The Payoff: Fiamma

This week, Frank Bruni awarded three stars to yet another Italian restaurant, Fiamma. Perhaps sensitive to the fact that it seems to be the only cuisine he likes, Bruni tries to argue that it’s not really Italian:

Would you find these entrees in Italy, even up north? Maybe, in a very fussy restaurant. In most others, no. And who cares? They’re prepared with finesse and they’re the definition of luxury, no matter the geography, no matter the language… Fiamma is about as Italian as a poodle in a Prada scarf. [Say, what???]

The review once again uses Frank’s favorite insult, “fussy”. Somehow, Fiamma managed to overcome that liability. It doesn’t happen often. Bruni insists that the cuisine “owes its classically indulgent soul to France.” Somehow I suspect that if a northern European chef were in the kitchen—Gabriel Kreuther, for instance—two stars would be the maximum.

One never knows with Bruni, but based on other reports I’ve read, I can’t quarrel with the rating, although Eater and I had forecasted two stars, and thus lose $1 on our hypothetical bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$61.50		$70.67
Gain/Loss	–1.00		–1.00
Total	$60.50		$69.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	25–9		25–9

Rolling the Dice: Fiamma

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 Fiamma, the one truly serious establishment in Stephen Hanson’s galaxy of crowd-pleasing one-star restaurants. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 8-1
One Star: 5-1
Two Stars: 3-1 √√
Three Stars: 4-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: This is technically a re-review, as William Grimes had awarded three stars to Fiamma’s predecessor, Fiamma Osteria, with Michael White at the helm. Earlier this year, White decamped to run the kitchens at Alto and L’Impero (three and two stars respectively, per The Bruni), and Hanson hired Fabio Trabocchi to replace him. Fiamma is the only restaurant in Hanson’s portfolio that critics have taken at all seriously, and he is surely itching to keep all three of his stars.

I haven’t been to Fiamma, but Bruni often telegraphs where he’s headed. In a blog post just one week ago, he complained about the custom of covering tablecloth stains with a fresh napkin, which he called the Napkin of Shame. And yes, he had been “shamed” at Fiamma. (I still don’t get what’s “shameful” about it, but hey, that’s The Bruni: the rituals of fine dining are lost on him.)

Anyway, he didn’t have much to say about the food, but what he did say wasn’t promising:

The meal progressed, a rich, saucy meal, because Fiamma’s new chef, Fabio Trabocchi, cooks in a rich, saucy style. One course departed, another arrived, and so on and so forth. We’ll delve into this deeper when review time comes around.

I don’t remember eating with particular abandon. In fact I remember eating in a restrained fashion, wary of the cumulative effect of all this richness and all this richness and all this sauciness.

My take? Those aren’t the words of a critic who was really enjoying his meal. If Frank is obsessed about napkins, he’s not loving the food. That’s why a three-star review is looking like a real long-shot.

But he didn’t imply it was awful either, as it would have to be for a former three-star restaurant to be double-demoted to one star. So Eater’s two-star prediction is looking pretty good.

The Bet: We predict that Frank Bruni will award two stars to Fiamma.

Primehouse New York

It was only a matter of time before Stephen Hanson, that past-master of formula restaurants, opened the ultimate formula restaurant, a steakhouse. David Burke’s Primehouse opened in Chicago last year, and now comes Primehouse New York, sans Burke, but with a very similar steak program.

Primehouse has a more modern vibe than the average steakhouse: a quieter version of BLT Prime. Booths and tables are more generously spaced than at BLT, and there are soft surfaces to absorb the sound. The space feels “dressy” by steakhouse standards. You could bring a date here, and have a conversation without shouting.

There weren’t any tables available when I walked in at around 6:00 p.m. on a weeknight, but the bar area is large and comfortable, with soft, high-backed chairs. Bar dining must have been planned from the beginning, as these are about the plushest bar seats you’ll find anywhere in town. Once you sit down, you’ll want to stay a while.

The menu offers typical steakhouse starters ($8–18), a raw bar (platters from $16–79), seven cuts of steak ($34–49) plus porterhouse for two ($86), eight other meat and fish entrées ($21–42), and side dishes ($9). At $46 for a ribeye and $48 for a New York Sirloin, Primehouse sets the high water mark for NYC steakhouse pricing (though the now-closed V Steakhouse was worse).

Are those stratospheric prices worth it? If the 20-ounce “Kentucky” bone-in ribeye aged 28 days (which my server recommended) was any indication, they just might be. The mineral tang of the dry aging was all you could ask for, and the marbling was as even as on any ribeye I’ve encountered. The kitchen executed without fault, with a deep char on the exterior and a perfect medium rare inside.

I also tried the Smoked Bacon Brussels Sprouts (top right corner in the photo). I liked how the musky taste of burned bacon enhanced the sweetness of the Brussels Sprouts, but the bacon bits themselves were tough and tried out.

