The Payoff: Esca

Today, as expected, Frank Bruni awarded three stars to Esca. It was one of Bruni’s best-written reviews, mercifully free of the irrelevant asides that sometimes divert him. He started praising the food in the 3rd paragraph, which must be a new record.

I thought that three stars was the only likely outcome this week. Thanks to the oddsmakers’ rather generous 3–1 odds, Eater and I both make an easy $3 on our hypothetical $1 bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$17.00		$24.67
Gain/Loss	+$3.00		+$3.00
Total	$20.00		$27.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	7–2		8–1

Rolling the Dice: Esca

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Esca, the Batali–Bastianich seafood palace on the edge of the Theater District. Eater’s official odds are as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 15-1
One Star: 6-1
Two Stars: 4-1
Three Stars: 3-1 √√
Four Stars: 10,000-1

The Skinny: We needn’t linger over this one, as Eater’s logic is so compelling. Esca already carries two stars from the Times, and Bruni’s re-reviews usually come with either an upgrade or a downgrade. Given Bruni’s love-affair with the Batali–Bastianich empire, an upgrade is the only sensible bet.

We also think there’s a kind of Newton’s Law at the three and four-star levels: every downgrade must come with an equal and opposite upgrade no more than a few weeks later. Bruni demoted The Four Seasons just a fortnight ago, leaving the gap that Esca will now fill.

Lastly, we think that Bruni itches to pull the trigger on a major review every once in a while, and we haven’t had a trifecta in over three months. The six-stars combined for Eleven Madison Park and the Bar Room, on January 10th, was Bruni’s last trip into such rarefied air.

The Bet: We agree with Eater that Frank Bruni will award three stars to Esca.

Bush Response to the Virginia Tech Tragedy

A matter of hours after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, this is what President Bush’s spokesperson had to say:

As far as policy, the President believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. And certainly bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting …  obviously that would be against the law and something that someone should be held accountable for.

It’s nice to know that, whatever happens, Bush is still in the NRA’s pocket.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

A visit to Blue Hill at Stone Barns requires some advance planning, or a bit of good luck. On two previous occasions, I made the trek up to Tarrytown without a reservation and dined at the bar. The bar accommodations are comfortable, but if all the seats are taken, you could be waiting for a while. On another occasion, I meant to do the same thing, but on arriving, we found to our dismay that the whole restaurant was closed for a private party.

Another barn on the premises. (This is not the restaurant,
although it is similar.)

If you want a reservation in the elegant formal dining room, you need to reserve two months in advance, to the day. I called about 45 minutes after the reservation line opened on February 14th. The evening of April 14th was already mostly sold out, with 5:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. being the only times available. Luckily, 5:30 suited our schedule, so I was finally able to dine at the restaurant with a proper reservation.

No restaurant better exemplifies the label haute barnyard. The cooking, service, and ambiance are about as elegant as can be; but the restaurant is literally co-located with a barnyard. The mission statement on the website seems almost too precious:

The cow logo is ever-present—
even on the weather vane.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns is a platform, an exhibit, a classroom, a conservatory, a laboratory, and a garden. The restaurant will reflect the spirit of the farm, the terroir, and the market. The kitchen will express the humanity and the fervor of the educators, preservationists, farmers, cooks, and servers who learn and work at the Center.

Reading that, you wouldn’t know whether to expect dinner or a lecture. Indeed, the staff are mighty proud of the farm. At some point in your meal, a server brings around a tray of greens, to show you all the seasonal herbs that are featured in the day’s menu. But none of that would matter if the food didn’t live up to the billing. Which it does.

The restaurant is operated by the same team that run Blue Hill in Greenwich Village. I’ve now visited both restaurants three times. I don’t know why, but the original Blue Hill in the city doesn’t generate the same excitement as Blue Hill at Stone Barns. At Stone Barns, the menu is much more creative and eye-popping, the progression of tastes far more extravagant.

The dining room is in a converted barn, elegantly appointed. When we arrived, there was still ample daylight shining through the windows. By the time we left, it was quite dim, with the only light coming from a handful of sconces and candles at each table. Most guests dress up to dine here, though we did see a few people in jeans.

