Reviews of West Village + TriBeCa Restaurants
331 West 4th Street at Jane
212/242.9502
about $45 for two, with a few drinks, with tip
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Possibly the best burgers in New York City besides Le Parker Meridien’s, people wait at Corner Bistro not just for the $2.50 McSorley’s but also for the Bistro Burger, a slab of juicy beef so big you can barely flatten it to put it in your mouth. The best part of it all is that it comes with crispy bacon and onions.
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Le Parker Meridien Burger Joint
314 West 11th Street at Greenwich Street
212/620.0393
about $100 for two, with a few drinks, without tip
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Updated, 2007: A second floor space has opened, but I still waited two and a half hours on a Saturday even after I put my name down at 6:45pm
It’s no surprise that one of my favorite chefs, Mario Batali, helped open The Spotted Pig in the West Village. One look at the menu and a wanna-be foodie like me would immediately appreciate the tongue and the kidney, two items that are almost always expected in a restaurant that calls itself a “gastro-pub.” The chargrilled burger with roquefort cheese and shoestring fries in garlic and rosemary is a must-try. Order it meat medium-rare and I can bet it will satisy the carnivore in you, even if you don’t like stinky cheese.
During my first visit, I ordered the ramps and they came wrapped in pancetta. It’s pretty steep at $14 but if you like ramps in the spring like I do, it’s an appetizer you can’t skip. I also had the rabbit cooked with fiddlehead ferns, a vegetable also only available in the spring. With two of my favorite vegetables on the same menu at the same night, I swore I would return.
When I finally did, I ordered the poached lamb’s tongue and the pan-fried veal kidney. The tongue was served with lentils and fava beans. The tarragon plus the sour cream gave the dish a little kick and they helped melt the tongue in my, well, tongue. Even though several pieces of the tongue were sliced, I could not help but notice that one was actually a whole piece. It looked like the lamb went Maaah and then the whoosh of the butcher’s knife just sliced it. It made for interesting photo anyway.
The veal kidney was a little too overwhelming. I understood that another strong ingredient was needed to bring out the offal taste of the kidneys, but I thought prosciutto and mustard sauce were too salty to complement them. The combination was so powerful that they were all competing in my mouth. And this is when the pub’s role comes in. The Spotted Pig has about one hundred different bottles of wine on their list, together with a few pale ales and stouts. Hand-pumped Old Speckled Hen comes in handy with all that offal.
Visit on a weeknight and expect to wait for an hour. Visit on a weekend and expect to wait for two hours. Everyone in New York City wants to be at the Pig.
435 Hudson Street between Leroy and Morton
212/647.9196
about $125 for two, with two drinks, without tip
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Our Ethan Hawke lookalike waiter at EN Japanese Brasserie seemed nervous, stuttering whenever he had to answer a question; maybe we asked too many questions. The cocktails we ordered as soon as we were seated took fifteen minutes to come and when the boy’s bourbon was served without my lychee martini, he tried to explain in so many words why. But the restaurant is known for its yuba, or homemade tofu, not for its waiters, and if you come at the right time, you can catch the next fresh batch that’s scheduled to be made. What impressed me was their otoro, or the belly, the most expensive part of a tuna fish. We had them two ways, sashimi and seared, and they were both exquisite. The sashimi was magnificent, like butter melting in your mouth, while the seared otoro was served in garlic-soy and tasted like perfect slabs of steak. After an uni sashimi, we asked for a recommended light palate cleanser. A burdock root salad was served which I thought was too heavy to be eaten in between dishes. For dessert, we ordered the yuba sorbet but a soufflé came instead. Our waiter apologized but it was never comped from our bill.
Space is hard to find in New York City, but EN has plenty of it. An inexperienced waiter can ruin a visit but EN holds its own with more pluses than minuses. High ceilings, dark wooden carvings and twigs of cherry blossoms take you away from the big city as you walk past the heavy curtains. The entire staff harmoniously greets every customer out loud in Japanese as soon as they come in and that alone can transport anyone to Shinjuku.
63 Bedford Street on Morton
212/929-3499
about $150 for two, with two drinks, without tip
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I always write about eating at Snack, my favorite Greek spot, so I decided to try its new sister restaurant, Snack Taverna on Bedford. It has a more grown-up menu with some French influences and the ambiance is a lot less casual than its counterpart. I later learned that its chef, John Fraser, cooked at The French Laundry in Napa for almost three years.
I had my first excellent dinner of 2004 at Snack Taverna. I started with the veal cheeks served with hostas, or giboshi to the Japanese, a green plant that could be as tender as an asparagus. The loukaniko, a Greek hot sausage with oh-so-savory fennel and diced pear was excellent, I almost forgot about my crispy lamb’s tongue. We shared a braised lamb shoulder with bitter dandelions and a small serving of the monkfish. A mix of Cabernet and Merlot from Greece was the perfect match. At Snack Taverna, the meals are better than the desserts, but I couldn’t resist the chocolate soufflé with raspberry sauce even though our waiter warned us about the fifteen-minute wait. He served us a complementary piece of baklava for being patient.
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For a more casual night out, try Snack
110 Waverly Place between MacDougal and Sixth
212/777.0303
about $200 for two, with a few drinks, with tip
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Our first time at Babbo, we went all out, asked questions about never-heard words written on the menu (braciole! francobolli! scottadita!) and picked out a bottle of red wine to match. I started with spicy lamb tartare with mint crostini and a quail egg in the middle. It killed me.
The boy chose the grilled octopus with “borlotti marinati” and spicy limoncello vinaigrette. You know how octopus can be chewy sometimes even in the best Japanese restaurants? This was perfectly tender.
For primi, I had the one-pound lobster with spicy budding chives, sweet garlic and what seemed to be four pounds of spaghettini. The boy opted for beef cheek ravioli with crushed squab liver and black truffles. I was so full after all that, sharing the secondi became a good call: guinea hen braciole with favas and pecorino.
Ufortunately, we had to draw the line on desserts. There was just no way I could have squeezed in another bite but our waiter gave us complementary cookies anyway.
On our second visit, we managed to control ourselves. We decided to share a lot of the offal starters since we knew the pasta dishes were too much for us. We finished the night with four of the best dishes we’ve eaten in our lives:
Warm lamb’s tongue vinaigrette with chanterelles, pecorino Toscano and a 3-minute egg
Calf’s brain “Francobolli” with lemon and sage
Goose liver ravioli with balsamic vinegar and brown butter
Fennel-dusted sweetbreads with sweet and sour onions, duck bacon and membrillo vinegar
Sharing the appetizers was definitely the way to go. It allowed us to get a better sense of the Mario Batali behind Babbo.
