The Frisky Oyster

This weekend, we took a break from New York City to head out to the North Fork of Long Island, where my girlfriend grew up. On our culinary tour, first up was The Frisky Oyster in Greenport. The restaurant has been open since 2001, and has received generally glowing reviews (New York Times, Newsday).

Despite the name, seafood accounts for only about 40% of the menu, which changes daily. Indeed, when we asked our server for ordering advice, she said that several entrees and appetizers were new that day, and she hadn’t tried them yet.

The vaguely New American menu has some standard-issue favorites (steak frites; beet and goat cheese salad), but more than a few dishes that combine ingredients in unexpected ways: cannelloni with goat cheese cream; scallops with eggplant purée. 

The space has comfortable tables and banquettes, and there’s a lively bar scene in the front of the restaurant. The flowery red wallpaper is a bit gaudy, but the restaurant feels warmer in person than the photo above would suggest. The dining room is on the loud side, with solid surfaces and uncarpeted floors that allow the sound to reverberate.

The vibe feels very much like the West Village, and we surmised that most of the clientele were from out of town. Prices are high by local standards, but visitors from Manhattan will feel at home, with appetizers $9–15 and entrees $25–35.

 
Oysters ‘Friskafella’ (left); Lobster and Corn Quesadilla (right)

Several reviews mentioned that The Frisky Oyster often has no oysters on the menu, but on Friday night they were present and accounted for. I started with the Oysters ‘Friskafella’ ($15), a play on the old classic, Oysters Rockefeller, made here with spinach, garlic and chipotle, and covered with a sheet of parmesan.

My girlfriend had the Lobster and Corn Quesedilla ($15).

 
Halibut with “clams oreganata” (left); Striped Bass (right)

I was especially impressed with the entrees, which can often be a letdown. Both fish we tried were impeccable. Halibut ($28) was topped with Clams Oreganata (crushed clams, bread crumbs, oregano, parsley, mint), on a bed of asparagus. The combination worked perfectly. My girlfriend had the Striped Bass ($28) with an artichoke, potato, shitake ragout.

The wine list is brief and eclectic. Naturally we wanted a Long Island wine, so I chose the Macari 2002 Meritage Bergen Road ($55). This is a Bordeaux-style blend, which I find is more dependable than the Long Island wines that rely upon a single grape. This one had matured nicely, and it wasn’t too overbearing to be enjoyed with fish.

We’ve heard reports of service issues at this restaurant, including long waits for food. That didn’t happen to us, but there were only two servers for the whole dining room (more than half full), and it could be a very different story during the high summer season.

Even if you do have to wait, it is well worth it for seafood so beautifully prepared.

The Frisky Oyster (27 Front Street near Main Street, Greenport, Long Island)

Food: **
Service: *½
Ambiance: *½
Overall: **

Etats-Unis, Twice

Note: Etats-Unis closed in November 2009.

*

A friend and I were overdue for a “catch-up” dinner, and I suggested Etats-Unis. I had good memories of the restaurant when I dined there about a year ago, and the neighborhood was convenient.

Everything that made Etats-Unis worthwhile then is true now, but we had a peculiar experience. My friend asked for a tissue, or in lieu of that a cocktail napkin, or a paper towel, or anything made of paper that one could wipe the nose with—and for some reason the server refused, and in fact, was quite insistent that she would not. It was not, to be sure, a run-of-the-mill request, but why refuse?

Eventually the server complied, but after that we were all but ignored. As my friend lives nearby, she went back the next day to complain. The restaurant was very apologetic, admitted they’d had problems with that server, and gave us a gift certificate more than ample to cover the cost of a second meal.

So this is a review of Etats-Unis, twice. The second time, we had a different server, and Etats-Unis shone—as I’m sure it usually does.

The printed menu changes daily. And it really does change. I brought home copies of the menus from both visits. Two weeks apart, only two of five appetizers and one of five entrées were identical. And the others hadn’t just changed slightly; most had changed totally, aside from the chicken entrée (present both times, but with different preparations and accompaniments).

