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Chelsea/Gramercy: ABC Kitchen

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:23:42 +0000

Jean-Georges Vongerichten‘s restaurant track record has been hit-or-miss of late, but ABC Kitchen is decidedly the former. You get a this-is-gonna-be-good feeling as soon as you walk in— it’s something about those beautiful gnarled tree trunks, those roughed-up wood beams, stark white chairs, glam chandeliers, white-brick walls—and after an initial damn-this-a-short-menu worry, you’re back on solid ground. Each dish earns its spot—the flavors pop, and the combinations often surprise. Your eyes might glaze over the bowtie pasta with kasha with veal meatballs, but you’d be missing out on an intensely delicious repurposing of kasha; and even simple whole-wheat-crust pizzas like one with mushrooms, egg, and oregano stand out. And then there’s the stated mission of the restaurant: not just organic and local ingredients whenever possible (yeah, yeah, nothing new here), but repurposed materials, eco-friendly design, and tableware and furniture by local or indigenous artisans. But that doesn’t count for much if the food and the feel of the place are lame. They’re not: thrills abound, from the plate to the gorgeous materials all over. If eating here gives you a furniture-shopping jones, there’s always the beautifully curated ABC Carpet and Home—the shop that houses the restaurant—for a post-priandal stroll.

ABC Kitchen: 35 E. 18th between Broadway and Park Ave.; 212-475-5829

Prices/Features: Elegant/Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly

Chelsea/Gramercy: Maialino

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:02:14 +0000

The normally Midas-touched restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Indian restaurant Tabla may have met its demise recently, but Maialino, his first attempt at Italian, is definitely kicking. Meyer takes the rustic, earthy Italian-restaurant paradigm New Yorkers deeply adore, and airs it out with higher ceilings and intimate nooks that open breezily onto each other—and installs skilled chef Nick Anderer, ex of Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern, to create a mostly-Roman menu of dishes like bucatini all’Amatriciana and a half roasted chicken with pickled chili. With all that, he creates an Italian destination that somehow commands attention in a hyper-crowded field. Depending on your feelings about the Ian Schrager-designed Gramercy Hotel the restaurant sits in—arty and wild and cool, or overblown—dining at Maialino means you’ll get to wander around the art-jammed lobby first, or take pains to avoid the inevitable where’s-the-party scenesters who come to the Rose Bar across the way.

Maialino: 2 Lexington Ave. at 21st St.; 212-777-2410.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Elegant/Good for Groups/

Chelsea/Gramercy: Aldea

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:41:42 +0000

Certain Aldea visitors have been known to ask for seats at the chef’s counter in back, mainly to ogle the dashing, chiseled chef-owner George Mendes. If that’s what it takes to get reluctant types into a nouveau-Portuguese restaurant on a slightly drab block near Union Square, fair enough. But Aldea (which now has a Michelin star) is dazzling even without Mendes (well, without his Montgomery Clifty-ness, but definitely not without his kitchen genius). On a recent night: a crostini-like starter of sea urchin on toast, with cauliflower puree and mustard seed; mussel soup with coconut and linguica sausage; and a spin on the classic Portuguese arroz con pato rice dish, made here with duck confit, chorizo, and duck cracklings. If chef-ogling isn’t your sport, or you’d rather sit at a table than a counter, the narrow, glossy blue-and-white dining room has a handful of those, placed just close enough together to liven up the minimalist design.

Aldea: 31 W. 17th St.; 212- 675-7223

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Elegant

Gramercy: Casa Mono/Bar Jamon

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:12:19 +0000

Pic courtesy of Gothamist.com

One of the best things about Gramercy’s small Spanish restaurant Casa Mono is that if you’re stuck waiting for your table, you can hit the tapas joint Bar Jamon around the corner for a pre-dinner Iberico ham gorge. And if you can’t quite cram into the tightly jammed Jamon, you can…try to get a last-minute table at Mono without a reservation? (Good luck with that.) However oversubscribed and high-maintenance both places can be, Mario Batali and company had the foresight to open the sibling restaurants right near each other—to double your pleasure or pain, depending on how you see it. Casa Mono: Fiercely flavorful Spanish-Mediterranean food (confited goat with saffron honey; soft-shell crab with Meyer lemon aioli; morcilla sausage with chanterelles) in a miniscule dining room. Jamon: An impeccable mix of Spanish cheeses, wines—and hams, naturally—in a Madrid-style, standing-only tapas bar.

Casa Mono: 52 Irving Pl. between 17th & 18th Sts.; (212) 253-2773. Bar Jamon: 125 E. 17th St. at Irving Pl.; (212) 253-2773.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced

Gramercy: Ilili

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:30:53 +0000

Pic courtesy of Ilili

Impossible to be Lebanese and not have cripplingly high expectations of Lebanese restaurants in NYC—partly because there are barely any to speak of. (Yours truly is of Beirut extraction.) But chef Philippe Massoud is doing spectacularly authentic, big-flavored Lebanese food, and it’s really unmissable. The kibbe nayeh (a steak-tartare-like hill of raw meat mixed with burghul and eaten with pita bread, olive oil, and white onion); the red mullet with pita chips, tahini, and and lemon; the juicy kebabs; and the chicken livers with sumac and pomegranate molasses are reasons enough to be alive. The lunch and dinner prix-fixes are some of Manhattan’s best deals.

Ilili. 236 Fifth Ave. between 27th and 28th Sts.; (212) 683-2929.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly/Good for Groups

Gramercy: Pure Food and Wine

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:15:31 +0000

Pic courtesy of GoWorldTravel.com

Before anyone reads any further, it should be said: This is a raw-foods restaurant we’re about to discuss. But don’t stop reading. Most raw-foods restaurants are probably a little sad in some way (this hypothesis has not been tested), but somehow Pure Food and Wine feels like a real restaurant—low-lit and humming and sexy even—and serves food that could just about pass for the cooked kind, except it won’t matter because it’s mostly delicious in its own right. Having to work without (much) heat results here in maximum flavor and texture, as in the fierce garlic, tangy-sweet tomato, and absurdly tasty basil-pistachio pesto in the tomato-zucchini lasagna. Cocktails are wickedly good too, if embarrassingly named, like the Master Cleanse Tini: a transfixing sake-honey-cayenne concoction.

Pure Food and Wine. 54 Irving Pl. between 17th & 18th Sts.; (212) 477-1010.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly

Chelsea: Txikito

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:22:29 +0000

Pic courtesy of EuskaKultura

Ultra-talented chefs Alex Raij and Eder Montero were fired from their previous jobs at the Spanish spot Tia Pol (where crowds consistently spilled out the door). So what did they do? Open up their own restaurant, Txikito, down the street—and promptly kick lots of ass with their robust, fragrant Basque tapas (which range from little sandwiches of tuna and piquillo-infused oil, to lamb chops grilled a la plancha, to daily specials like a warm chickpea-and-squid stew with a potent anchovy broth). The crowd in the dark, electric dining room is, fittingly, packed with Tia Pol regulars.

Txikito. 240 Ninth Ave. at 25th St.; (212) 242-4730.

Prices/Features: Moderately Priced/Vegetarian-Friendly