Caffé La Fenice

Caffé La Fenice flies beneath the restaurant radar. I’ve walked by it dozens of times over at least a five year period on the way to Lincoln Center, from which it is only a few blocks away. Given the paucity of dining options in that immediate vicinity, I was surprised to find it is not even in Zagat.

Well, it was Saturday evening, and I had no reservations before a 7:15 performance of Lohengrin. The usual standouts were booked, and I thought of La Fenice (which means “The Phoenix,” and shares its name with an opera house in Venice). Sure enough, they had a table, so we gave it a try.

I had a terrific grilled portabello mushroom, which was about double the usual portion, along with a perfectly respectable grilled red snapper. My friend started with a salad and then rack of lamb, which she thought was wonderful.

La Fenice has a wonderful selection of flavored martinis — I tried peach. As we had five hours of Wagner ahead of us, we didn’t sample the wine list.

The decor is uncomplicated faux Italian. There is sidwalk dining available on a spring or summer evening, and we enjoyed the fresh air. One complaint with the service was that the entrées were delivered before we were finished with our appetizers. They took them back to the kitchen, but it was an amateurish mistake nonetheless.

For uncomplicated solid Italian cuisine before the symphany or the opera, we’ll certainly be back to La Fenice.

Caffé La Fenice (2014 Broadway between 68th & 69th Sts, Upper West Side)

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

Sapphire

I’ve eaten at Sapphire a number of times before shows at Lincoln Center. It offers mainly the standard Indian dishes, but in a more elegant setting than one usually encounters for this type of cuisine. The embroidered tapestries hanging from the ceiling are especially striking.

My friend and I were there on Friday night. The Michelin Guide had suggested the Chutney Idli appetizer ($5), which is described as “Steamed rice and lentil flour cakes topped with coconut chutney.” This is a clever dish, but better for sharing than as an individual portion. You get five small cakes, but after about three of them the novelty wears off.

The Salmon Tandoori ($19) was more successful. It’s marinated in yogurt and spices before being skewered and grilled in the tandoor. The salmon has just a slight spicy kick to it, but it’s not a hot dish by any means. I enjoyed it, but thought that it was a touch too dry. My friend enjoyed lamb vindaloo, but said it wasn’t as hot as she’s had elsewhere.

Sapphire (1845 Broadway between 60th & 61st Streets, Upper West Side)

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

Telepan

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Telepan.

*

My friend and I had dinner at Telepan on Saturday evening. The restaurant is named for Bill Telepan, who was formerly the chef at Judson Grill, which has since closed. Telepan has received favorable buzz, including a two-star review from Bruni (and some thought it was a contender for three). Certainly the addition of another serious restaurant near Lincoln Center is a welcome development. But we were underwhelmed.

The menu seems designed to bump up the final bill, with savory courses in three categories (appetizers, “mid-courses” and entrees), instead of the usual two. If you order à la carte, the appetizers are $9.50–$16.00, the mid-courses are $15.50–$26.00, and the entrees are $23.00–$36.00. Desserts are $9.00–12.00, cheese plates $12.50–14.00.

We were naturally enticed to choose the four-course prix fixe at $55, which allowed us to choose one savory course from each heading, plus a dessert. Wine pairings would have been another $32 apiece, which seemed a little dear, so we went for a single bottle at $48. For the record, there’s also a five-course prix fixe at $65, or $105 with wine pairings, which adds a cheese course to the mix.

The website tells you very little, except that Bill Telepan is “so excited about the opening of…my new restaurant.” There’s no menu posted, though fortunately it is on menupages, and I was able to refresh my memory as to the details. However, I cannot tell you the amuses bouches, except that there were three of them, described by an incomprehensible server with halting English. One of them was a gougère, the second a small piece of melba toast that you dipped in something or other, the third a small cup of soup with mystery ingredients.

After that, I had with Marinated Quail with Apple-duck Sausage, while my friend had the Foie Gras Terrine. Both of these were pretty good, if not outstanding. Ordered on their own, these two dishes would have been $13.50 and $19.00 respectively.