Frank Bruni wrote up Etats-Unis on his blog about five months ago. He clearly was reviewing it through the prism of the restaurant’s Michelin star status. Most restaurants so honored are considerably more luxurious than this one, and he expected more of the dishes to be knock-outs.

What strikes me, rather, is that so much of the food at Etats-Unis is just incredibly solid. After three visits, I remain impressed. Everything is robust, hearty, and impeccably prepared.

Its failing, if you’d call it that, is that Etats-Unis goes straight for the gut. These aren’t meticulous, composed artistic creations, with sauces laid out in squiggly lines, plates with funky shapes, and dollops of caviar or truffles. Most could be described as comfort food, but executed at a level that commands attention.

The portions are also enormous. I have never finished a meal at Etats-Unis, and I probably never will. It’s not for a lack of desire. It’s just more food than I can eat.

It is also expensive. Appetizers are $17–22, entrées $28–38. On my second visit, there was an aged prime rib for two, for $96. The wine list somewhat makes up for it, with plenty of reasonably priced bottles. There are about 20–25 choices by the quarter-bottle (a little more than the standard glass), and almost twenty half-bottles.

 
Tiger shrimp and Dungeness crabmeat chowder (left); Twice risen wild mushroom soufflé (right)

On our first visit, my friend started with a shrimp and crabmeat chowder ($18), while I had a wild mushroom soufflé ($17), which for me was the knockout dish of the evening—an impressive creation.

 
Seafood paella “Etats-Unis” (left); Veal chop (right)

Seafood paella ($38) is the one entrée that was on the menu both times we visited. I hesitate to order paella sometimes, because the seafood is usually in the shell, and the effort to eat it isn’t always repaid in flavor. At Etats-Unis, all of the seafood is out of its shell, and therein lies much of its merit. It includes lobster, shrimp and scallops, along with onions, chorizo, artichokes, bacon and rice. My friend loved it so much that she ordered the same thing two weeks later.

I had the veal chop ($38), which was one of the least interesting things we tried. It was perfectly done, as is everything at Etats-Unis, but not much was done with it, aside from supplying a boatload of rather unmemorable vegetables.

 
Date pudding (left); Chocolate soufflé (right)

Among the desserts, date pudding ($12) and the chocolate soufflé ($14) never leave the menu. Both are baked-to-order, and you need to request them at the beginning of your meal (the server will ask). As I mentioned last time, either one is easily shareable, especially given the size of the appetizer and entrée portions.

Anyhow, we ordered both anyway. The data pudding is the better of the two, particularly given that no one else in town is serving anything like it. The soufflé is very good, and you won’t go home unhappy, but there are plenty of restaurants that do it as well.

 
Fresh pea soup (left); Organic roasted chicken (right)

The second time back, we both chose the same appetizer: a terrific pea soup ($18) garnished with chives, lemon, and Dungeness crab meat.

Lemon poppyseed soufflé

For the main course, my friend had the paella again, while I chose the organic boneless chicken ($28). Whereas my veal chop last time was rather simplistic, there was much more going on here. The chicken was rolled and stuffed with cilantro, onion, and avocado. On the side was a luscious potato terrine, made with six-year aged Gouda cheese.

To finish, we re-ordered the date pudding, but this time there was a new soufflé to try: lemon poppyseed ($14). It was just fine, but not quite gooey enough. If you’re going to have a soufflé, the chocolate is better. (There are always four desserts; both times, there was a lemon pudding cake available. On the first visit, a key lime cheesecake took the place of the lemon soufflé.)

I was impressed that the staff at Etats-Unis essentially comped an entire meal because of the poor service we experienced the first time. Any restaurant would abjectly apologize, but an entire comped meal at this price level is unusual, especially for a restaurant like Etats-Unis that generally has no trouble selling out.

The space remains spartan and somewhat cramped, but the service (aside from a certain individual) is otherwise very good.

