New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 31 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Palacinka

28 Grand Street between Thompson and Sixth Avenue
212/625.0362
♥ ♥

I used to go to Palacinka way back when during the dot-com days. When my job moved offices back to the West Village, I was eager to visit again and eat one of their crepes. In Central Europe, a crepe is called palaÄinka and is filled with vegetables and meats. The savory kinds are reserved for desserts and are filled with fruits and cream.

At this spot near the Holland Tunnel, I love sitting at one of the long wooden tables and sharing a couple of crepes with friends. When the weather is nice, the glass doors are open. The laid-back attitude of the staff makes you forget that you’re inhaling the soot of New Jersey commuters. The salami, potato and cheese crepe is one of my favorites. When not in the mood for a crepe, I like the ham-gruyere salad with thinly sliced potatoes drizzled with a sweet chutney dressing. The pressed sandwiches are thin and crusty and are perfect with a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio.

Giorgione 508

508 Greenwich Street off Spring
212/219-2444
â™¥ â™¥

Giorgione is a jewel of a place found in the transforming neighborhood of Greenwich Street and the West Side Highway. It reminds me of the delis in Europe where locals eat and drink wine in the middle of the afternoon or leisurely enjoy coffee with a pastry. As soon as you walk in, you’re confronted with lunch boxes of greens with chicken or seared tuna. The long glass bars invite you to sit and casually enjoy your meal. It is that civilized way of living which delights me about Giorgione. When the restaurant is full during busy lunch hours, it looks like a happy communal space with beautifully-dressed New Yorkers.

My seared tuna looked more like sashimi but it was perfect with the bean and tomato salad. The baby arugula and endive salad with goat cheese became a more interesting dish when citrus and toasted pine nuts were added. I think a bowl of greens is easy to make, but a well-done salad is a hard feat. Giorgione does it easily and well. The hanger steak sandwich with stewed onions was large and filling, but the meatball sandwich covered in a big blob of mozarella looked unappetizing. All the lunch items are a bit pricey but this Italian joint is a nice break from the usual hangouts on Hudson Street.

Kefi

222 West 79th Street off Amsterdam Avenue
212/873.0200
$45 for two people, with one drink, without tip
â™¥ â™¥

I was really surprised at how Onera had changed. The navy blue and white walls remained so I was taken aback when I walked in the lower-level space of Kefi. I was even more shocked when our bill was delivered. Sure, I didn’t have any wine that night and we made a meal out of several mezes, but it’s been a long time since the Dr. and I have spent less than $50 on dinner.

Chef Michael Psilakis’ Onera was one of my favorite places during its heyday. Gone are the long tables and nice chairs but the straightforward taverna food is still on the menu. I was recovering from being sick and when my appetite came back, I was pining for warm pita and an octopus. (I’m weird like this often.) When the spreads were served, I couldn’t stop myself from eating them. The yogurt was tart, the caviar salty, the eggplant mushy and the hummus garlicky–four sensations I wouldn’t ask less of on any given night. The sweetbreads were crispy with breaded onion rings and an addicting sauce with giant capers. I’m not the biggest fan of capers but they were excellent with the offal. (Oh, the offal tasting menu of Onera!) I would have wanted the octopus with a crispier crust but I absolutely loved the bed of chickpeas and black-eyed peas with parsley. If not for the overwhelming garlic in the mashed potatoes, the cod would have been one of the best fish dishes I’ve had as of late. Not that all the garlic stopped us. Everything tasted like they were done out of love; like a Greek grandma was in the kitchen telling us to “Eat, eat, eat!” because all our dishes were served all at once. Greek food I must say, is a cuisine I started to love as soon as I started taking photographs of my food, and it will be in New York City to stay.

Fr.Og (French Origine)

71 Spring Street between Crosby and Lafayette Streets
212/966.5050
$120 for two people, with four drinks at the bar, with tip
â™¥

I haven’t been to a nice bathroom with communal sinks since my clubbing days–and I mean, like a real club, not the ridiculous Sea in Williamsburg, Brooklyn–and I’ve never been to AIX Brasserie either, chef Didier Virot’s first venture with Philip Kirsh, so it was like a new experience walking into Fr.Og with pink leather seats and silver-beaded walls. What could possibly come out from the kitchen of a place looking like this in the middle of SoHo?

The menu is French with Vietnamese, African and Middle Eastern influences, but really sounds less confusing on a plate. Fried spring rolls, or Vietnamese nem ran, has the traditional pork and shrimp with cucumber, lettuce and carrot on the side dressed with mint and garlic dressing. They were perfectly dainty and crunchy; the mint starting a party in my mouth. The Lebanese tabbouleh was better than the seared lamb loin served on top of it with its texture giving life to the cold, almost-limp tongue slivers of lamb. I only wished there was more of the foie gras encrusted in ginger. I didn’t even need the mango coulis and the soy-balsamic sauce with it. The drinks were even better than the appetizers. A coconut-lemongrass infused martini was beautifully done and so was a request for a citrusy and fruity cocktail after our meal. The maitre d’ and the bartender were equally nice and accommodating, quite a pleasure from a restaurant that plays dance music in the background.

Chef Didier is known for the short-lived Virot at the Dylan Hotel (later taken over by none other than Britney Spears’s NYLA, also short-lived) but his partnership with Jean-Georges Vongerichten as executive chef at JoJo should be taken more into account. The guy can obviously cook and has a tremendous palate to be able to translate different cuisines on each dish, but at $120 for three small plates and four drinks, I don’t know if people are hurrying to flock the place. I would come back, though, to use that bathroom.

Salt

58 MacDougal Street between Prince and Houston
212/674.4968
$90 for two, with a bottle of red, without tip
â™¥ â™¥

I’ve walked by Salt many times and have always been curious. We stopped by on a Friday night without reservations. They were completely booked but the waitress invited us to sit down with a “We’ll figure it out when the couple with the table comes in.” As soon as we joined the other diners at one of the long tables, a whole bottle of red was in order–other couple be damned.

The rack of lamb was well-executed. The crust was crispy and the meat perfectly medium-rare. The Dr. opted for one of their Protein + 2 options: duck breast with sautÃ©ed eggplant and braised leeks. The meat was a little overdone but the vegetables were simple and undeniably hearty. Other safe choices included a grilled dorade, roasted chicken, Newport steak and a bowl of pasta. Fennel, asparagus, artichokes and Yukon gold potatoes were available as side dishes. The menu may be unexciting but our dessert spoke volumes: a plum tart frangipane topped with a delicious rosemary ice cream.

I’ve fallen in-love with a restaurant before because of the ambiance and upon entering Salt, my heart pitter-pattered. Wooden communal tables occupy most of its intimate space. The open kitchen behind the bar invites you to sit, eat, drink wine and enjoy a conversation. The dim, warm lights make you feel like you’re in someone’s gorgeous apartment with exposed bricks. As the night leisurely passed and the buzz around us became intoxicating, we just wanted to stay.

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