Gordon Ramsay at The London

Note: Gordon Ramsay at The London closed in October 2014. Local professional reviews were uniformly terrible, but the restaurant had two Michelin stars for most of its run, losing them only in its final year. The New York media paid practically no attention after the opening period, but somehow it remained open for eight years, outlasting many other imports, including two Alain Ducasse fine-dining restaurants, Alain Ducasse at the Essex House and Adour, both of which had far more critical acclaim than Ramsay.

The visit described below was from the restaurant’s early days, with founding chef Neil Ferguson, who was quickly fired after bad reviews. We paid a later visit in 2007, where we had a “Master Class” meal prepared by Ferguson’s replacement, Josh Emett. Later on, Markus Glocker took over; he later moved to Bâtard, where he earned a Michelin star.

*

Gordon Ramsay at The London Hotel is the latest New York restaurant vying for four stars from the Times and three from Michelin. The loudmouth chef already operates what is arguably the best restaurant in London (the three-star Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road), along with a bunch of others, including The Savoy Grill, which I visited last summer.

The pathway to hell is littered with chefs that opened New York restaurants with four-star aspirations, only to fall short. We’ll have to wait till late 2007 for the Michelin Guide, but Frank Bruni in the Times and Adam Platt in New York both delivered withering two-star smackdowns to Gordon Ramsay.

Meanwhile, plenty of people are making reservations to find out for themselves. It isn’t quite the hot ticket that Per Se was (and still is), but prime times nevertheless fill up quickly. I booked my date at Ramsay exactly two full months in advance, and a 6:15 p.m. reservation was the best I could get.

Ramsay offers two seven-course tasting menus at $110 or a three-course prix fixe at $80. While no one would call it inexpensive, it a bargain compared to other top-echelon New York restaurants. Had the major reviews been favorable, I suspect these prices would have gone up promptly. Now, perhaps they’ll be stable for a while.

I was keen to order the tasting menu, which Ramsay calls the “Menu Prestige.” My friend chose the vegetarian tasting menu, and we tried a few bites of each other’s plates, so I got a pretty good idea of what Ramsay’s cuisine is about. There aren’t any “Wow!” dishes, but there are no duds either. It is very classical and correct cooking, all executed to a high standard.

The bread service came in two flights. First, there were slices of crisp bread with two spreads: cream cheese and foie gras. I could do with plenty more of that foie gras spread. There was also a choice of sourdough or multi-grain bread with unsalted butter.

This was the tasting menu:

1. Amuse bouche: White bean and mushroom soup with black truffle. Served in an capuccino cup with the soup whipped in a foam, in fact resembling capuccino.
   
   
2. Pressed foie gras and game with port sauce and pickled mushrooms. A rather unmemorable terrine.
   
   
3. Lobster ravioli with celery root cream and shellfish vinaigrette. An excellent dish, and I would have liked more of it.
   
   
4. Striped bass fillet with pak choi and caviar velouté. Probably the highlight of the meal.
   
   
5. Roast cannon of lamb with candied onions, confit tomatoes and marjoram jus. A peculiarly named dish, and for no good reason. There were several slices of rack of lamb, off the bone, and 8-hour braised lamb shoulder. My friend, who usually does not touch lamb, enthused about the braised shoulder, saying it was “the kind of lamb I could eat.”
   
   
6. Cheese cart. Not as impressive as at several other high-end restaurants (e.g. Chanterelle, Picholine), but certainly very respectable, and I thoroughly enjoyed all that I had.
   
   
7. Apriocot soufflé with Amaretto ice cream. A can’t-miss dessert.

The vegetable tasting menu had the following:

1. Amuse bouche: Vegetable soup
2. Marinated beetroot with ricotta and pine nut dressing
3. Sweet onion gratin with Parmigiano Reggiano
4. Cep risotto with shaved truffles
5. Chef’s Preparation, seasonal vegetables
6. Chocolate mousse [substitution]
7. Apricot soufflé with Amaretto ice cream

My friend’s two favorites were the amuse bouche (which, like mine, came in a small coffee cup) and the chef’s preparation of seasonal vegetables. You wouldn’t think a plate of sautéed vegetables could stand up as an entree, but Ramsay made it work, and my friend couldn’t stop singing its praises. The kitchen was also happy to accommodate my friend’s request for a substitution, as neither of the standard choices for the sixth course (grilled pineapple or the cheese cart) appealed to her.

