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: *

A Voce

Note: Andrew Carmellini, the chef when this review was written, has left A Voce. His replacement is Missy Robbins, who comes to New York from the Chicago restaurant Spiaggia. We haven’t been back since, but click here for a review of A Voce Columbus at the Time-Warner Center.

*

A Voce is the first solo restaurant by Andrew Carmellini, who had been the popular chef de cuisine at Café Boulud. It was one of the biggest hits of 2006, scoring three stars from Frank Bruni and another from Michelin. The restaurant is full almost every night of the week. I had wanted to visit a lot sooner, but it never seemed to be available when I was. When I saw that a 6:15 p.m. slot was available on Sunday evening, I grabbed it.

My friend and I started with the duck meatballs ($15), which every reviewer has raved about. They are indeed a tasty delight, but I must say that neither of us could find any trace of the foie gras that the servers insist is in there. A pork chop with onion glazing ($30), one of the daily specials, was done to perfection. My friend ordered the braised short ribs, at $39 the most expensive entree (unless you’re having the truffle tasting). The preparation was certainly first-rate, although it seemed to me a bit over-priced, in that the best short ribs in town, at Café Gray, are “only” $38.

The price of the short ribs, however, had nothing on the wine list, which featured many bottles over $1,000, and tons more well over $100. For a casual restaurant where the waiters wear dockers, it seemed to us incongruous. I did finally settle on a pinot noir a shade under $50. I was quite irritated to find that the restaurant kept the open bottle on a serving station, out of my reach. I generally prefer to control a bottle that I’ve paid for, especially when the serving staff are going to disappear for long stretches—as they do when A Voce gets busy.

For dessert, I ordered a maple-walnut cheesecake ($10), which seemed more like a parfait. As I see it, the word “cheesecake” conveys definite meaning, and restaurants shouldn’t be putting it on their menu unless they intend to serve something at least approximating a cheesecake.

Bread service came in the form of addictive warm home-made bread and olive oil, although there wasn’t enough of the latter.

Although the menu is expensive, the atmosphere at A Voce is informal. The space is attractively decorated, and the swivel chairs are quite comfortable. But the tables are fairly close together, the noise level builds rapidly, and the serving staff gets a little stretched as the restaurant fills up. Andrew Carmellini’s upscale Italian cuisine is wonderful, but he hasn’t really provided the elegant stage on which it deserves to shine.

A Voce (41 Madison Avenue at 26th Street, Flatiron District)

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

Fresh

Note: Fresh closed in September 2008.

*

The idea behind Fresh is simple enough. Eric Tevrow, the owner, also owns Early Morning Seafood, which supplies the fish to “every four star and several three and two star restaurants in the city.” So in 2002 he opened his own place in TriBeCa, scoring two stars from Eric Asimov in the Times. Shore, a casual New England-style fish shack, followed in 2004, and Coast a year or so after that.

I paid enjoyable visits to Fresh and Shore a couple of years ago, and to Coast a while later. Shore and Coast were saddled with abysmal locations, and both failed. Fresh still seems to be holding its own. It was perhaps a shade over half full on a recent Thursday evening, with what appeared to be a mix of business diners, families, and romantic couples.

A Ceviche of Artic Char ($12) was uncomplicated, with the lively—well, freshness of the fish—allowed to speak for itself. The excellent Pumpkin Seed Crusted Flounder ($27) took the opposite approach. It came plated in a tower  (à la Gotham Bar and Grill) on a bed of chanterelles and butternut squash, and all of the ingredients worked well together. My mom was pleased with Spicy Seafood Stew ($31)—not all that spicy, she said. My girlfriend had the English Batter-fried Haddock ($21), an upscale fish-and-chips that was somewhat misplaced at this type of restaurant; she said it was soggy, and wondered how such a simple dish could be the one they screwed up.

The décor at Fresh somewhat over-plays the seafood theme, with its wicker chairs and blue-tinged walls, suggesting a Caribbean resort with faded charms. But there is nothing at all faded about the excellent seafood, which is why I’ll be going back to Fresh. Service is efficient, and tables are generously spaced, making for a sedate atmosphere that is increasingly rare in Manhattan. Be sure to order one of the specialty martinis, which come in funky glasses with curved stems that are unlike anything I’ve seen.

Fresh (105 Reade Street between West Broadway and Church Street, TriBeCa)

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