After we were settled in, the server recited a list of house cocktails, all based on the “barnyard” theme. I couldn’t resist trying one made with carrot juice and hay-infused vodka, which was much better than it sounds. (In the photo, you’ll notice that even the stirrer is a piece of straw.) We saw plenty of these coming out of the kitchen, so I wasn’t the only one intrigued.

A diner at another table noticed that the tall glass still had a price tag on it. We noticed this too, but considered it too minor a matter to point out. The other table mentioned it, and the server took the drink off both bills. (In the photo, you can just barely see a white price tag shining through the bottom of the glass.)

The menu changes daily, to take advantage of the latest seasonal ingredients. There is a choice of three courses at $65, four courses at $78, or the farmer’s feast—a tasting menu with six courses plus multiple amuse-bouches—at $110. As we so often do on such occasions, we ordered the tasting menu.

 
Bread service (left); Cream of cauliflower soup(right)

The bread service is spectacular. Each of the rolls (above, left) suggests a “book,” whose pages you pull apart. The soft butter it comes with is wonderful. The first amuse was a cream of cauliflower soup with a drizzle of basil olive oil. It also came with a tiny breakfast radish and two dried vegetable chips. One of these was a beet chip, which looked like a potato chip, but was about as thin as a human hair.

 
“Beet Burgers” (left); Foie gras and chocolate (right)

The next two amuses were extraordinary: “Beet burgers” (beet and goat cheese on a micro-bun) and bites of foie gras in a chocolate sandwich.

 
Walnut bread with two salts (left); Mango-crabmeat cannoli (right)

The last amuse consisted of two contrasting salts—the one at the top of the photo is “carrot salt,” with walnut bread. I had to admire the creative impulse, but the taste of salty bread wasn’t really that intriguing.

The first savory course was a crabmeat cannoli wrapped in mango so thinly sliced that it yielded instantly to the touch. This flavor combination worked perfectly.

 
Green salad (left); Sturgeon (right)

A green salad had enough herbs and vegetables to fill a botany textbook, but offered little excitement to the palate. Sturgeon was served over citrus braised fennel with a fig sauce. The sturgeon was impeccably prepared, but fish, fennel and fig were all overwhelmed by the tartness of the citrus—which was presumably grapefruit.

 
Gnocchi (left); Venison (right)

A delicate gnocchi was prepared with ricotta cheese, sweet potato, a roasted chestnut, and parmesan. Good as it was, we couldn’t help admiring the serving bowl, which was large enough to be the conversation piece on our coffee table at home. We wondered where we could buy them?

Venison was the final savory course. My girlfriend, who normally doesn’t like venison, thought it was terrific, while I found it dull. Perhaps I was just over-fed by this point.

 
Palate cleanser (left); Dessert (right)

The palate-cleanser was house-made yogurt with citrus accompaniments; we noted that the citrus worked here much better than it did with the sturgeon. I don’t recall the exact description of the dessert, but it was excellent. So too were the petits-fours (right), but I was far too full to taste more than one of them.

Service throughout the evening was first-class. Water glasses were always promptly refilled. The wine was decanted, and our glasses kept full. The pacing of the courses was about right, with the meal unfolding over about 3½ hours. Servers were enthusiastic and well informed about the food.

While a few of the courses weren’t hits, the overall quality of the meal was quite high. Whether one liked a particular item or not, it was always clear that abundant thought and care had gone into its preparation. After three visits, I can say that Blue Hill at Stone Barns is one of my all-time favorite restaurants.

Tarrytown, the closest Metro-North stop, is under an hour’s train journey from Grand Central. The restaurant is about ten minutes’ ride from the train station, and there are always taxis waiting. At the restaurant, just notify the staff about fifteen minutes before you are ready to leave, and they’ll call a taxi for you. It’s a bit of a schlep to get there, but well worth it.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns (630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills, New York)

Food: The ultimate expression of American locavore cuisine
Service: Elegant, crisp, and correct
Ambiance: A lovely haute farmhouse, located on the farm itself

Rating: ★★★★

Matador Bistro Latino

Note: Matador Bistro Latino closed in October 2008. Yerba Buena Perry now has the space.

