Morso

It took a while to remember when I had been here before: the large, luxurious restaurant space at the base of an apartment building in Sutton Place. It was Savonara, a terrific Turkish restaurant that closed three years ago, before anyone (but me) could review it.

The Palace, Bouterin, and Sandro’s, are among the others who have occupied that fated space, and failed.

Now comes Morso (Italian for “small bites”) from the well-traveled chef, Pino Luongo. I’ve never been to his other places, such as Le Madri, Coco Pazzo, Tuscan Square, or Centolire. Most of them are long since closed. Centolire is still open, except when it’s seized.

Luongo is not shy about slamming other chefs, whether it’s Michael White, Andrew Carmellini, or Mario Batali: none can please him. Perhaps he had better worry about drawing crowds to Morso. A recent weeknight visit found the space more than half empty. Those it did attract were mostly over fifty.

It’s a nice-looking place, with the walls decked out in vintage 1960s European poster art. And three cheers for Luongo for putting out tablecloths and not drowning out diners with the sound system. You can have a comfortable, civilized meal, in a pretty room unlike any other you’ve seen, and you won’t need to shout to be heard. Why can’t we have more restaurants like that?

But Luongo went to a lot of trouble (and expense) to create a restaurant very few people will see. No one draws a destination crowd to this neighborhood in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge. It’s a looooong hike from transit, the area (though safe) is unfashionable, and there are a lot of seats to fill.

There are two central conceits to the menu. Most of the selections are available in two sizes, morso (a smaller plate) or tutto (larger). They’re organized by main ingredient (vegetables, eggs & cheese, poultry, etc.), rather than the standard appetizer–pasta–entrée arrangement, so there is considerable flexibility in the way you organize a meal.

The morso plates are $10–24 (most $18 or less), the tutto plates $19–30. Where a dish is available both ways, there’s generally about $5–8 separating the two sizes. There are about a half-dozen items only available in the larger size, and these range from $26 (pork chop) to $58 (ribeye steak).

It’s a structure that lends itself to over-ordering and upselling, but our server was remarkably restrained, advising us that two morsos was enough. 

The appetizers were more successful than the entrées. My friend liked the Carciofi ($14; above left), a crispy artichoke salad with pickled fennel, olives, arugula, and citrus dressing.

And I adored the Uova ($14; above right), a soft poached egg with lamb sausage, chickpea fries, and a fontina cheese sauce. Puncture the egg and mop it up with the fries, and you have an instant classic.

The Maiale ($26; above left), or pork chop, looked promising: it’s a large hunk of meat wrapped in bacon, served with butternut squash gratin and winter greens in an apple-sage sauce, but the pork was slightly over-cooked.

Housemade Pappardelle ($16; above center) came with a brisket pot roast and a porcini mushroom sauce, but a large hunk of (concededly tender) pot roast on the side wasn’t well integrated into the rest of the dish. A side order of roasted Brussels Sprouts ($8; above right) was competently done.

I especially like the morso/tutto option on so many of the dishes. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would love having a place like this to drop in for something light, at times that I’m not in the mood for a big meal. And our meal was comparatively inexpensive, at around $125 (including drinks) before tax and tip.

But as I’ve noted in the past, mid-level Italian is the most over-saturated cuisine in New York. The chef is awfully impressed with himself, but hasn’t noted that food of this quality—or better—is available all over town.

Morso (420 E. 59th Street between First and York Avenues, Sutton Place)

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

Bistro Vendôme

Bistro Vendôme opened in early February in the former March space, which had been vacant for nearly three years, after its replacement, Nish, quickly flopped in early 2007. The chef here is Pascal Petiteau, who worked at the nearby Jubilee and finally has his own place.

I remember March only vaguely, as my lone visit was nearly six years ago, and I never made it to Nish. The décor now is bare bones, but the space seems much brighter than it used to be, relying on natural light flooding through wide windows on three levels. There will be outdoor terrace dining in good weather.

There is a long, spacious bar at the front of the townhouse that Bistro Vendôme occupies, which I am fairly certain wasn’t there in the March days. The host stand is past the bar, and this leads to mild confusion, as customers coming in are a bit unsure, at first, about where to congregate. The restaurant was packed on a Saturday evening—always a good sign for a place mainly dependent on neighborhood business—but the host was a bit overwhelmed, and we were not seated until half-an-hour past our 8:00 p.m. reservation. A cocktail at ordered at the bar tasted mostly of tonic water. Service at the table, however, was just fine.