I requested a wine pairing, and the sommelier did an excellent job for $60 each. We hadn’t discussed price, and I actually expected him to come in considerably higher than he did.

Service was friendly and generally excellent, with only minor flaws that at a less-expensive restaurant one wouldn’t even bother to notice. Our meal took a bit more than two hours, which seemed just a tad rushed. It’s difficult to pace a tasting menu, and this one needed a bit more leisure. At one point I asked a server to slow down, but it didn’t seem to make much difference.

The room is comfortable and elegant, with tables widely spaced, and heavily padded armchairs to sit in. Our table would have been large enough for a party of four at many restaurants. 

After dinner, we were offered a tour of the kitchen. It is a huge space, as the same kitchen is responsible for the main dining room, the adjoining London Bar (a casual “tapas” restaurant), and I believe the hotel’s room service operation as well. Everything is immaculate, and you can easily see why they are proud to show it off. We walked by the chef’s table that blogger Augieland raved about. I’m sure the guests there are fed like kings, but with servers and touring diners constantly walking by, it’s no place for privacy.

Ramsay did not earn the coveted four-star ranking from Frank Bruni. The Times critic has been on the job for 2½ years, and has yet to award four stars to a restaurant that opened on his watch. (For the record, Bruni was the first to rate Per Se and Masa, but they were already open before he landed the job. His other four-star write-ups have been re-reviews.) Surely he is itching to pull the trigger. But Bruni has made it clear that he has little interest in traditional formality. Bruni also has the modern critical bias (shared with many others) against restaurants that do classic things well without generating a lot of excitement.

I have only one meal to go on, but if I were reviewing for the Times, I would have awarded three stars. In its elegance and polish, Gordon Ramsay is in some respects better than many of the three-star restaurants I’ve visited, but it doesn’t have the “Wow!” factor that the best restaurants deliver.

Gordon Ramsay at The London (151 W. 54th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues, West Midtown)

Food: ★★★
Service: ★★★
Ambiance: ★★★½
Overall: ★★★

The Harrison

Note: There have been many chef changes at the Harrison. Click here for a more recent review.

In late 2001, restauranteurs Jimmy Bradley and Danny Abrams made a gutsy move: they opened The Harrison just a month after 9/11. Obviously the concept had long predated the attacks, but many with queasier stomachs would have postponed the opening or backed out entirely.

In those days, with many of the streets still cut off from traffic, you could barely get to The Harrison. But Bradley and Abrams were confident that the restaurant’s fortunes would rise as the neighborhood bounced back. Two months later, they were proud parents of a two-star restaurant (per William Grimes in the Times).

The Harrison is a close cousin of the flagship Bradley/Abrams property, The Red Cat in Chelsea. But I was not very much enchanted with The Red Cat; it seemed to me a decent neighborhood restaurant, nothing more. The Harrison has a dash of elegance that I found lacking in The Red Cat, and the cooking seems to me more accomplished.

I dined at The Harrison last night with a colleague. Coincidentally, we both landed on the identical menu choices. We started with Pork Belly ($12), a decadently rich preparation that must be one of the highest-calorie appetizers in New York. Breast of duck ($28) was perfectly prepared, served on a bed of quark spaetzle, and accompanied by a kicker of seared foie gras curiously not mentioned on the menu. At the end, we shared a cheese plate, which was also excellent.

I recognize the reasons why immigrants often land in the restaurant industry, but it can be frustrating at a restaurant of The Harrison’s calibre when the server can’t quite communicate. Before we ordered, he blurted out, “We have grilled salmon” (he pronounced it sal-mon). He was obviously telling us a daily special, but couldn’t explain anything about its preparation. We had already settled on the duck anyway (specials should be explained before you start contemplating the menu, not after), but he wasn’t making much of a case for that poor salmon, except that it was “grilled.”

When our plate of seven cheeses arrived, the explanation was incomprehensible. We decided not to trouble him further. Aside from that, service was just fine. Our server clearly understood our orders, even if his explanations were lacking.

I like the room at The Harrison. It’s not the restaurant’s fault that there are large glass doors lining two of the dining room’s four walls, and there are also tables along those walls. Glass is a poor insulator, and on a cold winter night those tables will get chilly. We were at such a table, but luckily it hasn’t been a very cold December. As temperatures start to fall, those tables may start to feel like Siberia. In the summer, they’re probably delightful.