*

Sometimes I pick an unfamiliar restaurant on OpenTable without a lot of research, make a reservation, and take my chances. I’ve done well enough with that strategy, and in any case, it’s usually an inexpensive place, so there isn’t much to lose.

That’s what we did on Friday night, and we hit the jackpot with Matador Bistro Latino, a Spanish restaurant in the West Village. Matador has been open for about 2½ years, without attracting much critical attention. The neighborhood seems to know about it, though. We found a busy bar scene at around 8:00 p.m., and by around 9:00 the dining room was full.

With tapas priced $3–14 and entrées $14–23, Matador won’t break the bank. We ordered four tapas and a paella to share, along with a pitcher of sangria, and it was plenty. The whole bill for two was around $85, which in New York must be considered a bargain.

 
Rice balls (left); Crab cake over rice (right)

The kitchen sent out a plate of rice balls as an amuse-bouche. A crab cake was wonderful, with fresh corn adding a surprsingly effective contrast.

 
Beef skewers with chimichurre sauce (left); Pita bread (right)

Beef skewers with chimichurre sauce were tender and deftly spiced. Pita bread was soft and warm, though it didn’t arrive early enough.

 
Fried calamari (left); Grilled sardines (right)

Fried calamari was also skillfully prepared, not greasy or oily at all. My girlfriend gamely indulged my request for grilled sardines. Eating a whole fish isn’t for everyone, but I found them delightfully salty and crunchy.

Chicken and sausage paella

We weren’t as happy with a chicken and sausage paella, which we found too greasy, and lacking the spicy “kick” the tapas had.

Service was competent, but the tapas came out a bit too quickly, one after the other. I would have preferred a bit more time to breathe between courses. The space isn’t large, nor are the tables. On a Friday night, it gets a bit loud.

With those minor complaints aside, we thought Matador was a gem. The tapas were excellent, and at the price it was one of the better bargains we’ve seen.

Matador Bistro Latino (57 Greenwich Avenue at Perry Street, West Village)

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

Hawaiian Tropic Zone

Note: As of December 2010, Hawaiian Tropic Zone is closed.

*

Regular readers will recall that my first visit to Hawaiian Tropic Zone left me with no burning desire to return. However, I managed to win a free dinner-for-two, so I paid one more visit. I invited my friend Kelly, who was eager to give it a try.

We started with the shrimp cocktail ($15) and the oysters ($13). You could fault HTZ for many things, but they know how to do justice to these raw-bar favorites.

Veal Chop with lemon caper butter sauce, green beans and almonds

They also did justice to a 16 Oz. Veal Chop ($39), with lemon caper butter sauce, though green beans were dull. Kelly was not quite as enamored with the bone-in rib steak, proving once again that steaks ordered outside of steakhouses are an invariably risky proposition.

We were plenty full already, but as the whole meal was comped, we went ahead and ordered dessert. Kelly had heard wonderful things about the doughnuts, so she tried that. They came in a paper bag (why?), but they were soft, warm, and delicious. I ordered David Burke’s Cheesecake Lollipops, a justly famous dessert he brought with him from davidburke & donatella.

We didn’t order wine, but we had cocktails. I especially liked the Espresso Martini (Van Gogh espresso vodka, Kaluha, chilled espresso).

When we arrived, they initially had us seated at a noisy table near the bar, where we could barely hear ourselves talk. They had no problem moving us (there’s a whole upstairs area, which was mostly empty), but insisted at first that I would need to close out the tab for the cocktail I had ordered at the original table. They must have realized how classless that was, and a few minutes later the new server said that the tab would transfer after all.

Aside from that, the service was just fine, but I could have done without being addressed as “sweetie” or “honey” by the server. (She called Kelly that, too.)

Hawaiian Tropic Zone isn’t on my list of restaurants to return to. You’re never going to go too far wrong with a David Burke menu, but there are far more pleasant ways to spend an evening. We weren’t paying, but had it been on our dime, dinner would have been $203 including tax, before tip.