For the second course, I had something called “Eggs in a Hole,” which was a single fried egg (not eggs, as the caption implied) on top of a small piece of soggy toast, with an even smaller strip of smoked salmon and herb-caper sauce on the side. Telepan gets an A for Dufresne-like creativity, but what was the point? My friend’s mid-course was even more peculiar: Roasted Cauliflower, with herb oil, crushed heirloom shell beans and winter greens. It was over-cooked. Ordered on their own, the cauliflower dish would have been $15.50, the egg/salmon mix $16.00.

My entree was Seared Duck Breast and Foie Gras Custard, but for the life of me I could taste no foie gras on the plate, and the portion was awfully meager for a main course. My friend ordered the Roasted Sirloin, which came with oxtail glaze, gold nugget potatoes, roasted vegetables and horseradish. Those vegetables were, again, over-cooked. Ordered separately, our main courses would have been $29.50 and $36.00 respectively.

For dessert, we both chose the Banana Cake Sundae, with bananas foster, banana ice cream and sugared walnuts ($9 on its own). It was both unexceptionable and unmemorable.

We found the decor rather dull, and the artwork bordered on tasteless—the kind of ugly stuff you’d buy at a suburban shopping mall. However, tables were amply spaced, and service was in line with what you expect at an upscale restaurant. We sense the possibility that Telepan could be excellent someday. All of the dishes show a considerable amount of thought, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Many of the portions are both too small and too expensive.

Telepan (72 W 69th St between Columbus Ave & Central Park West, Upper West Side)

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

’Cesca

Note: This is a review of ’Cesca under Tom Valenti, who shortly thereafter severed his ties to the restaurant to focus on his other Upper West Side property, Ouest. Frank Bruni paid a visit to ’Cesca in October 2007 under the new chef, Kevin Garcia, and liked what he saw.

*

My friend and I had dinner at ’Cesca a couple of Fridays ago. I was sporting a 101-degree fever and wasn’t in the mood for fine dining, but we had an opera to catch, so there we were.

’Cesca was a hit pretty much immediately after it opened in late 2003. Along with its sister restaurant Ouest, ’Cesca marked the arrival of fine dining in a neighborhood that had had precious little to choose from. Poor William Grimes, in his two-star review for the Times, complained that he could only get 5:30pm reservations. That’s still true, by the way. Our reservation was at 5:30 for an 8:00 opera—earlier than I would normally choose, but nothing later was available.

The decor is warm, comfortable, and welcoming. There seem to be enough soft surfaces to catch the sound, and prevent ’Cesca from becoming an echo chamber—like so many other contemporary restaurants. In the middle of the night, I wouldn’t mind tearing down some of the velvet curtains and transporting them to BLT Fish.

I had the cauliflower soup (a daily special) and a wonderful duck ravioli. It’s not the restaurant’s fault that I didn’t finish them, but I just wasn’t up to it that day. My friend had a tomato and mozarella salad, followed by a huge veal chop (also a daily special), which she pronounced a huge improvement over one she had recently at Cookshop.

We had only one complaint. My friend ordered a side dish of mashed potatoes, only to find that her entree already came with potatoes. She said, “There are enough potatoes here to feed the whole Upper West Side.” (That side dish was a huge helping, which even two people might have trouble finishing.) A server really should tell you that the entree you’ve ordered already comes with a generous helping of vegetables.

I really was out-of-it for this meal, but we’ll definitely return—if we can get a reservation, that is.

’Cesca (164 W. 75th St, east of Amsterdam Ave, Upper West Side)

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

Calle Ocho

Note: This is is a review of Calle Ocho in its former location. It has since moved to the Excelsior Hotel at 45 W. 81st Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, the former site of the failed restaurant Eighty One.

*

Calle Ocho is named for a street in Miami’s Little Havana. On this stretch of Columbus Avenue, its bright exterior immediately gets your attention. The interior décor is consistent with the snazzy Latin vibe.

The ceviches are terrific. For $28, you get a sampler of four of them, which a friend and I shared:

Conchitas – Bay Scallops, Salsa Verde, Avacado, Pico de Gallo
Ostras – Four Oyster Shooters (Mojito, Caipirinha, Sangria, Margarita)
Tropical – Rock Shrimp, Roasted Tomato, Mango-Passion, Citrus
Pescado – Red Snapper, Aji Amarillo, Crispy Sweet Potato

(Separately, they’d be $10-12 apiece.)

