Eating Out – More NYC Treats

NYC: 2 museums and 3 restaurants.

    Not that we ever need an excuse to go to The Big Apple but this is the one we used this time:  We wanted catch the Jeff Wall Exhibition at MoMA  and the Design for the Other 90% Exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.  The shopping and eating were incidental of course.  Jeff Wall was, well, Jeff Wall (see photos) .  MoMA’s retrospective of his works is impressive and a fitting tribute to one of the most famous living photographers, and a Canadian to boot. The Design for the Other 90% Exhibition was a bit disappointing.  The exhibition is actually outdoors in the beautiful courtyard garden of the museum facing Central Park.  Some of the objects, however, might have been displayed a bit better. Two that caught my attention as particularly well designed for the third world are the Q Drum and the LifeStraw (see photos).   The Cooper-Hewitt remains a grand old lady of a building and delights with its eclectic assemblage of design artifacts including a wonderful collection of staircase models from 19th-century France.
    Now for the pleasures of the palate.  Three new restaurants this time: Esca (402 W. 43 St.), Bolo (23 E. 22 St.) and Café Gray (Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle).
    ESCA is a collaborative effort by Mario Batali, Joseph Bastianich and David Pasternack and is devoted to Southern Italian seafood.  The décor is clean and modern and the service is informal and pleasant in an upscale bistro style.  There were 3 wine waiters working the floor, 2 of them women.  The gastronomic find here is the crudo, Batali’s Italian version of sashimi.  The seafood is obviously the freshest available and the tastes are definitely Mediterranean.  As any good menu demands to be read with a glass in hand, we started with a “Kastelaz” pinot bianco 2005 by Elena Walch (Alto Aldige) while nibbling on amuse bouches of bruschtta with white beans and cod and marinated olives.  Josée started with the crudo tasting: Indian Point oysters (from Maine, not the power plant); halibut belly with olio Laggo di Garda, pink snapper in red clay salt; hamachi with Gaeta olive aioli; razor clam 2 minute cheviche with chilis, scallion and mint; scampi with olive oil from Sorrento. While all of these tender raw bits were delightful, the scampi in particular deserves special mention.  Have you ever had raw scampi?  We had not and I dare say you won’t find scampi sashimi on too many menus.  The chef here obviously has absolute confidence in the freshness of his seafood and manages to turn this little crustacean into something that astonishes. Having sampled some of Josée’s crudo, I started on my appetizer – polipo (octopus) grilled and served with giant corona beans and preserved Sorrento lemon.  Now these tentacles had obviously been stolen from a pretty large beast and my expectation was that the meat would be rubbery.  Not so.  This baby was as tender as it was tasty. Josée and I then shared a plate of spaghetti neri – house made squid ink spaghetti with cuttlefish, green chilis and scallions.  My Venetian relatives would surely have approved. For the main course, I chose flounder (passera) with spinach and fava beans while Josée had Montauk cod (merluzzo) with a salad of artichokes and marinated olives.  Both dishes were done to perfection with a bottle of Scioppetino Dorigo (Friuli) 2005 (red) to wash it all down. Assorted biscotti and a double espresso for a final tab of ~ $230. – well worth it and certainly deserving of another visit.
    Bolo is a Bobby Flay establishment and offers up Spanish fare with an American twist.  We had eaten here once before but the experience had been less than satisfactory as we were rushing to catch a show.  This time, we had all the time in the world and a delightful dinner guest, the beautiful Annie Pinto contributing her Venezuelan charm to the evening.  A bottle of crisp 2005 Naia from Rueda, Spain got things going.  I chose a flight of 4 tapas: saffron rice cake with shrimp; sautéed squid & bacon with garlic oil; artichoke heart with quail egg & salmon caviar; white anchovies with tangerine.  I could have had 4 more.  Josée had a plate of white and green asparagus with fava beans (in season at the moment).  Main course: I had the pan-roasted rabbit wrapped in Serrano ham with cauliflower risotto, caramelized shallots & thyme.  Josée had the black squid ink risotto with grilled prawns, lobster & green onion vinaigrette…squid ink 2 nights in a row but she wanted to compare the 2 preparations.  The wine:  Viña Tondonia Reserva (red) 1998 from Rioja.  Overall, excellent food, good service and lively atmosphere. Tab:  ~$330. for the three of us.  We’ll be back.
    Finally, Café Gray.  We’d heard about this one from quite a bit so we were happy when our friends Albert and Ellissa proposed it. The chef is Gray Kunz formerly from Lespinasse, one of NYC’s best restaurants.  Chef Kunz is also part owner of Spice Market (previously reviewed on this blog) in the Meat Packing District, a joint venture with Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The restaurant is bustling and the décor lavish.  There is an unobstructed view onto Columbus Circle that is especially impressive after dark.  The kitchen is open-style and more importantly is sunken so that one has the impression of looking down into the orchestra pit at a symphony.  The cooking is done on induction hobs and the chef’s brigade is sizeable.  The tables are covered in a plastic mesh material that in my mind is no substitute for white linen. Josée started with soy-ginger cured hamachi (tuna) on a cucumber and black radish salad followed by grilled snapper on pea shoots, jicama and young ginger bouillon.  I had the risotto mushroom fricassee followed by the grilled snapper.  Don’t remember the wine.  Overall, we were not very impressed.  The fish was good but not memorable and the risotto stood out not because it was tasty but rather because it was undercooked.  The tab was ~ $500 for 4 and we’ve crossed this one off our list.

Joseph Froncioni