Hawaiian Tropic Zone (729 Seventh Avenue at 49th Street, Theater District)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: Unpleasant, aside from the bikinis
Overall: *

Easter Sunday at Quality Meats

My girlfriend, son, and I had Easter dinner at Quality Meats. This was our second visit—see earlier review—and cemented our view that Quality Meats is in the top echelon of New York steakhouses.

The most notable recent trend in Manhattan steakhouses—aside from the sheer quantity of them—is the rise of what I call “chick-friendly” steakhouses. It’s probably an unfair term, since plenty of women go to the standard Peter Luger-style steakhouses too. But at most of the classic steakhouses, the clientele is very obviously male-dominated. There are other stereotypes too, such as the wood paneling, unimaginative menu, and old-school waiters who seem almost bored.

Quality Meats, and others of its ilk, break this mold. They come across as fine-dining restaurants that happen to serve great steak, rather than as cookie-cutter steakhouses.

It would take a far more scientific study than I have time for to rate Quality Meats for the steaks alone, but they’re fairly close to the top of the heap, if not quite at the pinacle of it. There may be better classic steakhouses, but the supporting cast make Quality Meats a superior experience—from the excellent side dishes; to the homemade steak sauce, prepared tableside; and finally to the enjoyable AvroKO ambiance and first-rate service.

My girlfriend and I were both pleased with the 24 oz. bone-in rib steak ($44), which came with a foot-long rib bone still attached. The steak had the appropriate dry-aged taste, was done to the correct temperature, and was nicely marbled. My son did well by the 12 oz. filet mignon ($39).

We got the same side dishes as last time, the asparagus ($9) and the incredibly addictive crispy potatoes ($9), to which hot garlic butter was added tableside.

The wine list offers plenty to explore at reasonable prices. A Santa Duc Quatre Terres Côte du Rhône at $45 was a happy choice to go with what we had ordered.

For dessert, Quality Meats offers a great selection of ice creams ($6 for two scoops), so we all had that.

The restaurant did a brisk Easter business, but wasn’t full. Service was excellent, but for a repeat of the same upselling trick our server tried last time. We knew that steaks plus side dishes would be plenty, so we didn’t order appetizers. The server said, “Are you sure you don’t want appetizers? The steaks are going to take about 25 minutes.” Having been lured by this ruse last time, we politely declined. Sure enough, the wait for our steaks was more like 15 minutes.

There are plenty of great Manhattan steakhouses on my hit parade. If I’m just hungry for a steak, I walk in, order a slab of meat (with nothing else), and go home sated. But for a steakhouse that offers the whole package, Quality Meats may be the best of them all.

Quality Meats (57 West 58th St., east of Sixth Avenue, West Midtown)

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

Second Avenue Subway Groundbreaking

The MTA held a ritual groundbreaking today for the Second Avenue Subway (SAS). Depending on how you count, it was either the third, fourth, or fifth time since the 1920s that a subway line along Second Avenue has been proposed, but not built.

In the 1920s, there were elevated lines along Second and Third Avenues. Those lines were torn down on the premise that the SAS would replace them. Without the SAS, the Lexington Avenue Line is the city’s only rapid transit option on the East Side. The Lex is already over-capacity, and there are many parts of the city where there’s a very long walk to the Lex.

As now planned, the line is expected to be built in four phases. Phase I, which won’t open till 2013, adds just four new stations to the service: 96 & 2nd, 86th & 2nd, 72nd & 2nd, and 63rd & Lex. That’s six years to build four stations. It’s actually worse than that, because the station at 63rd & Lex already exists: it’s “hiding” behind a partition wall at the 63rd & Lex station.

Phase II would extend service up to 125th & Lex, with stations at 106th Street, 116th Street, and 125th Street. This ought to be one of the easier phases to complete, because it uses two large tunnel sections that were built in the 1970s, the last time there was serious work done on this project.

Phase III, the largest phase, would add stations at 55th, 42nd, 34th, 23rd, 14th, and Houston Streets. Phase IV would complete the line down to Lower Manhattan, with stops at Grand Street, Chatham Square, Seaport, and Hanover Square. When completed, letter would be used for the trains running the full length of Second Avenue. But there will be no until after Phase III, which could be decades from now.

