Joseph Leonard's pickle jars

Photo: Hernan F. Rodriguez

City restaurants are finding themselves in a bit of a pickle lately, the good kind, as the briny snacks are popping up on menus all over town.

Brand-new West Village Italian Corsino (212-242-3093) offers an assortment of olives and pickles ($5) as an antipasti, while its Village neighbor Joseph Leonard generously garnishes each table, and the bar, with jars of gratis gherkins (646-429-8383). In NoHo, Brad Farmerie’s pickled watermelon rinds ($4) are a popular starter at Double Crown (212-254-0350), although the MePa's Standard Grill goes for a more traditional approach: its “good pickle” ($1) is a classic half-sour sourced from Lower East Side traditionalists The Pickle Guys (212-645-4100). Further Uptown, a side of pickled vegetables, including cucumber, cabbage, carrots, peppers and green cherry tomatoes, complement the Mediterranean dishes at Pera (212-878-6301).

Meanwhile, over in Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens' Buttermilk Channel offers a mix of sweet cornichons and crunchy half-sour dills ($3) as a starter (718-852-8490), while chef Cal Elliot at Williamsburg's Rye accompanies his sandwiches with a plethora of the crunchy treat: sweet, thin-sliced “bread and butters” with mustard seed; garlicky dills with jalapeño; watermelon rinds with allspice, star anise and cloves; and perky pearl onions with ginger (718-218-8047). 

–Kathleen Squires