I don’t know if everything at The Harrison is as good as the pork belly, the duck, and the cheese plate, but it has been a long time since a restaurant in this price range hit a home run on all three courses. To drink, we had a sublime Saint-Emilion, Grand Cru, 2001 Chateau Haut-Segottes, at $68.

The Harrison is certainly worth another visit.

The Harrison (355 Greenwich Street at Harrison Street, TriBeCa)

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

Town

Note: Town closed over the Easter weekend in April 2009. A branch of David Chang’s Momofuku chain, Má Pêche, took over the space.

*

Geoffrey Zakarian operates two upscale restaurants in Manhattan. Country has garnered tons of press this year, including a three-star review from Frank Bruni, a star from Michelin, and if I may humbly say so, four stars on this website. Its older sibling, Town, doesn’t get the buzz any more, as if the hip crowd has moved on—perhaps to Country. Town’s website announces a $71 prix fixe at dinner, but on Sunday night the menu was available à la carte.

This is a hard review to write, because the savory courses my friend ordered were a lot better than mine. Lobster bisque, a steal at $13, had great chunks of succulent lobster floating in a broth that was just about perfect. Filet mignon ($39) was almost tender enough to cut without a knife and had a beautiful exterior char. It was one of the few times I’ve been impressed with steak in a non-steakhouse restaurant.

But my choices, Tuna Tartare ($21) and Bass Papillote ($36), correct and proper, did nothing to set themselves apart, which at those prices I believe they should do. There was nothing wrong with them—they just did not wow. When I think back on the meal, it will be tastes of my friend’s lobster bisque and filet that I remember.

About the dessert there was no doubt: we ordered the chocolate soufflé for two ($20), a large gooey serving of what must be the dessert served in heaven, with an accompanying hunk of spearmint spumoni. The next day, my friend e-mailed me, “Bring me a soufflé. I need another one.” (I replied that they don’t travel well.)

Inexpensive wines aren’t abundant at a restaurant like Town. My friend was content to nurse a glass of rosé champagne ($24), while I had two contrasting wines by the glass ($13–14).

The imposing multi-level space is beautiful to look at. Service is elegant and polished.

Town (15 W. 56th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, West Midtown)

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

Dévi

Note: Dévi closed in April 2012 and, a short time later, quietly re-opened under new management. Eventually, it closed for good (I am not sure of the date).

*

Indian cuisine, like Mexican, Italian and Chinese, can be found in New York just about everywhere you look. Nine out of ten restaurants offer the standard dishes that you could name in your sleep. Truly memorable Indian restaurants are rare.

Dévi, which opened in 2004, is that rare exception. It earned two stars from Frank Bruni, which is almost the high-water mark for an Indian restaurant, as only Tabla carries three. This year, the Michelin Guide agreed, awarding a star — one of the few granted to a restaurant not serving European (or Euro-inspired) cuisine.

I dined at Dévi not long after it opened, and it was on my short list for a return visit. On Saturday, my friend and I had the six-course tasting menu, which at $60 is a bargain. We made different choices for most courses where a selection was offered, so I got to taste most of the menu.

Calcutta Jhaal Muri (rice puffs, red onions, chickpeas, green chilies, mustard oil, lemon juice)
or
Salmon Crab Cake (tomato chutney mayonaise)

I had the salmon crab cake, which was just fine, but I would have liked a little more spice in the tomato chutney mayonaise.

Tandoori Quail (spicy fig chutney)
or
Grilled Scallops (roasted red pepper chutney, Manchurian cauliflower, spicy bitter-orange marmelade)

I think the quail was the better deal here, as it was the whole bird, and the piece I tasted was wonderful. The “scallops” were in fact a single scallop, and tasted just a tad under-cooked.

At around this time, the server dropped off a plate of the spinach & goat cheese bread, which was probably the best bread I’ve ever had in an Indian restaurant. We were glad to have eight slices of it to share; we noticed that a nearby table of four received the identical portion.

Mirchi Wali Machi (roasted pepper chutney, spiced radish rice, fish of the day)
or
Veal Liver & Brain Bruschetta (veal with quail egg and green chilies, liver with cinnamon, tomatoes and onions)

I’m pretty adventurous, but neither of us had the guts to try the liver & brain dish, so that left us both with the fish, which I believe was a black bass, enjoyably spiced.