The catch is that funding is in place only for Phase I—and in fact, the project is still about $1 billion short. Given the history of this line, one has to be skeptical about where the funds for Phases II–IV will come from.

There’s another catch. A few years ago, transit officials argued that the extension of the to 96th Street was as far as the line needed to go. This initial plan was widely regarded as inadequate—skeptics called it a “stubway”—and that led directly to the current plan for a full-length SAS. But some have cynically suggested that the later phases are just a ruse. After Phase I is built, the MTA will announce, with crocodile-tear sadness, that alas there are no funds to complete the full line.

Until now, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents Lower Manhattan neighborhoods that would benefit from the line, has been one of its strongest advocates. But Silver can only do so much, and at the glacial pace that transit projects usually take to materialize, he may no longer be around when it comes time to pony up for the later phases.

Some transit advocates are skeptical about the spacing of the stations. The SAS will be the only north–south line in the city without express service. There are several particularly long gaps, such as 86th to 72nd; 72nd to 55th; 55th to 42nd; and 14th to Houston. The design is a hybrid, with stations closer together than the typical express, but farther apart than the typical local. There could come a day when transit officials regret that decision.

For now, let’s be happy that at least part of the SAS is on the way. Coming to a theater near you in 2013.

The Payoff: The E.U.

Yesterday, as expected, Frank Bruni awarded one star to The E.U.

The headline—“Where the Motto Is: Try, Try Again”—isn’t one of his better inspirations. It puts undue emphasis on The E.U.’s past troubles, which I must admit make an interesting story. But NYT reviews need to be written with a long shelf-life in mind. Even major restaurants (such as The Four Seasons, reviewed last week) go many years between reviews. A minor one, like The E.U., might never be reviewed again, making this the newspaper’s (likely) final word on the restaurant—something that will turn up on google searches and be read for years to come.

With that in mind, is this how the review should end?

As a watering hole, the E.U. actually feels charmed, though I articulate that with my fingers crossed (a tough trick when you’re typing), and in spite of my parting glance at the restaurant around midnight one busy, noisy night. I walked out as three grim-faced police officers walked in.

Uh-oh.

On a more positive note, his first mention of the food came in the sixth paragraph, a considerable improvement over Rosanjin two weeks ago, when the food wasn’t mentioned till paragraph fifteen. And the review made me want to visit the restaurant, which is always a good sign.

The review was also a useful reminder that one star, despite being near the low end of the Times rating scale, means “good.” Often, the restaurants awarded one star don’t actually sound all that good: at that level, it usually seems like the critic is explaining why the restaurant isn’t two or three stars, which can’t help but convey a negative impression. Bruni’s review of The E.U., although not without its negatives, actually reads like what a “good” one-star review is supposed to be.

Eater and NYJ both took the one-star bet at 3–1 odds, winning $3 on our hypothetical $1 wager.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$14.00		$21.67
Gain/Loss	+$3.00		+$3.00
Total	$17.00		$24.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	6–2		7–1

Rolling the Dice: The E.U.

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews The E.U., a restaurant best known for its eighteen-month odyssey to obtain a liquor license. In the kitchen is Ahktar Nawab, formerly the acclaimed chef de cuisine at Craftbar.  Eater’s official odds are as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 3-1
One Star: 3-1 √√
Two Stars: 8-1
Three Stars: 85-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: We don’t really have much to go on this week. Bruni tends to lag the other reviewers, so by the time he gets to a place, there’s a body of critical opinion already out there. That’s not so for The E.U., but we rely on Eater’s report that “Chef Nawab’s food has ranged from legitimately very good to wildly less so.”

The menu is also not in The E.U.’s favor, with its polyglot categories: raw bar, tapas, charcuterie, panini, along with standard appetizers and entrées. Bruni tends to think—and here I agree with him—that a restaurant trying to do so many things will usually misfire on some of them.

If Bruni is grading on his “downtown curve,” there’s an outside shot at two stars. On the whole, we think one star is the safer bet.

The Bet: We agree with Eater that Frank Bruni will award one star to E.U.