Etats-Unis (242 East 81st Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, Upper East Side)

Food: **½
Service: **
Ambiance: *
Overall: **

South Gate

[Krieger via Eater]

Chef Kerry Heffernan first came to prominance as executive chef of Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park. He left in 2005 to helm another Meyer establishment, Hudson Yards Catering, a behind-the-scenes job that didn’t really suit his temperament.

At South Gate, in the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel on Central Park South, Heffernan is back in a restaurant kitchen, where he belongs. I loved Heffernan’s work at Eleven Madison Park the one time I visited, but both New York Times critics that reviewed it awarded only two stars, which for a Danny Meyer restaurant has to be considered disappointing.

The newly refurbished Essex House is practically synonymous with luxury. Not long ago, it was home to Alain Ducasse, probably the fanciest restaurant New York has seen in recent times. With South Gate, the Essex House has gone down-market. The Tony Chi interior dazzles, with its floor-to-ceiling wine wall, gleaming mirrors, and a working fire place. But bare wood tables and floors, and a large space dominated by a wrap-around bar, send a decidedly casual vibe. So does the booming sound system in the adjoining lounge, which made us decidedly uncomfortable.

If Heffernan has brought along some of his old recipes from Eleven Madison Park, he certainly hasn’t brought along his old service team. It was amateur hour on a Saturday evening, when the amuse-bouche and the appetizers arrived simultaneously, but dessert (cheesecake) took twenty minutes. And good luck flagging down a server when you need one.

Heffernan was in the house and greeted most diners (including us), but he couldn’t have been pleased to see the place half-empty. Judging by the many accents we heard, we guessed that most of those in the dining room were hotel guests. To survive, such a large restaurant will need to attract a broader clientele.

The menu is one of low ambition. There are six appetizers ($14–21), four soups & salads ($12–16), five seafood and vegetable entrées ($26–39) and four meat entrées ($29–38). The obligatory foie gras and lobster make appearances—they’re the most expensive appetizer and entrée respectively—but you don’t find any caviar, black truffles, or Kobe beef. There’s no tasting menu.

The wine list is on the expensive side, but there are some decent options that don’t break the bank. I don’t claim any great expertise, but I thought that the 1998 Chateau Camensac Haut-Médoc ($74) was one of the better wines we’ve had in a while. They don’t decant it, as they do at Eleven Madison Park, and the same glasses are used whether you order red or white.

  
Amuse-bouche (left); Wild Mushroom Martini (center); Hamachi (right)

The bread service was much better than usual for this class of restaurant: warm bread rolls with individual soft butter servings for each of us. But is it possible to have too much bread? The amuse-bouche was foie gras torchon with orange jelly and lemon zest on a cracker, accompanied by warm gougères.

I was sufficiently intrigued to take a chance on the Wild Mushroom Martini ($16). It was basically a hot mushroom soup with spinach fondue, a poached egg, and a slice of crostini. There was allegedly crisp pancetta in there too, but I couldn’t find it. Give Heffernan credit for serving something no other chef in town has thought of, but the dish was a failure. The various ingredients were clumpy and hard to get at, especially when they came in a teeter-tottering martini glass.

The dish was also, quite frankly, extremely unappetizing to look at. Look at the photo, and write your own disgusting caption. At another table, a French woman took one look at it, and sent it back. It didn’t taste bad at all, but I really didn’t see the point.

My girlfriend’s Hamachi ($18) was a good deal more successful. 

 
Gianonne Chicken (left); Short-Cured Salmon Pavé (right)

Chicken ($29) and Salmon ($31) are hotel restaurant clichés, and I’m not sure that Heffernan did much to elevate them beyond their usual fate. The chicken was competent enough, but once again it was not all that appetizing to look at, and it was over-sauced. Did paprika really belong here?

Salmon was alleged to be “short-cured” — that is, cured for exactly one hour, according to the server. Can an hour of curing really make a difference? We certainly didn’t detect any, but the fish was tender enough. 

 
Cheesecake (left); Petits-fours (right)

For dessert, we shared an order of cheescake ($10). With cheesecake, pastry chefs sometimes get too cute for their own good, but this one was the real McCoy, albeit dressed up a bit. We enjoyed it, and also the petits-fours.