The restaurant offers a crispy cuban pork special on Sundays called Pernil ($21). My friend, who’s had the dish at considerably less expensive Cuban restaurants, said that Calle Ocho’s version was over-cooked, and dry. I’ve no comparison to go on, but I agreed that the meat wasn’t tender enough.

She had a happy experience with the Cuban skirt steak ($22), which had been slowly braised, and yielded easily to the tug of a fork.

I won’t rush back, but the ceviches and the skirt steak were well executed, so I assume the menu has a lot more to offer.

Calle Ocho (446 Columbus Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets, Upper West Side)

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

Picholine

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Picholine.

It seems that when I roll the dice with fine restaurants on New Year’s Eve, I keep getting snake eyes. Restaurants tend to offer a limited menu—something they can serve to hundreds of people quickly and easily—at an inflated price. I was disspointed in Ouest last year (although I’d had a good meal there on another occasion), so I suggested to my friend that we take a step up the food chain, to Picholine, mainly because it’s the best restaurant of that calibre near Lincoln Center, where we were starting our evening.

Let me be clear: I did not have a bad meal at Picholine last night. But my friend and I paid almost $800 (incl. tax & mandatory 20% tip) for a dinner that, to put it charitably, just might have been worth about a third of that. A New Year’s markup is fair, and to be expected, but a 200% mark-up? I am not so sure about that.

Picholine was serving a six-course prix fixe at $195. We began with a quartet of amuses bouches, consisting of: (1) Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Caviar; (2) Peekytoe Crab Tartelette; (3) Goat’s Cheese Gougère; (4) White Bean-Truffle Soup. These were all small, but together made a respectable first course.

There was a choice of two appetizers. We had the Sauteed Foie Gras and Wild Game Pate with a Kumquat Chutney and Port Vinaigrette. (I haven’t noted what the other appetizer choice was.) This was a superb, thick lobe of foie gras, and certainly the best dish of the evening.

For the fish course, the choice was Maine Diver Sea Scallops or Wild Striped Bass with Truffle Toast, Salsify and Oyster Jus. We both had the striped bass, which was skillfully prepared without ever rising to excellence.

For the meat course, the choice was rack of lamb or Scottish Pheasant with Crosnes, Dried Fruit, and Foie Gras Sabayon. On this dish, the accompaniments were better than the main event. One imagines Picholine’s assembly line of scores, and perhaps hundreds, of pheasant breasts, and it isn’t a pretty thought. Is high-quality pheasant available in such quantities? I found mine dry and tough.

Picholine’s cheese course is possibly the best in New York. We received a generous serving of six cheeses, none of them likely to be encountered anywhere else. We were feeling rather bloated by this time, but we did give a try to each of them:

(1) Fleur de Maquis, a sheep’s milk cheese from Corsica, encrusted in dry herbs.
(2) Roncal, a sheeps milk cheese from Navarre, Spain. This was a hard cheese, and our least favorite of the bunch.
(3) Le Moulis, a cheese from the Pyrenees, described as “semi-firm, lingering, earthy, and fecund,” whatever that means.
(4) Winnimere, a wonderful raw cow’s milk cheese from Greensboro, VT.
(5) Sprintz, a cow’s milk cheese from Switzerland that was described as “hard, majestic and profound,” whatever that means.
(6) Stilton, a cow’s milk cheese from England that had a “mineral tang.”

All quotes are from the cheese menu, which (as always at Picholine) they give you to take home, with your choices circled and numbered.

Finally, there was a dessert tasting, which consisted of four small mini-desserts on one plate. At this point my stomach was yelling “No mas!”, but I gave most of them a try. I found them unremarkable, but perhaps I wasn’t the best judge of things by that time. Mignardises, which I didn’t touch, came with the bill.

I’ve saved the most serious complaint for last. Picholine has a wonderful wine list, but we took our chances on the recommended wine pairing, at $115 per person, i.e., $230 for the two of us. At that price, we could have had two terrific half-bottles or a blow-the-doors-off full bottle, and had money left over. Instead, we put ourselves in Picholine’s hands, and went home both poorer and disappointed.