Tandoori Prawns (eggplant pickle, crispy okra)

Once again, the restaurant had a little trouble distinguishing singular and plural. This was a prawn, not prawns. Eggplant is one of the few foods I never enjoy, but my friend thought this dish was just fine.

Tandoor-Grilled Lamb Chops (sweet & sour pear chutney, spiced potatoes)

You can probably guess what’s coming: one chop from a rack of lamb, not chops. I thought this was competently done, but I would have liked a more crisp exterior to the chop.

Emperor’s Morsel (Shahi Tukra) (crispy saffron bread pudding, cardamom cream, candied almonds)
or
Pistachio Kulfi (Indian ice cream, candied pistachio, citrus soup)

I get almost weak-kneed at the thought of bread pudding, and Dévi’s presentation didn’t disappoint.

The alcohol, just like the tasting menu, is very reasonably priced. Specialty cocktails I tried ($12) included the Cilantro Tonic (Hendrick’s gin, cilantro, tonic, lime) and Hard Limeade (Kaffir lime vodka, guanabana nectar, lime juice). Paired wines with the tasting menu would have been $40 apiece, but we decided to spend that amount on a bottle to share between us.

The bi-level space is striking. Like most of Dévi, it isn’t cut from the same generic cloth as most Indian restaurants. We were seated upstairs, where it almost feels like you’re at a small private dinner party. Service was solid and assured throughout.

Dévi (8 East 18th Street between Fifth Avenue & Broadway, Gramercy)

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

Five Points

Note: Five Points closed in August 2014 after fifteen years in business. It re-opened in October as Vic’s (named for Vicki Freeman, one of the partners), where chef Hillary Sterling (formerly of A Voce) servces an Italian–Mediterranean menu.

*

Five Points is one of those restaurants that New York Magazine calls an “haute barnyard,” specializing in seasonal ingredients sourced from local providers. Cookshop in Chelsea, owned by the same team, is a close soulmate, serving many of the same menu items. Five Points is a bit more romantic, with its candle-lit room, leafy décor, and a table layout that emphasizes seating for couples.

I started with a grilled mushroom salad that seemed to be almost an afterthought to the kitchen. The mushrooms were just dumped on the plate with mixed greens. They tasted fine, but the plating was uninspired. My friend’s house-made country pate was a large portion, but I found it similarly uninspired.

For the main course, we both had the double-cut pork chop with a roasted apple sauce and pepper cress, which I rated an improvement on the appetizers: a comfort food competently prepared.

Five Points may not be a leader in its category, but the food is respectable and the space is easy on the eyes. Prices are quite reasonable, with appetizers from$8.50–13, and main courses from $17–28.

Five Points (31 Great Jones Street between Lafayette & Bowery, NoHo)

Food: ★
Service: ★
Ambiance: ★½
Overall: ★

Dominic

Note: My enthusiasm for Dominic was evidently not widely shared. It closed in mid-2007. Truth to tell, I was always surprised it lasted as long as it did, as it was never crowded, and it was always offering happy-hour and holiday specials. As of September 2007, the space was still vacant.

*

Last week, I had to arrange dinner for 31 people in TriBeCa. I wanted something memorable, but not ridiculously expensive. Dominic was the low bidder, at $55 per head, beating out places like Devin Tavern and City Hall by a considerable margin. The price included a half-hour open bar with hors d’oeuvres.

I knew from past experience that the restaurant would do a solid job with the food, and the crowd would enjoy Dominic’s sleek interior and Latin ambiance.

The set menu offered a choice of three appetizers, three mains and three desserts, as follows:

Seared Beef Carpaccio (truffle cheese, sweet and sour onions, Manodori balsamico)
Classic Caesar Salad (prepared tableside)
Risotto Farm Style (sautéed shrimp, basil and truffle oil)

Spinach, Ricotta and Corn Ravioli (balsamic brown butter)
Grilled Salmon (olive tapenade, slow roasted fennel, red wine)
Grilled Hangar Steak (grilled trevisano and asparagus sald, wild mushrooms, bone marrow gremolata)

Molten Chocolate Cake (raspberry chocolate sauce)
Apple Crepes Tart (vanilla tuile and caramel sauce)
Our Famous Sognos “Beautiful little dreams” (cinammon sugar puffs, raspberry & chocolate dipping sauces)

At this type of meal, one just says a prayer that courses will be served together, without significant delays, and without tasting like it was catered for a VFW convention. Dominic did a whole lot better than that, and indeed everyone was pleased. I would add that they extended the open bar to a full hour at no extra charge, and had custom-printed menus for the occasion. The maitre d’ also selected a very respectable Syrah at $32 a bottle, which is a good $8–10 less than what one might have paid for the same bottle elsewhere in town.