With appetizers averaging over $15 and entrées over $30, South Gate needs to do better. The only dish on the menu that seemed to take any real chance—the Wild Mushroom Martini—is surely destined for an early retirement. Is this meant to be a dining destination, or an unadventurous hotel restaurant with a hip bar scene? Whichever is the case, at these prices patrons deserve much better service.

South Gate is barely a month old. Given Kerry Heffernan’s track record, I assume that it will improve.

South Gate (160 Central Park South between Sixth & Seventh Avenues, West Midtown)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *½
Overall: *

Dovetail

[Kalina via Eater]

John Fraser must be floating on air. Dovetail, his new restaurant, scored a rare “triple triple”: three-star reviews from Adam Platt, Restaurant Girl, and most importantly, Frank Bruni. Just before the Bruni review came out, I snagged a Friday night reservation for a few weeks away, figuring that it was about to become nearly impossible to get into this place.

I was a big fan of Fraser’s work at Compass (so was Bruni). If ever a chef deserved his own place, it was Fraser. And he was gutsy enough to put it on the Upper West Side, a neighborhood where upscale restaurants haven’t traditionally thrived. Compass, at least, is close enough to Lincoln Center to attract a pre-show crowd; Dovetail most likely will not.

Location doesn’t matter now: with nine stars to its credit, and counting, Dovetail is a certified destination. Even on the Upper West Side.

The Richard Bloch design suggests some nervousness about the restaurant’s mission. In the entrance lobby, a floor-to-ceiling glass-enclosed “wine wall” and a large host stand make Dovetail look upscale and stylish.

The main dining room looks much humbler, with bare wood tables and exposed brick that would be more suitable for a neighborhood place. (An overflow dining room downstairs looks even more spartan.) Wisely, he added carpeting and padded walls to absorb the sound, but it isn’t quite good enough. With tables that are awfully close together, you don’t get much privacy.

Menu (click to expand)

Servers in conservative ties and crisply pressed white coats look and act like they parachuted in from a much fancier place. I was pleased that they seated me before my girlfriend arrived, and that they let us linger over cocktails without pressing us to get on with it. But after we ordered, the amuse-bouche, appetizer, and entrée all came out at speed.

By contemporary standards, Dovetail is a mid-priced restaurant, with appetizers $11–18, entrées $24–34. A five-course tasting menu is only $65, and on Sundays there’s a three-course prix fixe at just $38. And it is virtually all excellent. As my girlfriend put it, “This is what Adour should have been.”

A sommelier noticed that I was puzzling over the wine list. When I asked her for a red under $60, she came back with three options well below that price, including two in the $40s. It was a refreshing change of pace from wine directors who invariably suggest wines right at your maximum, or indeed even above it.

 

A duo of amuses-bouches offered sashimi-quality tuna on a skewer coupled with salmon roe on a white spoon. The bread service was a warm slice of cheddar corn bread.

 
Idaho Potato Gnocchi; Pork Belly

Both appetizers were hits: potato gnocchi with veal short ribs and foie gras butter, and pork belly with porcini mushrooms, spinach, and a fried hen egg.

 
Halibut; Rack and Leg of Lamb

The entrées offered a bit less excitement, but halibut was expertly done. My girlfriend thought that rack of lamb was a bit tougher than it should be, though I didn’t find any problem with the piece of it that I tasted.

The ambitious food is somewhat let down by both the ambiance and service, but they certainly won’t stand in the way of Dovetail being a tremendous success.

Dovetail (103 W. 77th Street at Columbus Avenue, Upper West Side)

Food: **½
Service: **
Ambiance: **
Overall: **½

Cercle Rouge

[Kalina via Eater]

Cercle Rouge has been through a tough first 2½ years. Once touted as “Tribeca’s Balthazar-to-be,” it seemed destined for an early demise after the State Liquor Authority threatened to revoke its license, because it was adjacent to a mosque. An Eater Deathwatch followed.

