"21" Club Short On Stars, Not Charm

[photo: krieger] chicken hash at "21" clubWells describes his review of "21" Club this week as, "a kind of love letter to a restaurant where the food is largely forgettable and the prices are almost always unwarranted."  Some of the food "was classic, unsuspenseful and solidly prepared," but Wells explains, "I ate only four things at “21” that I’d go back for with any anticipation."

The restaurant's saving grace seems to come via wine director Phil Pratt and the bathroom attendant, "whom everybody calls the Rev."  "On a good night," Wells explains, "everybody who works at “21” behaves like a bartender, and the meal sails along on a river of alcohol and high spirits."  It's Pratt's job to keep the booze flowing and he does so with a "practiced theatricality and patter more often heard above the splash of gin than the gentle swirl of old Bordeaux."

As for the Rev, "he holds court among vintage pastel murals that depict men and women relieving themselves in complicated ways, scenes that were naughty once and will be bizarre forever."

Wells makes it clear that "21" Club has its misgivings, but the amount of charm at 21 West 52nd Street warrents a "satisfactory" rating.  His review ends with a list of regrets, namely missing the chance to sing at Bill's Gay Nineties before it closed and tuning in to Danny Stiles back when he was a record spinning radio host.  When it comes to dining at "21" club, Wells concludes, "I don't want to add "21" to the list."

Yunnan Kitchen Has a One-Star Advantage

whole crispy shrimp at yunnan kitchen - yana paskova for the ny timesPete Wells heads to Yunnan Kitchen on the Lower East Side for this week's review.  He explains the restaurant, previously featured on our Donde Dinner? column, "takes a farmers’ market approach to the cuisine of Yunnan Province in China."  This approach has already proved successful at the hands of Ed Schoenfeld and Joe Ng at RedFarm in the West Village.  Their website describes the food at RedFarm as "inspired Chinese cuisine with Greenmarket sensibilities."

At Yunnan Kitchen, "Mr. Post’s fresh, locavore sensibility leads to straightforward and uncomplicated cooking," Wells writes.  This sensibility in Travis Post ripened during his stint at Franny's in Brooklyn.  Overall, this approach to cooking, along with the access and captial to purchase quality products, plays a significant role not just in the success of Yunnan Kitchen, but restaurants city wide.  Wells describes it as a "revolution," and explains that it "hasn't reached all quarters.  Along Lexington Avenue, great Indian cooks are currying nondescript chicken; Thai chefs in Queens are making do with spongy pork; and in Brooklyn, Nigerian kitchens are stewing farmed fish that bears only a slight resemblance to the original article."  "Those Thai chefs," he continues, "can’t buy Berkshire pork if it means tripling prices and alienating core customers."

The review suggests a set of advantages found at Yunnan Kitchen and "restaurants that have the financing and the cultural wherewithal to bring in customers who will pay for premium ingredients."  Yunnan Kitchen may not serve food that has the same caliber of authenticity found at the likes of Andy Ricker's restaurants, which helped earn Pok Pok NY two stars, but the local, seasonal approach to cooking, coupled with access and funds to purchase quality ingredients from established purveyors is enough to elevate the restaurant to star quality.

A Glowing Star for Calliope

[gothamist]Pete Wells is impressed with the French spirit at Calliope in the East Village.  The restaurant is run by Eric Korsh and Ginevra Iverson; "The couple, who met while working at Picholine, share kitchen duties."  Prior to opening Calliope, Korsh was the executive chef at the Waverly Inn.  Iverson has Prune on her resume and Eric Anderson, an owner of Prune, is a partner in Calliope.

Rabbitt is an integral part of the restaurant's menu.  Wells explains, "You’d have to spend a week in Paris to taste rabbit cooked in as many ways as it is served at Calliope."  Kidneys, saddle, and a ragu make up the "cotton-tailed roster," all of which portray the synergy that exists between Korsh and Iverson's cooking.  The two had practice working together not just at Picholine, but in California as well.  The couple owned Restaurant Eloise together and only closed it at the end of 2009 to head east.

The food falls flat in some instances in a room that, although has taken a design cue from Keith McNally, re: "tiles, tin ceilings, scarred mirrors and glass doors," is loud and "can make conversation an ordeal."  The overall glowing review leaves behind only one star, but it's made clear Calliope has a stronghold on the bistro tradition.

Serious Sushi in the Triangle Below Canal

hiroko masuikeBrushstroke was in the works long before it opened in April of last year.  The restaurant is the result of a culinary connection between David Bouley and the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, Japan.  Three months after it opened, Sam Sifton awarded Brushstroke two stars.  In April of this year, a sushi place opened inside Brushstroke and operated without a name.  Until now.  With three stars from Pete Wells in today's Dining Section, Ichimura at Brushstroke shares a pedestal with Il Buco Alimentari, Atera, The NoMad, and Kyo Ya.

In the quiet triangle below canal, Ichimura is tucked inside of Brushstroke with no door or sign of its own.  Wells explains, "Tiny, hard-to-spot restaurants are a longstanding tradition in Japan."  Chef Eiji Ichimura, a native of Japan, is responsible for preparing the $150 omakase menu here, which stems from the "Edo-mae style of sushi that he learned decades ago in Tokyo. Developed in street stalls in the era before refrigeration, Edo-mae sushi was made with fish that had often been cured in salt or vinegar, or stored in soy sauce to keep it from spoiling."  The use of salt is one application on a list of many that makes the sushi at Ichimura so unique.  The rice, nearly as important as the fish, is "seasoned with a blend of three vinegars."  There is great attention to detail.  The service is "exceedingly gracious" in a room with a sound level that is "utterly serene."

The relationship between Bouley and Ichimura is strong and growing.  There are plans for a "redesign" early next year that will allow Chef Ichimura's efforts to shine in a whole new light.  The once "empty sushi bar in Tribeca" Wells ate at will no longer be described thusly.  Wells concludes the interview perfectly, "The redesign, which Mr. Bouley hopes to start next year, would even give Ichimura at Brushstroke its own door inside the restaurant. But it still won’t have a separate street entrance, or a sign of its own. You’ll just have to know it’s there. And now you do."

The Circus is Not in Town

Le Cirque is going to have a hard time recovering from the beating Pete Wells gave it in this weeks review.  He had been visiting Sirio Maccioni's home away from home since late spring.  He found, "The kitchen gave the impression that it had stopped reaching for excellence and possibly no longer remembered what that might mean."  Many of the dishes were lacking in three categories: "conviction," "rationale," and "seasoning."  Wells noted that, "Anyone with a bottle of olive oil and access to a supermarket produce aisle might easily prepare an heirloom tomato salad that surpasses the one I was served at Le Cirque in August."

Service was the saving grace, "So accomplished that I could almost believe it was all worthwhile up until the minute the check arrived."  The restaurant opened in 1974 at the Mayfair Hotel.  Le Cirque called the New York Palace Hotel home from 1997 to 2006 before settling at the Bloomberg building on East 58th Street.  Le Cirque's nearly forty year relationship with New York City certainly helped with Wells' decision to stamp at least one star on his review.

The Le Cirque experience may not be what it once was, but Maccioni's charm is unchanging.  He turned 80 this year and continues to be a presence on the dining room floor.  His gracious smile shines from a face Wells refers to as "a comic pantomime of constant suffering that instantly made clear why he has long been called one of New York’s most charming hosts."

Pete Wells Hangs with the Governor

Remember that scene in Scent of a Woman when Al Pacino's (blind) character Colonel Slade tears it up behind the wheel of a red Ferrari?  That was all shot in DUMBO in '92.  Twenty years later, chef Brad McDonald and the trio behind Colonie and Gran Electrica opened Governor in the same Brooklyn neighborhood.  Today, Pete Wells gives their efforts two stars.

Tamer Hamawi, Elise Rosenberg, and Emelie Kihlstrom have opened three restaurants since February 2011, when they introduced their vision to the world via Colonie on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.  The restaurant received a star from Sam Sifton three months after it opened.  In March this year, the trio got their hands messy with masa and opened Gran Electrica on Front Street in DUMBO, serving their take on the cuisine of Mexico.  Governor opened in July four months later and two blocks east.

Wells finds the DUMBO neighborhood similar to Tribeca, "With its axle-shattering cobblestones leading to a river, its expensive lofts, its S.U.V.’s and au pairs and its acronym."  There was a heavy on the food this go round, as will likely be the case when you're talking about a chef who has Noma and Per Se on their resume, a fact McDonald is guilty of.  The celery root "pasta" was "cool, smart and unexpectedly seductive."  The flavors in McDonald's version of beef tartare "hit you right where they should," and McDonald's desserts are equally appealing, "A disc of chocolate ganache, outfitted with bits of cocoa Rice Krispies Treats, was dark and intensely brooding, and a flat macaron topped with cajeta was an ideal partner for macerated strawberries.

Restaurants in Brooklyn like Saul and Franny's are key players in the Brooklyn dining scene.  Newcomers like Governor, Battersby, and Gwynnett St share an ambition to elevate the borough's cuisine.  A growing presence of like-minded restaurants reflects a shift in the borough's dining trends.  While Governor may not be a fine dining restaurant, the fare is fine and the room is elegant.  These things come at a price and add to the fact that a meal in Brooklyn is becoming more likely to reflect the price of dinner across the river in Manhattan.  In his review of Gwynnett Street today, Ryan Sutton explains "Brooklyn fine-dining has become as expensive as Manhattan dining."  He encourages New Yorkers to, "Get used to it."

For more on Governor, check out our First Bite.

Fifteen Years Later, Nougatine Gets Its Due

Angel Franco for the TimesPete Wells' review of Nougatine this week is the restaurant's first Times review in its 15-year run.  "It has never been reviewed before in The New York Times, and it rarely comes up in conversations about favorite Vongerichten restaurants, although it is one of the most dependable." 

Wells has a few theories as to why Nougatine never got reviewed, "There’s that slightly embarrassing name, which suggests a shop that sells chocolates or lingerie or maybe both."  "The biggest reason Nougatine never quite emerged from the long shadow of its sister may have been its design, meant originally as a hotel lounge."

In April of this year, the restaurant got a makeover from architect Thomas Juul-Hansen.  The result?  "Nougatine feels like a destination."  Wells is grateful for the adjustment and finds a new window into the kitchen provides a glimpse of the cooks, "and often Mr. Vongerichten."  New tables, chairs, and mirrors make Nougatine a "livelier, more kinetic space" than its sister restaurant next door; Jean Georges.

Like the former dining room, some of the dishes on the menu could use a makeover, like the Cantonese-style lobster dish, where Wells found the warm slaw that comes with it better than "the chewy lobster meat itself."  There is something called a "lobster burger" that is "interred, bizarrely, under green chile mayonnaise and a blanket of melted Gruyère."  And, "If a French-born chef serves fries, you expect more than the pale and not terribly crunchy ones at Nougatine." 

Wells harped on a handful of dishes that strike out at Nougatine, but the lively new room, Jean Georges Vongerichten's New York legacy, and all the dishes he does well on the menu at Nougatine earn the restaurant two stars.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary's, and Pete Wells

photo by dan kriegerPete Wells files on Rosemary's this week, after waiting an hour and a half to get a table.  The restaurant opened in June, and while its big windows play nicely with the warm summer breeze, the host stand is still learning to play with the droves of guests fluttering to the corner of West 10th and Greenwich Ave.

Wells finds flavor and value in chef Wade Moises' food, "Mr. Moises is adept at working vegetables and seafood into antipasti that bring your appetite to attention," and "each vegetable antipasto is $5; the pastas are $14 or less."  It sounds like a page from Batali's book, where a dozen $5 verdure and cheap pastas live on a stones throw away at Otto.  This affordable approach is no coincidence, Moises worked at both Babbo and Eataly.

The gimmicky wine list at Rosemary's is hit or miss.  Offering 40 wines all for $40, it leaves Wells feeling, "some chagrin at paying $40 for the kinds of bottles that might be opened at an office party."  Rosemary's has their own rooftop garden, "the urban agrarian notion does seem to have provided a theme for the decor," which is rustic and plant riddled and gives Rosemary's "the feel of a trllised patio in some corner of Italy that's heavily populated by Upper East Siders."  Wells gives one star to Rosemary's.