If you have spent any time following the New York City dining scene lately, you have almost certainly heard whispers—or seen dazzling social media posts—about the Potato Potato Potato dish at Somssi. Located in the heart of the West Village and Greenwich Village, Somssi is the latest culinary venture from Na:eun Hospitality, the celebrated restaurant group behind acclaimed dining destinations like Atomix and Atoboy. Helmed by a team known for redefining contemporary dining standards in Manhattan, Somssi has quickly captured the attention of food critics and neighborhood locals alike since throwing open its doors.
At the center of this immediate culinary frenzy is a whimsical, caviar-topped creation that defies simple categorization. The triple-layered potato dish stands proudly as the most labor-intensive item on the restaurant’s entire menu, requiring an extraordinary amount of daily preparation from the culinary team. Yet, despite the sheer scale of the effort involved, it has also become the single most popular order in the dining room. The kitchen regularly burns through up to 100 pounds of potatoes every single week just to keep pace with the overwhelming demand from eager diners.
For the team behind the scenes, this playful yet technically demanding dish encapsulates the exact philosophy and spirit of the restaurant. As managing partner Ahris Kim aptly puts it, the goal at Somssi is to strike a delicate and inviting balance: "We should have serious food, serious hospitality, but we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously." That ethos of blending rigorous culinary technique with a sense of approachability and fun is woven into every corner of the operation, from the front-of-house greeting down to the frantic, focused choreography of the prep kitchen hours before the evening rush.
To understand the dedication required to pull off a night of service at Somssi, one only has to look closely at the meticulous preparation that goes into the menu’s standout items. The creation of the now-famous triple-potato dish begins with humble Yukon Gold potatoes. These are painstakingly put through a potato ricer to achieve a remarkably smooth consistency, which is then heavily enriched with generous amounts of rich cream and high-quality butter. This luxurious puree is carefully set into specialized molds and placed in the freezer to firm up. Once chilled and structured, the logs of potato are lightly toasted in fine breadcrumbs for an initial textural contrast. The final touch before frying is wrapping each individual log in delicate ribbons of raw Russet potato, ensuring that when the item is finally fried to order, it emerges with a stunning, multi-textured crunch that serves as the luxurious base for its crowning dollop of caviar.
Moving beyond the viral vegetable preparation, the Somssi kitchen applies an equally rigorous and thoughtful approach to its proteins. Consider the ox tongue, a cut that requires immense patience and precision to transform into a refined plate. The ox tongue is first submerged in a specialized brine for just over 16 hours, allowing the curing process to deeply penetrate the dense muscle fibers. Following this extended brining period, the huge cuts of tongue are transferred to a slow-cooking bath where they simmer gently for four hours alongside a carefully curated blend of fresh herbs, savory aromatics, and rich beef tallow.
Before these slow-cooked portions ever see the intense heat of the grill, the chefs carefully score the massive cuts of meat in a precise pattern. This crucial step ensures that when the tender tongue hits the hot grill grates, it develops an incredible, uniform sear and a smoky exterior that contrasts beautifully with its meltingly soft interior. When it is finally plated for the dining room, the ox tongue is anchored by a vibrant, nutty romesco sauce, accompanied by just a small smear of pungent wasabi on the side to cut through the richness of the beef tallow and meat.
Creativity and cross-cultural flavor pairings remain a constant thread across the entire Somssi menu, manifesting in unexpected ways through dishes like the pork loin schnitzel. In this inventive interpretation of a classic comfort food, thick cuts of tender pork loin are generously coated in a fine layer of ground shrimp. This clever culinary technique bridges European schnitzel traditions with the savory, umami-rich flavors reminiscent of classic Asian shrimp toast. The resulting hybrid dish is fried until the exterior achieves a thick, golden, and shatteringly crispy crust. To balance the heavy richness of the deep-fried coating, the pork schnitzel is finished with a vibrant sweet-and-sour plum sauce that adds a bright, fruity acidity to every bite.
Seafood lovers find an equally dynamic offering in dishes like the scallop crudo, which showcases the kitchen’s lighter, fresher side. This artistic dish features thinly pressed sweet scallops arranged delicately on the plate, surrounded by a pool of tart and vibrant strawberry sauce. The composition is finished with a scattering of tart gooseberries and crisp peppers, providing a brilliant interplay of sweet, acidic, and spicy notes that clean the palate and offer a striking visual contrast against the pale seafood.
The intense, behind-the-scenes effort required to execute these complex plates is a daily testament to the dedication of the culinary team. Food enthusiasts and curious home cooks eager to witness the meticulous organization firsthand can watch the Somssi kitchen staff in action—crafting everything from the triple-potato bite to the show-stopping grilled ox tongue—in a dedicated feature on an episode of Mise En Place. Through every meticulously riced potato, carefully scored cut of beef, and thoughtfully assembled crudo, Somssi continues to prove that Greenwich Village’s newest dining destination is serving food that is as deeply considered as it is genuinely entertaining.