The menu offers classic, inexpensive French bistro food, straight up and without complication or distraction. It is all done well, but not beyond the better classic French places that many NYC neighborhoods have. (Disclosure: We had the pleasure of dining here during “Friends & Family,” courtesy of a publicist’s invitation, but our review is of the meal we paid for.)

We wondered about how many bushels of green salad the restaurant consumes per day, given its prominence in two fine appetizers: a Crispy Goat Cheese Cake ($10; above left) and an off-menu special, Crispy Sweetbreads ($10; above right).

Ribeye steak with sauce au poivre ($30; above left) was fine for a non-steakhouse preparation, and the fries were perfect. We’re a bit past Cassoulet season, but I had a hankering for it anyway ($24; above right), and the chef nailed it. Duck confit, bacon, and garlic sausage were on target, and so were the beans.

For a restaurant this inexpensive, I would like the wine list to have a few more choices below $50; a 2005 Guigal Crozes Hermitage was $54, and there weren’t many French reds below that level.

The packed house seemed to be mostly an older, Upper East Side crowd. As far as we are concerned, there can never be enough good French restaurants. Sutton Place agrees with us, if last Saturday’s crowd was any indication.

Bistro Vendôme (405 East 58th Street, just east of First Avenue, Sutton Place)

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

Dardanel

During the recession, practically every new restaurant serves French–American bistro comfort food. And those that didn’t before seem to be rapidly evolving towards that model. It’s a cuisine we love as much as anyone, but we’re getting a bit tired of it.

So on Saturday we visited Dardanel, in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge on Manhattan’s far east side. It was a bit out of the way for us, but well worth it. The specialty here is Turkish seafood. The décor is full of nautical bric à brac, and the servers look like ships’ pursors, but there’s plenty for landlubbers too.

Dardanel hasn’t received much critical attention since it opened in November 2008, aside from the dependable Bob Lape of Crain’s, who awarded two stars. But it’s well worth a visit, especially if you’re dining out on less money these days (as we are).

Appetizers and entrées are just $5–12, entrées $16–24. The wine list has a lot of offbeat selections (Israel anyone? Georgian Republic?), along with more standard fare. Most bottles below $40. We chose a bottle of Rock Rabbit Sauvignon Blanc for just $25.

An appetizer of Octopus Salad ($12; above left) was the only disappointing item we had. It tasted flat and under-seasoned; the octopus could as well have been chicken The kitchen redeemed itself with one of the daily specials, a Red Caviar Spread ($8; above center), which came with addictive home-made bread (above right).

There are a good dozen meat and vegetarian entrées, but we continued with the seafood theme. Grilled Whole Bronzini ($21; above left) was as good a preparation of that fish as we’ve had anywhere. Mahi Mahi ($24; above right) had a beefy texture. I would have preferred it a bit more tender, but I loved the cream sauce underneath it.

After dinner, the belly dancer arrived. We won’t deceive you: she’s not there every night. Actually, the owner said it was a first. As the photo shows (above right), we got a first-hand look. We know you expect hard-nosed investigative reporting from New York Journal, and we’re determined to let you have it—raw and unvarnished.

Dardanel is a fun little place that hasn’t quite caught on yet. It was only about half full on a Saturday evening. Service was friendly, if a bit on the slow side, but we were in no hurry. Dinner for two, including tax but before tip, was just $101.

Dardanel (1071 First Avenue between 58th & 59th Streets, Sutton Place)

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

Savarona

 

Note: Savarona has closed. It closed so quickly, in fact, that none of the city’s major critics got around to reviewing it. The double gamble we referred to in our opening paragraph did not pay off.

*

The new restaurant Savarona takes a double gamble. The first is that New Yorkers will warm up to haute Turkish cuisine, of which this is practically the only example in Manhattan. The second is that they’ll do so in Sutton Place, a tiny East Midtown enclave not easily reached by mass transit.

I can’t say whether the gamble will pay off. The only thing I can say is: I certainly hope so. Savarona deserves your attention. In a town where so many restaurants are plainly derivative, this one blazes its own trail. The chef, Tevfik Alparslan, comes from Istanbul via La Tour d’Argent and Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. His menu has a recognizably Mediterranean tint, but every dish we tried led us to unfamiliar territory, and quite happily so.

