Exit Montrachet, Enter Corton with Paul Liebrandt

Ending months of speculation, the Times reports today that the former Montrachet space will re-open “in about two months” as Corton, with Paul Liebrandt in the kitchen.

In 1985, Montrachet was an iconic restaurant, blazing a trail in TriBeCa, which was then considered remote and even a bit dangerous—hardly the place one would put a three-star restaurant. We visited Montrachet a couple of times near the end. We found it to be serving respectable, mid-range three-star food, but some people thought the restaurant had slipped, particularly the Times’ Amanda Hesser, who demoted it to two stars.

The list of chefs that worked at Montrachet is practically a Who’s Who of New York City dining: David Bouley, Terrance Brennan (Picholine, Artisanal), Kerry Heffernan (Eleven Madison Park, South Gate), Claudia Fleming (Gramercy Tavern, North Fork Table & Inn), Harold Moore (Commerce). Looking back on the list of names that worked here, you have to wonder if perhaps there wasn’t quite enough stability in the kitchen.

The ringleader, then as now, was restauranteur Drew Nieporent.

Montrachet closed in 2006, for what was originally described as a mere “vacation.” Since then, we’ve learned that “closed for vacation” often means, quite simply, closed. It’s not clear what took so long, when the Nieporent–Liebrandt partnership was not exactly a secret. Apparently there was an ugly corporate divorce between Nieporent and his original Montrachet partner, Tony Zazula, who is now with Harold Moore at Commerce.

The Times couldn’t even get a straight answer on who owns the Montrachet name. In any case, they’re renaming it “Corton,” which like Montrachet is a French wine appellation from Burgundy. Sadly, much of Montrachet’s prized wine cellar was auctioned off last year. We can only hope that the new restaurant’s wine program will be as impressive as the old one.

According to the Times, there space will be extensively renovated to a Stephanie Goto design in “textured white walls, chartreuse upholstery and touches of gold.” Like many restaurants these days, Corton will have a “wine wall.” The dining room will seat 70, or about 30 fewer than Montrachet did. This will allow Liebrandt to expand the kitchen, which after twenty years is probably overdue for a facelift.

Liebrandt must be the most popular chef that has never had a successful restaurant. Whether it was Atlas, Papillon or Gilt, Liebrandt always attracted admirers, but never enough paying customers. At Atlas, he at least had critical acclaim (three stars from Grimes), but not at Gilt (a pathetic two-spot from Frank Bruni). We think Bruni severely underrated Liebrandt’s achievement at Gilt, but history will record that Liebrandt lasted less than a year.

We think the Corton team won’t be so foolish as to disclose their aspirations, but make no mistake: Corton is gunning for four stars, perhaps the last significant accolade that has eluded Nieporent. We’re a little doubtful that they will open in August, given that we walk by the site fairly often and have never seen so much as a peep of activity. But if anyone can pull it off, Nieporent can.

The timing is perfect, if they can stick to it. An opening in two months would put Corton’s debut in early August, traditionally a slow period for fine dining. That will give the staff time to iron out the kinks before the fall season gets in gear after Labor Day.

The Payoff: Elettaria

Today, as expected, Frank Bruni awards one star to Elettaria, finding the performance too inconsistent, the ambiance too scatter-brained:

The ostensibly individual tables bisecting the dining room are essentially one way-too-long communal table, which makes for odd traffic patterns.

And why is this central and most crucial region of the restaurant so cramped when there’s so much elbowroom and extra space around the bar up front? Elettaria is lovely but awkward, and its awkwardness undercuts Mr. Nawab’s impressively creative cooking.

But then his cooking also undercuts itself, some dishes mirroring the setting: seductive in the abstract, less so in actuality. There’s too broad a gap between the best of them, which are excellent, and the rest. I had only one meal that wholly delighted me, while the others were a mix of exciting, intriguing and frustrating moments.

We and Eater both win $2 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$86.50		$106.67
Gain/Loss	+2.00		+2.00
Total	$88.50		$108.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	40–18		42–16

Tasting Room Closes

Eater reported yesterday that there is a “Closed for Renovations” sign at the Tasting Room. In the Comments section, chef Colin Alevras confirmed that the restaurant is, indeed, just plain closed (see #16). (Update: It was later replaced by the restaurant Jo’s.)

The Tasting Room had a terrific cult following at their original location in the East Village. When they moved to Elizabeth Street in NoLIta, they tripled the size of the restaurant. We never visited the original Tasting Room, and so can’t make comparisons, but perhaps Alevras wasn’t able to scale the concept up to such a large space. Although we enjoyed the Tasting Room, the new space never quite attracted the rapturous reviews of the old.

When I stopped by recently to sample Alevras’s “Old McDonald’s Hamburger,” I noticed that the menu had been retooled; ironically, it no longer offered “tasting” portions, which of course was the original point of the restaurant. Business seemed to be slow.

There is no justice in the restaurant industry. The Tasting Room wasn’t perfect, but it was better and less expensive than plenty of places that are still open.

The Alevrases still have their original space on 1st Street between First & Second Avenues, which they transformed into a wine bar when the NoLIta location opened. What will they do now? We’ll have to wait and see.

Rolling the Dice: Elettaria

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 takes a belated look at Elettaria, Akhtar Nawab’s Indian–American fusion restaurant in Greenwich Village. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 5-1
One Star: 2-1 √√
Two Stars: 3-1
Three Stars: 8-1
Four Stars: 1,000-1

The Skinny: As usual, there are only two possible outcomes here: one star or two. The closeness of the odds (2–1 and 3–1 respectively) shows that this is basically a coin toss. Reviews have been all over the map, ranging from Platt’s one-star slap to RG’s three-star rave. Will the real Elettaria please stand up?

The X-factor is the rather long time it took Bruni to get around to this review: it has been more than six weeks since most of the other critics filed, including this blog, which awarded two stars. We can only assume that Bruni saw potential, and wanted to give Elettaria time to resolve the early kinks. Bruni doesn’t usually give restaurants that chance, so you’ve got to figure that he really wanted to like this place.

We are torn, but our sense is that the cramped ambiance, abbreviated menu and chronic inconsistency will rate mentions in this review.

The Bet: We are betting, with some reluctance, that Frank Bruni will award one star to Elettaria.

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: **