We were served just four glasses each, with no wine for the amuse or the cheese course. A little math tells you that they were charging $28.75 per glass, and for that price you expect the best, especially at a restaurant noted for its wine list. We were optimistic when we tasted the excellent sauterne that accompanied the foie gras, but what on earth were they thinking when we were served a red wine with the striped bass? I know it is not impossible to drink red wine with fish, but for a wine pairing it was bizarre. Moreover, the server advised that it’s “something new from Oregon.” For that we were paying $28.75 a glass? My friend aptly characterized it as “flat” and “lacking any body.”

For the pheasant, our server turned up with another red, which she assured us was “something bolder.” We couldn’t taste any difference at all. Several hours later, as we were reliving the meal, my friend and I concluded that they give us the same wine for both courses. We are not wine experts, but we think we can tell when something allegedly “bold” is in fact no such thing.

A mildly fizzy dessert wine came with the final course, and this was more suitable, but by now we were rather offended at what we’d been given for our $230. I’ve ordered wine pairings at a number of restaurants, and normally you get a range of provocative choices that present some strong contrasts, and really enhance the meal. Instead, we were simply ripped off. In addition, several of the wines were mis-timed (i.e., arriving well before the food they were supposed to go with).

The space at Picholine is of course lovely. Naturally, the restaurant was packed. Our reservation was at 10:30 (after the New York Philharmonic Gala), and there were still people getting seated after us. Service showed the potential for being first-rate, but on such a night, naturally there were slips. On another day, I think Picholine would do a lot better.

We paid $195 apiece for the food, $115 apiece for the wine pairing, 20% for service, and tax, for a final bill $795.93. At that price, the restaurant should be going the extra mile—nay, the extra light year—and they did not.

Picholine (35 W. 64th St. btwn Central Park West & Broadway, Upper West Side)

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

Nice Matin

Nice Matin is beautiful to look at, but the entrées need some work.

I ordered Sole “Milanese”. It came inundated in an arugula salad of fennel, oranges, onions and olives. The salad was mentioned on the menu, but there was no mention it would be piled so high that you wouldn’t know a fish was buried underneath. After some industrious digging I found the poor sole, which was not far removed from McDonald’s filet-o’-fish.

Another of my companions ordered the grilled sea bass, which she described as oily and over-cooked. My mother had a halibut dish that’s not shown on the online menu. She said it was fine, but not at all what the description led her to expect.

When we arrived, we were seated at a table so small and cramped that it would have been more at home at a cocktail bar. They agreed to move us, but we still ended up at one of the more claustrophobic tables for three that I’ve encountered at a legitimate restaurant.

Nice Matin has the same chef, Andy D’Amico, as the dearly departed Sign of the Dove. When it opened, the critics generally were enthusiastic. William Grimes, never easy to please, was sufficiently enchanted to award two stars, which would be unusual for such a casual restaurant, even if the food were better. We didn’t try one of the most praised dishes, the beef short ribs. However, on the strength of this performance, I don’t expect to be back anytime soon.

Nice Matin (201 W. 79th Street at Amsterdam Avenue, Upper West Side)

Food: Fair
Service: Satisfactory
Ambiance: Fair
Overall: Fair

Gari (West Side)

In late October, a friend and I had dinner at Gari. The place doesn’t seem to be as crowded as reports after the restaurant first opened, so perhaps the buzz has died down. From the time we arrived (6:00) to the time we left (7:15), it wasn’t full. I do realize that those are early hours for a Saturday night dinner in New York, but we had an opera to catch. If you’re looking for another pre-Lincoln Center option, Gari should be on your list.

We also saw no evidence of the service issues mentioned in some early reports. The staff was helpful, attentive, and efficient. We were also pleased to find that Gari is a rarity among Manhattan’s newer restaurants: a place where you can actually hear yourself talk, without having to shout.

It’s rare that Frank Bruni covers a restaurant so well that there’s really nothing much for me to add, but his two-star review on March 2, 2005, sounded all the right notes. I agree with the two-star rating. We weren’t able to try as much of the menu as Bruni did, but we were most pleased with what we had.

We had the sushi omakase. As Bruni mentioned, the restaurant actively discourages the use of soy sauce, and indeed there is none on the table. Our server made a point of mentioning that none was needed. I’m no expert, but this was some of the best sushi I’d ever tasted. Every piece was unique, and already perfectly seasoned. To dip in soy sauce would have been a crime, and we remained honest citizens.

