering up fish and chips, cheese steaks, fish hoagies, collard greens, mac and cheese, banana pudding, and cobblers. Around the corner was a tiny, shuttered, unmarked storefront with an awning that might shelter a few seats in summertime; must be the place. Tonight, walking up Fifth Ave., I spotted the menu board out front from a couple of blocks away. Victory Kitchenette is indeed no bigger than it had first appeared, but its motto — "small on space…BIG ON TASTE" — is just as appropriate.
There's room for only four or five customers to stand at the counter and talk with the proprietor, and the two painted-over stadium seats aren't made for sitting and eating, so orders to go are pretty much the only option. As the main event, a fish hoagie ($5.50) was an easy call, and as for a cobbler, peach and lemon lost out to the owner's choice, an "awesome" pear/apple combo ($3). "He'll be back" commented another customer as I squeezed out the door.
After the short trip home, my hoagie was a slightly sloppy two-hander, sporting big, fresh-fried filets of fish garnished with cole slaw and (at the owner's recommendation, before he wrapped it) slathered to taste with hot sauce and tartar sauce. Excellent. The cobbler, pre-packed in one of those inch-high plastic deli containers, was a delicious moist mass filled with healthy-sized slices of pear and apple.
Service was unhurried but friendly. I'll be back.
Victory Kitchenette
1421 Fifth Ave. (116th-117th Sts.)
212-427-1797
Comments