In TOP CHEF, TOP EATS, we ask top NYC chefs where and what they eat.
You’ve heard about New England-style Brooklyn taverns and you’ve heard about Manhattan tour cruises, but have you heard about the two combined? Well, that’s exactly what Sue Walsh (graphic designer at Milton Glaser) and Kelli Farwell (who’s worked at Gramercy Tavern, Rye, and DuMont) set out to do with their new restaurant, The Water Table, that takes New York residents out of the subway and onto the water, serving them delicious lobster mac 'n' cheese and crab cakes while they watch a pink sun set over the New York skyline. The couple, who married last year, restored an old wooden WWII vessel (named The Revolution) and, as Kelli told us, “everything about the boat is MacGyvered.” We met Kelli and Sue at Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg and chatted about the restaurant that just opened this winter.
Names: Sue Walsh and Kelli Farwell
Astrological signs:
SW: Pisces
KF: Leo
Hometowns:
SW: Oak Park, IL
KF: Millinocket, ME
Current neighborhood:
SW & KF: Williamsburg
Tell us about the food on the boat.
SW: We draw on classic recipes from our New England roots.
KF: We get our seafood sourced in Maine from an old-school operation that’s generations deep. It’s called Hancock Lobster. They are really, really Down East. It’s all people that know each other.
SW: And almost all the cocktails contain bitters, which historically have been used to help seasickness.
Signature dish at home?
SW: Kale, eggs, and beans with miso glaze
KF: If Sue cooks, it’s usually something healthy with greens. Left to my own devices, cold cereal and pizza.
Guilty pleasures?
SW: Those unbelievably expensive veggie juices like BluePrint. After working on the boat, I almost started smoking. At the end of each shift, it just seemed like the best way to chill out and I've never smoked one cigarette in my life! But, instead, I would get some crazy expensive beet juice or something.
KF: Drinking an expensive glass of wine and posting old Stevie Nicks videos on Facebook.
What was it like restoring the boat?
KF: When I first went to see it in Boston and walked on, a couple pigeons flew out. There weren’t doors. We put those on. It’s great now. I just felt it immediately. The cabin had old oak wood floors, wrap-around windows, [and] every seat was a good seat. It was set up like a tour bus with all the seats facing forward, so one of the first things I did was take the fire axe on the boat and just started chopping up the benches.
Where does the boat go?
KF: We go around Roosevelt Island, and under the bridges because it’s really calm. We don’t usually go down around the Statue [of Liberty] where the rivers come together. It’s really choppy because there’s tons of traffic with the ferries. It’s like you’re in a washing machine.
Has anyone ever gone overboard?
KF: No! There was only one woman that I remember getting seasick. It was a surprise cruise that her boyfriend brought her on. She was not well. She was sitting there trying to go somewhere with her mind. We gave her some Advil and she
You’ve heard about New England-style Brooklyn taverns and you’ve heard about Manhattan tour cruises, but have you heard about the two combined? Well, that’s exactly what Sue Walsh (graphic designer at Milton Glaser) and Kelli Farwell (who’s worked at Gramercy Tavern, Rye, and DuMont) set out to do with their new restaurant, The Water Table, that takes New York residents out of the subway and onto the water, serving them delicious lobster mac 'n' cheese and crab cakes while they watch a pink sun set over the New York skyline. The couple, who married last year, restored an old wooden WWII vessel (named The Revolution) and, as Kelli told us, “everything about the boat is MacGyvered.” We met Kelli and Sue at Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg and chatted about the restaurant that just opened this winter.
Names: Sue Walsh and Kelli Farwell
Astrological signs:
SW: Pisces
KF: Leo
Hometowns:
SW: Oak Park, IL
KF: Millinocket, ME
Current neighborhood:
SW & KF: Williamsburg
Tell us about the food on the boat.
SW: We draw on classic recipes from our New England roots.
KF: We get our seafood sourced in Maine from an old-school operation that’s generations deep. It’s called Hancock Lobster. They are really, really Down East. It’s all people that know each other.
SW: And almost all the cocktails contain bitters, which historically have been used to help seasickness.
Signature dish at home?
SW: Kale, eggs, and beans with miso glaze
KF: If Sue cooks, it’s usually something healthy with greens. Left to my own devices, cold cereal and pizza.
Guilty pleasures?
SW: Those unbelievably expensive veggie juices like BluePrint. After working on the boat, I almost started smoking. At the end of each shift, it just seemed like the best way to chill out and I've never smoked one cigarette in my life! But, instead, I would get some crazy expensive beet juice or something.
KF: Drinking an expensive glass of wine and posting old Stevie Nicks videos on Facebook.
What was it like restoring the boat?
KF: When I first went to see it in Boston and walked on, a couple pigeons flew out. There weren’t doors. We put those on. It’s great now. I just felt it immediately. The cabin had old oak wood floors, wrap-around windows, [and] every seat was a good seat. It was set up like a tour bus with all the seats facing forward, so one of the first things I did was take the fire axe on the boat and just started chopping up the benches.
Where does the boat go?
KF: We go around Roosevelt Island, and under the bridges because it’s really calm. We don’t usually go down around the Statue [of Liberty] where the rivers come together. It’s really choppy because there’s tons of traffic with the ferries. It’s like you’re in a washing machine.
Has anyone ever gone overboard?
KF: No! There was only one woman that I remember getting seasick. It was a surprise cruise that her boyfriend brought her on. She was not well. She was sitting there trying to go somewhere with her mind. We gave her some Advil and she