The wine list is a large tome, and only high-rollers will be pleased. The reds go on for many pages, but I counted only seven bottles under $60, and only two under $50. None of the California Cabernets were under $60, and none of the French Bordeaux were under $80. If Café Boulud can offer an entire page of red wines under $60, it’s hard to believe that the prices at Primehouse are justified. I was glad to see a page of half-bottles, which one seldom sees at a steakhouse; more restaurants should have them.

Is Primehouse New York for you? It depends on whether you mind spending a few dollars more for a commodity item. But if future visits confirm that the ribeye I enjoyed was no fluke, then Primehouse just might be a top-tier steakhouse.

Update: Since this review, Brian O’Donohoe has replaced Jason Miller as chef. We doubt that this will make a tremendous difference to the average diner, but it is worth noting that O’Donohoe has stints at Le Bernardin, Barça 18, and Fiamma on his resume. Perhaps seafood dishes here will be worth a closer look.

Note: Click here for a review of the burger at Primehouse New York.

Primehouse New York (381 Park Avenue South at 27th Street, Gramercy)

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

Ruby Foo's Times Square

 

Ruby Foo’s Times Square is part of the sprawling B. R. Guest Restaurant Group. The owner, Stephen Hanson, seems to have a Ph.D. in populism. Once called “king of the one-star restaurant world,” his empire now stretches to sixteen restaurants—some of them clones, and most of them in New York. They are usually riffs on popular genres. His lone failure, as far as I know, was the ill-fated Barça 18, which not even the services of Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert as consulting chef could save.

The first Ruby Foo’s (now called Ruby Foo’s Uptown) sported a $3.5 million David Rockwell interior (an extravagant sum in 1999), but managed to keep dinner under $30 a head. An approving Ruth Reichl awarded two stars in the Times. It was an instant sensation, and the Times Square branch opened just a year later. The Times reported that the outdoor neon sign alone cost $1.5 million.

The rhythm of the neighborhood is tied to Broadway. Most restaurants, whether good or not, are packed until about 7:30, when they abruptly clear out. Many of them do a brisk after-show business, too. We had no trouble getting a same-day 9:30 p.m. reservation, as it was early enough that most shows hadn’t let out yet. We saw a steady stream of late customers coming in after us. The menu is well suited to “grazing,” making Ruby Foo’s especially attractive for a late-night snack.

Like many restaurants in the pan-Asian genre, the menu at Ruby Foo’s is divided into multiple categories, with both creative and traditional takes on Chinese, Thai, and Japanese cuisine. The menu announces that “the fun is in sharing — your server will guide you.” We didn’t get much guidance, and it was hard to tell how much food to order.

Colossal Spicy Tuna Tempura Maki Roll (left); Thai Chicken Wings with Spicy Tamarind Glaze (right)

There are almost 20 kinds of rolls in two categories: Ruby’s Rolls ($7.00–9.50) and Monster Rolls ($9.00–10.50). The server advised that, despite the names, all rolls are the same size, except for the Colossal Spicy Tuna roll ($10.00), which is slightly larger. So I ordered that. The whole roll seemed to have been deep-fried, and while it wasn’t really that spicy, it was enjoyable nonetheless.

There are about 10 kinds of Dim Sum ($7.00–$10.50). We tried the Thai Chicken Wings ($7), which weren’t a bad deal at all, although they were a bit too spicy for my son, who doesn’t care for spicy food. I would have gladly eaten more of them, except that we had a lot more food to go.

Pad Thai Shrimp & Chicken (left); Dim Sum Sampler (right)

My son’s main course was the Pad Thai ($19.50). The photo doesn’t give a proper sense of depth. It was an enormous bowl, and I doubt anyone would finish it if they also ordered an appetizer. It tasted rather generic to me, but certainly acceptable.

The Dim Sum Sampler ($13) came with two apiece of Shrimp Dumplings, Vegetable Dumplings, Szechuan Pork Dumplings, and Chicken Pot Stickers. The pork dumplings were the best of the bunch, while the chicken and vegetable dumplings were so similar in taste that I couldn’t tell them apart.

My main complaint with the service is that all of the food came at once. It also took a long while to arrive. Some of these dishes surely could have been ready sooner, and delivered to the table in stages, so that our meal could have had some pacing to it.

The décor is a feast for the eyes. Even my 12-year-old son appreciated that the atmosphere was a cut above the typical Chinese restaurant. He was particularly taken with the restroom attendant, although he wondered about the purpose of having someone to turn on the faucet and put the soap on your hands, as if it were at all inconvenient to do this yourself.

We had a mixture of hits and near-misses at Ruby Foo’s, but all the food was at least reasonable, as was the bill. For quite a lot of food, it was just $63 before tax and tip (that included one mixed drink). At that price, I wouldn’t mind giving Ruby Foo’s another shot. And there’s still plenty more of the menu to try.

Ruby Foo’s Times Square (1626 Broadway at 49th Street, Theater District)

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)