Beware all ye mollusks who enter here.

Sure, they'd already heard from The Village Voice that they "reinvent(ed)" choucroute among other high marks, but the Times stamp of approval is an internationally-regarded one; the kind that can make or break a restaurant, especially one like Littleneck, a small upstart in a neighborhood most Manhattanites have never even been to.

Not even with a Kickstarter can you buy press like this:

Andy Curtin, an owner looking more shipmate than band mate in a beard and woolen cap, swoops about with dishes you’ll be happy to dine on. [...] The fabulous bicoastal oyster selection delivers bracing, diverse pleasures. The clipper-ship-size clam roll pretty much redeems the mollusk; fat-bellied fried Ipswiches burst from their griddled split-top roll. [...] Perhaps we are indeed experiencing a changing of the guard.

The review doesn't mention the Kickstarter aspect of the restaurant; fair enough, a previous Times piece already covered that territory. That said, it's worth pointing out now more than ever, if only as further evidence of Kickstarter's success in democratizing (and maybe, dare we say, revolutionizing) things like personal investment, small business models, and the way we eat.

Also, now, the clam roll. Every once in a while, the startup world actually produces some happy endings. Not that Littleneck's narrative is totally written, already, but this book in their story ended pretty nicely. Very rarely—but still, sometimes—everybody wins. Unless you're a bivalve, this would appear to be one of those times.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek