New York has an annoying tendency to take every rustic ethnic cuisine and turn it into a high-end eating experience. Sometimes it's completely unwanted--do we really need $1000 paella?--but sometimes it works.
On the "it works" front: Naya a "futuristic" Lebanese restaurant just opened in Midtown East. The shimmery white-and silver design is so nightclub-y that you're forgiven for being skeptical of their food credentials.
But the menu makes it clear that the East Side is ready for Lebanese. Look for pan-seared halloumi cheese seasoned with pomegranate sauce, tomatoes and olives; Lebanese-style steak tartar with bulgur, onion and mint; and Lebanese milk pudding flavored with orange blossom water.
We knew space for restaurants was tight in NYC, but is nothing sacred?
Apparently not, as the latest hot spot restaurant just opened inside St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue. The church's community house was converted into the 140-seat Inside Park, a modern dining room that retains details like the 15-foot-high stained glass windows and the 86-year-old wood floor.
Inside Park has built up some buzz due to the presence of executive chef Matthew Weingarten, formerly of Savoy, who has the audacity to call his dishes "simple plates," despite the fact that most diners will need a dictionary and an encyclopedia to decode the menu, with items such as chiogga beets in poppy cream, limousin veal roast with chanterelle preserves, and sizzled rouget in corn cream.
Usually we're wary of anything billed as a "fusion" restaurant, as the culinary world played out the trend some time ago. (Was there ever really a need for British-Malaysian cuisine or Chinese-Italian?)
But once in a while a chef comes along and offers up a fusion-y menu so different that gets us excited again. In this case, the chef is Hisanobu Osaka, formerly of Morimoto, and his menu, at new SoHo eatery Archipelago, puts French-prepared spins on traditional Japanese dishes.
Everything is backwards at Archipelago, where the appetizer menu is full of playful faux-dessert dishes like a "panacotta" made from lobster, curry and uni, and a scallop-Japanese eggplant "flan." Then the appetizers are reconceived as dessert: Goat cheese gnocchi is served with truffle honey and gorgonzola dulce, while the vanilla ice cream is topped with green tea sabayon and sweet black beans.
Tyler Kord, former chef at West Village celeb-sighting spot Perry Street, is bringing the fancy out to Brooklyn with No. 7, a sleek new bar-restaurant currently soft opening in Fort Greene.
Of all the NYC neighborhoods we might grab a meal in, the financial district is probably the least likely. Aside from the whole crowded, loud and snotty thing, there's mostly just bland lunch counters and way overpriced expense account joints. When we've been stuck there before, we can hardly find a suitable spot for dinner.
That may have changed with the opening of The Libertine, a new dining room in the Gild Hall hotel from celeb chef Todd English. The book-lined, wood-paneled restaurant looks like the study in Clue, and the creative menu is just as comforting.
For brunch there's the "NY Bene," an unlikely but totally necessary combo of poached eggs and pastrami sandwich. Lunch brings the "Adult PB&J": almond butter and Cabernet jelly on whole grain bread, with a banana milk shake shot. There's also a raw bar, and dinner goes a little more traditional, with steak tartare and rack of lamb.
New Yorkers pride themselves on the city's bounty of restaurants from just about every country on earth. So when opening a new NYC restaurant, it's no longer nearly enough to open a country-specific restaurant. Forget Mexican, think Oaxacan; instead of Spanish, try Basque. And clearly, just Italian doesn't cut it anymore--or even the old standby "Northern Italian."
Chef Marco Berto follows the rules at Zorzi, his new Venetian spot in Murray Hill, where you'd better not ask for fettuccine Alfredo. Berto's traditional menu is, as you might expect, heavy on the seafood, featuring dishes like salt cod risotto and stewed cuddlefish with grilled polenta.
The bi-level restaurant, which opened two weeks ago, features a sleek, steel-accented dining room and a full bar and lounge area serving up Italian cocktails and plenty of Prosecco--a Venetian standard we're thrilled to see on the wine list.
We usually don't get on board with chain restaurants, especially in New York, where nothing is a bigger food sin than eating at Pizza Hut instead of a local pizzeria or visiting Subway instead of a corner sandwich shop.
We're excited though, by Empanada Joe's, a new mini-chain setting up shop in Manhattan.
Sometimes new restaurants seem to get certain things just right, like the perfect appetizer or wine pairing, but screw up on the too-hard seats or the low lighting. This week we bring you a new restaurant panacea with Apiary, just opened in the East Village.
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by BS