At around that time, the original chef, David Féau, departed, followed soon by his deputy, Michael Wurster. Since October 2006, Pierre Landet has been executive chef. Somehow, Cercle Rouge kept its license and survived. In mid-January, after 90 weeks on the Deathwatch, Eater’s official position is that Cercle Rouge is in “remission.”

It certainly didn’t become a “Tribeca Balthazar.” The initial excitement has long since died down. I walked in after work one day last week, shortly before 7:00 p.m., to find the restaurant practically empty. Business did pick up a bit during the hour I was there, but it was never busy.

Menu for Toulouse Cuisine Week

The menu now seems to be that of a standard French brasserie, though the chicken wings that critics raved about during the Féau era are still on offer. I suppose it’s a problem when chicken wings are the best dish at a French restaurant. They’re the only thing on the current menu that isn’t French.

Prices are in a wide range, with appetizers $7–18, entrées $17–38. Côte de Boeuf Béarnaise for two will set you back $68. Wines are reasonable; I was pleased to find a great half-bottle of Haut-Médoc for $38.

Last week, the restaurant was showcasing the cuisine of Toulouse, chef Pierre Landet’s native region (menu at left; click for a larger version). It was the promise of cassoulet that drew me there, though I was also eager to try those chicken wings once again.

 

The Chicken Wings ($8) are as fun as I remember with them. Somehow, the chicken is scrunched up at one end of the bone, making each one into a lollipop. They are lightly breaded and mildly spicy. The accompanying bleu cheese sauce seemed to have been made up hours before and stored in the fridge, and it wasn’t really suitable for dipping.

Cassoulet ($24) is the perfect antidote to a cold evening. White beans, carrots, braised duck, and sausage are cooked in a steaming hot crockpot. In this rendition, the vegetables were better than the meats, which were over-cooked and not as flavorful as they should be.

The space is comfortable and easy on the eyes. Service was attentive and enthusiastic.

Cercle Rouge (241 W. Broadway at N. Moore Street, TriBeCa)

Food: *
Service: **
Ambiance: **
Overall: *

Greenwich Steak & Burger Co.

[Bottomless Dish]

Note: Greenwich Steak & Burger Co. closed in December 2008.

*

It’s always nice to see a respectable casual dining option in TriBeCa, a neighborhood with more upscale restaurants than most. Greenwich Steak & Burger Co. opened in late February at the corner of Greenwich & Franklin Streets, where the TriBeCa Studio Deli had been.

It’s a much more attractive space than a such a casual restaurant would need to be, with tables generously spaced, high ceilings to dissipate the noise, and large windows looking out on Greenwich Street.

Although “steak” and “burger” are in the name, the menu is dominated by other things. Appetizers ($7–12) span a wide variety of cuisines, such as Tempura Mussels ($8), Lobster Quesadillas ($10), Smoked Salmon Pizza ($10), and Crab Wontons ($8).

There’s an assortment of soups ($6), salads ($9–12) and pastas ($12–15). Ten different burgers ($9–10, except for a Kobe Beef Burger, $18) offer not just beef, but also crab, tuna, salmon, turkey, and lamb, with seven sauces to choose from. Among eight entrées ($17–25), only three are steaks, the others being chicken, seafood and duck. Side dishes are $6.

The most expensive steak, New York Strip, is $24, and it comes with mashed potatoes. I would guess that a steak this cheap won’t be a meat-lover’s dream.

 
Warm Chips with Truffle Oil; Tuna Tartare

I ordered two appetizers. While I waited, the server dropped off a sleeve of warm chips coated in truffle oil. They are hard to resist, and if you’re not careful they could easily spoil your appetite.

It seems that almost every restaurant has a Tuna Tartare these days, so I was a bit skeptical when the server recommended it here. But this version was as enjoyable as any in town. Equally refreshing was the price: just $10. Yet another helping of warm truffle fries on the side didn’t add much.