With tax and tip, the bill came out to around $91 a person. Every other place I checked was at least $20 a head more. The three dishes I had (the risotto, the salmon, and the cinammon sugar puffs) were all competently prepared. Actually, I’m going to remember those cinammon puffs for a long time.

Dominic (349 Greenwich Street between Harrison & Jay Streets, TriBeCa)

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

Thalassa

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

*

What’s the best restaurant in Manhattan that has never had a rated review from the Times? My vote goes to Thalassa, which carries three stars on this website. I’ve eaten there four times—enough to be sure that the strong impression it left with me wasn’t just a flash in the pan. The line between two and three stars may be fairly debated, but with the less-impressive Periyali carrying two stars from the Times (and that a recent assessment, per Bruni), my three for Thalassa doesn’t seem unreasonable.

I had another excellent dinner at Thalassa this week. Maine Diver Scallops came wrapped in kataifi with sheep’s, milk butter and a balsamic reduction. A black cod dish marked the first time I’ve had that fish without miso paste, and I’m happy to say that cod doesn’t need any accompaniments when it’s as delicately prepared as it was here.

With most fish entrees over $30, and many over $40, the bill can mount in a hurry, but this is one of the better seafood restaurants in the city. It is also an attractive and refined space, and service is excellent. I dined with four colleagues who, like many people, had never heard of Thalassa. Now, they’re all fans.

Thalassa (179 Franklin Street between Greenwich and Hudson Streets, TriBeCa)

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

Ureña

Note: Ureña closed in 2007, re-opening (with the same chef, and in the same space) as Pamplona, offering more casual and traditional Spanish fare. That too has since closed.

*

The restaurants on Alex Ureña’s resume read like a Who’s Who of the dining industry, from the River Café in Brooklyn, to Bouley, Blue Hill, and Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli in Spain. Earlier this year, he finally opened his own place, the aptly named Ureña, which we visited on Saturday evening.

The appetizers seemed to show the influence of the El Bulli apprenticeship. Texturas De Foie Gras ($17) had three treatments of foie gras, described on the menu as “foie gras buffuelo with spice scented red plum puree, foiegras terrine with cocoa rib garache and chocolate tuile, foie gras yogurt with yellow current.” A bit less wacky, but still unusual, was my friend’s foie gras terrine ($17), in which foie gras was interleaved with braised beef cheeks.

The entrees, on the other hand, seemed to be out of the Blue Hill playbook. Cochinillo Confitado ($25), or suckling pig confit, came with a granny smith apple puree, shitake mushrooms, and wilted green leaf lettuce. My friend’s slow-cooked chicken ($25) was another example of unfussed ingredients skillfully prepared. The amuse bouche was also in this category, a delicious warm parsnip soup. The petits-fours showed Ureña’s wilder side again, with delicately sculpted chocolate lollipops.

After it opened, the critics lambasted Ureña’s décor, truly a charmless performance. If the designer was paid, the restaurant deserves a refund. They have made the corrections they could. Harsh white lighting mentioned in early reviews seems to be dimmer now, and I didn’t hear any of the “cheesy recorded music” Frank Bruni complained about. But the place still screams for a makeover, as do the staff, who don’t seem to be held to any kind of dress code. A flat screen TV in the bar area looks new; the only thing it plays is a video of a roaring fireplace.

On the plus side, service was fairly good for a restaurant in Ureña’s class. Most tables were occupied, but the staff didn’t lose track of us, which isn’t a given at mid-priced restaurants these days. The noise level was modest, and tables were more generously spaced than at many comparable establishments.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Ureña. We weren’t in the mood for a long tasting menu, but a $125 chef’s degustation caught our eye, and we made a mental note to come back and try it. Aside from the tasting menu, prices are quite modest for a restaurant of this caliber, with no entrees priced higher than $29. The wine list, too, is unusually generous, with several fine choices under $40.

Ureña (37 East 28th Street between Park & Madison Avenues, Gramercy)

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

Mas (farmhouse)

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Mas (farmhouse).