The owners have given Alparslan a beautiful stage on which to perform: a comfortable space, elegantly redecorated. The lighting is warm and inviting, the tables generously spaced. The restaurant is on the ground floor of a residential building in the shadow of the Queensboro bridge, but set comfortably back from the street. There is room for outdoor seating in good weather. There is an ample bar and a spacious, semi-private dining room that seats twelve.

Appetizers are generally priced in the teens, entrées in the twenties. The reasonably priced wine list is Mediterranean-centric, though there are no actual Turkish wines, curiously enough. There wasn’t as much variety as I’d like; most of the bottles were fairly young. (We had a 2005 Italian Syrah; $56.)

There was a nice bread service, with four kinds of homemade bread and a fried cheese spread (above right).

 

I enjoyed the Stuffed Mackerel ($12; above left), accented with fresh pine nuts, currants, asparagus, warm fennel, and a fresh red pepper emulsion. My girlfriend had the traditional Mezze Platter ($14; above right). Two of the five items were made with eggplant, which is about the only food I don’t eat, but she said they were terrific. I liked the yogurt cucumber and the chicken salad, the latter topped with pine nuts.

I thought that the entrées surpassed the appetizers, but my girlfriend said, “I’m not so sure; that eggplant was pretty damned good.” 

 

An entrée of Stuffed Grape Leaves ($24; above left) was remarkable: four plump grape leaves stuffed with beef tenderloin in a sweet cherry-apricot sauce. The Sultan Kebab ($25; above right) had tender meatballs and diced beef in a yogurt and light chili sauce.

The pastry chef here trained in French kitchens, and the staff admitted that the deserts are more French than Turkish. Pineapple ($12) with mango sorbet, mascarpone and spun sugar could make an appearance anywhere. It was one of the most enjoyable desserts we’ve had in quite some time.

There were minor service glitches, as one might expect at a three-week-old restaurant. Plates were deposited in front of the wrong diner. The cheese spread arrived a bit too late. One item wasn’t quite as warm as it should be.

The food at Savarona is very good, and the space is as relaxing as any we’ve visited in recent months. Since there is almost zero foot traffic on this stretch of 59th Street, the restaurant will be heavily dependent on word-of-mouth and favorable reviews. This is a restaurant we’ll be rooting for.

Savarona (420 E. 59th Street between First and York Avenues, Sutton Place)

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

March Restaurant

Note: Owners Wayne Nish and Joseph Scalice closed March at the end of 2006, re-opening in early 2007 as a more casual restaurant, Nish. Alas, the new version was no longer the destination restaurant that March had been, and there wasn’t enough neighborhood traffic to keep Nish in business. Despite favorable reviews, it was gone by the end of June. The space is now Bistro Vendôme.

*

March restaurant is an occasion place. I visited recently to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Without question, we were treated lavishly. The maitre d’ presented her with a bouquet of roses. Service throughout was impeccable. But for the price, none of the courses at March wowed us. Or perhaps, as my friend suggested, Wayne Nish’s cuisine is just too subtle. Mind you, it was all good, but I expected to be transported, and we weren’t.

March’s menu is an interesting hybrid between the tasting menu and the prix fixe. You choose a number of courses, from three to six. ($68, $74, $85, or $102). Wine pairings are another $10 per course (or, like anywhere, you can just order from the wine list). You can select which courses you want — listed in broad categories like “raw,” “vegetarian,” “shellfish,” “fish,” “poultry,” and “meat,” with about three or four options per category. Or, you can put yourself in the chef’s hands.

We selected the four-course menu with wine pairings and allowed the chef to choose for us. Each of us got different items, and we swapped plates about halfway through each course. This, indeed, is encouraged at March. Another of the menu options is called the Five Course Dual Tasting Menu ($270 for two, including wines), with which it’s assumed that a couple will share plates.

Now to the food … and here I’m afraid I’ve failed as a food writer. I can’t remember exactly what we had. The first plate for each of us was a cold item, then a fish course, then a meat course, then dessert. What were they? I don’t recall, except that they were all very good without being transcendent. At these prices, I wanted at least some of the courses to reach culinary orgasm, and none did.

March is located in a gorgeous East Side townhouse. The tables are on three levels, with ample space between them. It is a lovely and romantic setting that makes you feel like you’re in another world. The food failed to transport me, it is true, but I would still try March again on the right occasion.

March (405 East 58th Street, just east of First Avenue, Sutton Place)

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