 
Kobe Beef Sliders; Sweet Potato Fries

Kobe Beef Sliders were a bit over-cooked and under-seasoned. They came with a batch of Sweet Potato Fries, but by this time I was far too carbed out to enjoy them. Once again, though, one can hardly complain about the price: $12.

Greenwich Steak & Burger offers a more ambitious menu than its humble name would suggest. There’s probably an equal measure of hits and misses, but at low enough prices that one is happy to come back and try more.

Greenwich Steak & Burger Co. (369 Greenwich Street at Franklin Street, TriBeCa)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

Craft

[The Wandering Eater]

Craft, Tom Colicchio’s landmark haute barnyard, has just celebrated its seventh anniversary.

Since my last visit, about two years ago, Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer went through an amicable corporate divorce, with Colicchio leaving Gramercy Tavern to focus on his expanding Craft franchise. There are now Crafts in four cities, Craftsteaks in three, and a chain of ’Wichcraft sandwich outlets. There is still only one Craftbar (around the corner from the main restaurant).

With so many restaurants to tend, quality can suffer. The New York branch of Craftsteak opened to tepid reviews. Colicchio got to work, and he was able to right the ship, but it was a rare dent to his reputation. Craft lost its Michelin star this year, though no one is quite sure why.

Craft has recently introduced a seven-course tasting menu ($110), which I tried with a colleague a couple of weeks ago. The server mentioned that they’d sold only fifty of them so far—a pretty small number for a restaurant that is always jam-packed.

The tasting menu allows you to skip the most difficult part of dinner at Craft: deciding what to order on the long, complex menu, which changes daily. Everything on our tasting menu was prepared to the restaurant’s usual high standards, but I think the kitchen excels at larger portions that you can linger over. Their strength is the novel, not an anthology of short stories.

A serving of Poussin (i.e., chicken) is indicative of the way a tasting menu can titillate, but not satisfy. You’ve seldom had chicken this tender, this succulent. But when it’s reduced to a tasting menu portion, all you seem to get are a few tantalizing scraps. Ordering à la carte is still the way to go at Craft.

I certainly wouldn’t try the wine pairing again ($75), which didn’t offer any remotely interesting choices. For $150, we could have ordered a full bottle that blows the doors off, instead of putting up with a succession of totally unmemorable individual glasses.

Craft may have pioneered the “haute casual” style—three-star service without tablecloths—and no restaurant in town does it better. The wooden tables are large—to accommodate Craft’s trademark cast-iron serving pans and large sharing portions—and generously spaced. A diner seated at the banquette can easily walk between two adjacent tables without having to turn sideways.

Service was friendly and attentive.

 
Raw Madai (sea bream), French Mâche & Beet; Ragout of Escargot & Periwinkles

 
Poached Florida Pompano; Crawfish Risotto

 
Roasted Four Story Hill Farm Poussin; Roasted Venison Tenderloin, Parsnip Gratin, Bluefoot Mushrooms

 
Buttermilk Parfait & Passion Fruit Soup; Hazelnut Chocolate Bread Putting, Malted Milk Ice Cream

Craft (43 E. 19th St. between Park Ave South & Broadway, Flatiron District)

Food: **½
Service: ***
Ambiance: **
Overall: **½

Ginza

Last week, I wanted to take my son to a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant—one of those places where the chef prepares the food in front of you on a hibachi grill and performs a bunch of slapstick knife and spatula tricks. Benihana was fully booked, but a bit of googling led me to Ginza in Park Slope.

Benihana basically invented this genre. I’ve been to teppanyaki restaurants in Tokyo, where the food is taken seriously, and there are no clown tricks. But every version of it that I’ve found in the U.S. (plus once in London) follows the same pattern: mediocre food, but a fun night out for kids and tourists: Disney meets Japan.

Craig Claiborne of The New York Times awarded two stars to Benihana in 1970, but it hasn’t been a serious restaurant in years. Ginza, at least, feels a lot less commercial. It’s in a narrow Fifth Avenue storefront, and with plenty of exposed brick it even feels cute. There’s a small seating area for those who want to order sushi, but four hibachi grills are the showcase. We saw plenty of families, most probably from the neighborhood.