I’ve had Mas on my mind since it opened in 2004. Although Frank Bruni in the Times was lukewarm, awarding just one star, Adam Platt raved in New York. I was more inclined to trust Platt. But I tend to make most of my bookings just a few days in advance, and it seemed Mas was always full. Anyhow,  I finally got my act together, and scored a 6:45 p.m. table on Friday night.

The restaurant’s name means “farmhouse” in Provençal. Indeed, the décor announces its rusticity beginning with the enormous wooden door. However, it is also one of the more elegant restaurants in Greenwich Village, with its white tablecloths, bone china, and polished service.

The farmhouse reference also suggests Galen Zamarra’s zeal for seasonal ingredients. The menu changes daily, with only about six or seven appetizers, and a similar number of entrees. Each one comes with a long list of accompaniments, such as “Roasted beets baked with Westfield Farm goat cheese, baby greens, almonds & cucumbers”; or, “Roasted wild sea trout, thumbelina carrot stew, beans & white asparagus.”

Alas, there is no online version of what we had. The amuse bouche was a small square of butternut squash quiche—naturally, with three or four other ingredients that the server dutifully recited. My friend and I both started with the Trout Piscator ($16). She said, “There’s no way you’ll be able to describe everything that’s in here.” Even Frank Bruni was stumped, simply referring to “the delicious trout appetizer.”

The chicken entree ($34) was more straightforward: it came with wild mushrooms and mashed potatoes. The skin was crisp, the flesh tender. My friend ordered turkey ($36), which we both found slightly dry and a bit less flavorful. It did strike me that even the better of the two dishes, the chicken, was a tad over-priced at $34.

Only a restaurant like Mas would offer a butternut squash cake ($10) for dessert and get away with it, but the accompanying raspberry sorbet was an odd bedfellow.

The wine list is excellent, but expensive. I noted only one red under $50. We were delighted with a Herman Story Grenache, but at $70 it was more than we usually pay for wine.

Service was polished and attentive. Mas is one of those restaurants that does not leave the open wine bottle on your table. I usually prefer to control the bottle myself, but I didn’t mind at Mas, as they were always diligent about refilling our glasses. The one glitch was the bread service, which came with butter that was still frozen.

Mas always makes the list of the city’s most romantic restaurants. The room is  charming, the service excellent, and the food first-class.

Mas (39 Downing St. between Bedford St. and Seventh Ave. South, West Village)

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

7Square

Note: 7Square closed abruptly in February 2007 after it ran out of money. It just goes to show that having hotel guests and theater patrons as a captive audience is no guarantee of success.

Hardly a month goes by without a new steakhouse opening in Manhattan. The new restaurant 7Square seems to be yet another of these, with its billing as “A Modern Chophouse.” But of eleven entrees, the only one straight out of the steakhouse playbook is a ribeye. Other menu items that cater to carnivores aren’t steak per se, and would be at home just about anywhere: rack of lamb, pork chop, and short ribs, for instance.

The chef, Shane McBride, trained at four-star Lespinasse, and much of the menu at 7Square suggests that he isn’t content to replicate the steakhouse format by rote. A Dirty Rice Risotto ($12) is laced with duck confit, smoked duck ham, and andouille sausage. In pleasure given per dollar spent, it beats most risottos in town. Other appetizers caught my eye (though I didn’t try them). “HAM²” ($14), a “unique tasting of artisanal hams,” sure looked interesting. I’ve also heard good things about the steak tartare ($12). At these prices, it couldn’t hurt to experiment.

Main courses are $15–34, with most in the twenties. In the latest style, the menu tells you the biography of the animal you are eating. The pork chop comes from Niman Ranch, the veal chop from Upstate New York, the chicken breast from an Amish farm, the lamb rack from Colorado, and the ribeye from Wolfe’s Neck Farm. I tried the ribeye ($32) after Adam Platt raved about it. Served off the bone, it’s a slightly smaller cut than most steakhouses serve, which means you can actually finish it. The marbling and exterior char were first-rate—indeed, better than I was served at Porter House.

Sometimes the best bread service comes in the most unexpected places. 7Square serves warm rosemary cornbread that’s out-of-this-world. It would be worth stopping in for an appetizer, just to have more of that cornbread.

Located in the Time Hotel, 7Square’s decor is attractive and comfortable, but appropriately informal for the neighborhood. The service is a bit careless at times, but not annoyingly so. The food is actually good enough that you don’t need the excuse of seeing a show to dine there. This is one of the few restaurants in the Theater District that you can take seriously.

7 Square (224 W 49th Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, Theater District)

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