As others have mentioned, including Bruni, you aren’t going to get out of Gari cheaply. The recommended omakase came with ten pieces each, which wasn’t enough to sate us, so we had three more. None of the sake options was inexpensive, but we settled on a $47 bottle that we nursed through the meal. With edamame and dessert (a fig tart with green tea ice cream), the final bill for two including tax came to over $200 before the tip.

This is sushi on another level of skill and creativity than one finds at most Japanese restaurants. I can’t recommend Gari to people on a tight budget, but if you can afford the prices it’s well worth it.

Gari (370 Columbus Avenue at 78th Street, Upper West Side)

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

Compass

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Compass.

As part of my effort to catch up on restaurant reviews, here’s a duo on Compass. First, my visit in September of this year:

I last visited Compass during its brief steakhouse phase, enjoying a wonderful rack of lamb on that occasion. The restaurant will still serve you a dry aged porterhouse or a rib-eye, but the emphasis now is on “Creative American Cuisine.” A friend and I looked in on the continuing experiment on Saturday night. She was last there with me three chefs ago, and pronounced the current version a significant improvement.

There is a prix fixe menu at $32 (or $46 with paired wines). It looks like a good value, but the available entrées (chicken, salmon, or hangar steak) didn’t suit our mood, so we ordered ALC. She chose the Gazpacho ($9), I the White Corn and Summer Truffle risotto ($18), a wonderful if slightly watery concoction.

The restaurant calls its ALC main courses “Compositions.” There is also a section of the menu called “Simply Roasted,” which offers mostly steaks (anywhere from $24 for a fillet or $72 for the porterhouse for two); side dishes are extra, at $8. If you order one of the Compositions, I should think the side dishes were superfluous.

Anyhow, I chose the Confit of Halibut, with Baby Squash, Artichokes, Picholine Olives, and Basil Sabayon ($28). She chose the Poached Maine Lobster with Potatoes, Summer Truffles, Leeks and Onions ($33). Both were happy choices, aided and abetted by a terrific Chardonnay on the wine list for about $40.

We concluded with a selection of cheeses ($12), to which the restaurant added a selection of complimentary petits-fours (five apiece). As we were leaving, we were each handed coffee cakes to take home for Sunday’s breakfast—a nice touch usually associated with higher-end places.

Part of Compass’s problem, I suspect, is that it’s an unusually large space for the area. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it full. Here’s hoping that the latest formula will take root and flourish.

And now, my visit of November 5th:

I seem to keep returning to Compass, as it’s one of the better mid-priced fine dining options near Lincoln Center. Last night, I returned with a new friend, and again I was not disappointed.

We both had the $32 prix fixe, which for its quality is one of the better deals at this price point. I started with a salmon tartare, followed by braised shortribs that melted in your mouth. Dessert was a yogurt panna cotta.

My friend and I dined at Blue Hill the night before. Now, if you asked a dozen knowledgeable people, most would say that Blue Hill is the more reliable, but my friend and I had no trouble concluding—at least on this occasion—that we had enjoyed our dinner at Compass more.

With its checkered history of four chefs in four years, it would have been easy for Compass to wither and die. It has a large dining room to fill, but we found it busy last night. It’s a pity Amanda Hesser demoted it to one star, back when Katy Sparks was at the stoves (which seems like ages ago). Compass is back.

Shortly after I wrote this, Frank Bruni restored Compass’s two-star rating at the Times.

Compass (208 W. 70th Street, west of Amsterdam Avenue, Upper West Side)

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

O’Neals’ Restaurant, Lincoln Center

Note: O’Neals’ closed in mid-2010. A branch of Stephen Hanson’s Atlantic Grill replaced it.

*

This venerable Lincoln Center restaurant re-opened fairly recently after a two-year renovation. O’Neals’ is trying to become more up-scale, with entrees in the $20 to $32 range. At about $4 less, they would have been fairly priced. Cream of asparagus soup and veal risotto were satisfactory, but I won’t be rushing back.

O’Neals’ (49 W. 64th St. between Broadway & Central Park West, Upper West Side)