The chef knew all of the standard clown tricks, but the food was pretty bad, starting with a humdrum salad and dull miso soup.

  

The chef gets the rice and vegetables started, then the shrimp, and throws in some fire for show (it has nothing to do with the cooking).

 

The shrimp are about done now, and so is the fried rice, to which the chef had added two fresh eggs. These are the best things we had at Ginza, mainly because they were not over-cooked, and the chef didn’t cut them into little pieces.

 

Now, the chef finished off the chicken. Three lovely chicken breasts were chopped up and fried to death, losing all of their natural mosture. In the photo on the left, you can see a strip steak on the grill, thick and nicely marbled.

But the same violence was inflicted on the steak, too: it is cut into tiny pieces and fried to death, so that almost none of the natural juices are left. The chef cut off a fatty piece on the end, and was about to throw it away, but we insisted he give it to us. At least it had some flavor.

Ginza is good fun for the family, but I wouldn’t go for the food. My son complained about the long subway ride from Upstate Manhattan into far-away Brooklyn, but his objections melted away when he saw the hibachi grills: kids adore this stuff.

Prices don’t break the bank. My girlfriend had the chicken and shrimp dinner ($20.95), with an extra side of vegetables ($7.00). My son and I had the chicken, shrimp and steak dinner for two ($47.95). Beers were $6 apiece.

Ginza (296 Fifth Avenue between 1st & 2nd Streets, Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Food: Fair
Service: Fine
Ambiance: Nice neighborhood place
Overall: Fair

First Look: Terroir

Note: Terroir in the East Village closed in January 31, as part of the culinary divorce between chef Marco Canora and sommelier Paul Grieco. The East Village location is now a wine bar called Fifty Paces, which Canora owns. Terroir Tribeca remains open, under Grieco’s control, and there is also a Highline outpost in the warmer months.

*

It takes a lot to draw me over to First Avenue on a weeknight, which is about as far out of my commuting path as I could get without leaving Manhattan. But when I heard that sommelier Paul Grieco (Hearth, Insieme) was opening a new wine bar, I had to give it a try.

It’s called Terroir, for the French word that describes the “sense of place” that gives each wine its personality. Grieco’s partner, Marco Canora, is in charge of the food, which includes several favorites from his tenure at Craftbar, and other snacks that go well with the informal bar setting. There isn’t much of a kitchen in the tiny space at Terroir, but a lot of the food comes from Hearth, which is just 30 yards down the street.

The vibe is very East Village-y, including the gentle price point. There are over twenty wines offered by the glass, from just $5 to $19, with many at $10 or less. All are also offered by the half-glass. The variety is hard to characterize, but rest assured anything Paul Grieco offers will be compelling.

The wine list at Hearth is famously verbose, but for now the much smaller list at Terroir is limited to the bare facts. “There’s not much literature in it yet,” Grieco said. “Right now, it’s like an e. e. cummings poem.” I suspect it won’t be that way for long.

The food menu fits on one page: bar snacks ($4–5, or 6 for $22); fried stuff ($7); salads ($7–8); bruschetta ($6–7); charcuterie ($4–5, or assortment $21); cheese ($3.50, or 6 for $20); soup ($8); panini ($9) and large plates ($15), with generally four or five choices in each category. The large plates include such choices as veal & ricotta meatballs, braised duck leg, sausage, and broiled sardines.

I ordered the charcuterie assortment ($21), which came with about nine different kinds of hand-cut meats (which is more than I saw listed individually on the menu), a terrific pork terrine, and sliced bread. Canora explained each one, but I won’t attempt to duplicate his descriptions.

I asked Grieco to pair wines with it. He chose a contrasting white from southern Italy and a red from France; for both, he opened a fresh bottle and gave me a small taste before pouring a glass. I was charged half-glass prices ($4.00/$4.75) for what seemed to me generous pours. They were wonderful choices, as I have come to expect from anything Grieco recommends.

The small space was full, but I had no trouble getting a bar stool after about five minutes’ wait. This being opening night, a lot of the customers were friends of the owners, stopping in to say hello. For such a small space, it seemed to be well staffed, with everyone pitching in: Canora cleared plates; Grieco dried glassware.

Now that Canora and Grieco have three restaurants, there is one problem: I don’t know where Grieco will be. I trust that the kitchens can execute Canora’s cuisine in his absence, but who will be there to recommend wines? Wherever Grieco is working on any given day, that’s where I want to dine.

Terroir (413 E. 12th Street east of First Avenue, East Village)

Olana

[Kalina/NYMag]

Note: Olana has closed. Click here for our obituary.

Olana opened in late February on a slightly gloomy stretch of lower Madison Avenue. The restaurant is named for the Upstate New York Persian-style home of the artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900). A Hudson Valley theme is supposed to run through Olana’s DNA, though we found it somewhat imperfectly realized.

Frederic Edwin Church’s home, Olana [olana.org]

Al di Meglio, formerly of Osteria del Circo, is running the kitchen, and his Italian roots are evident on a menu where pasta dishes shine. We noted plenty of ingredients that, as far as we know, are not indigenous to the Hudson Valley, such as sea urchin, octopus and king crab. Others, like Roasted Rabbit and Organic Chicken, could have come from local sources, but the menu didn’t say so.

More puzzling was the wine list, which was reasonably priced, but followed no plan of organization that I could detect. It had only one wine from New York State—a white from the South Fork of Long Island.

The space is beautifully appointed in deep, plush red. There is a gorgeous semi-circular bar that already appears to be a hit with the neighborhood’s after-work crowd. In the dining room, large bright glass panels showing naturalistic upstate scenery were a bit jarring in the clubby-looking surroundings.

The restaurant is offering a preview menu for the first two weeks, at 15% off. Service seemed a bit confused at times, as one might expect in the opening days. One server sounded like a brash Texan, but another called us monsieur et madame. Olana is clearly intended to be upscale and, by today’s standards, relatively formal. One can only hope that they’ll pull it off.

The menu is divided into appetizers, pastas (available in appetizer or entrée portions), fish and meat, plus side dishes. There are roughly a half-dozen in each category. I failed to note the prices, but they’re at the high end. You can also construct your own 4, 5, or 6-course tasting menu, choosing any items from the menu. We had the four-course tasting ($62, before the discount).

 
Amuse-bouche (left); Risotto with sea urchin, king crab and black truffles (right)

The amuse bouche was a delicate tarte with pear and tomato jelly. I loved the first course, an exquisite risotto with sea urchin, king crab and black truffles. My girlfriend tried another pasta dish, the chestnut crespelle with ricotta, mushrooms and pine nuts, which she liked, but was surprised to find was more like a crepe than a pasta.

 
Armagnac and Orange Poached Flounder (left); Roasted Rabbit (right)

We had mixed reactions to the fish course. I thought the kitchen had a deft touch with an Armagnac and Blood Orange Poached Flounder, but my girlfriend thought that Striped Bass was dull.

An impressive entrée of Roasted Rabbit was stuffed with almonds, apricots and foie gras. It also seemed to both of us that the whole production was wrapped in bacon, though the menu did not say so. My girlfriend didn’t want to eat Bugs Bunny, so she had the Grilled Berkshire Pork Loin, which was just fine, but not nearly as impressive.

 
Ice Cream (left); Petits-fours (right)

We both wimped out on dessert, mainly because we were full. There are more interesting choices than ice cream, but that was all we were in the mood for. A nice plate of petits-fours was, unfortunately, lost on us.

On this early showing, Olana appears to be serving ambitious cuisine, much of which is very good indeed. I can’t fathom why they opened with an obvious “Hudson Valley” theme, and then offered a menu and wine list that fails to fully exploit it. But if that is rectified, Olana’s quiet elegance could make it a compelling addition to the restaurant scene.

Olana (72 Madison Avenue between 27th & 28th Streets, Flatiron District)

Food: **
Service: **
Ambiance: **
Overall: **