Lesso Misto
by Celia Cheng
September 20th, 2007
INSIEME
777 7th Ave
(50th & 51st St)
212-582-1310
Located in The Michelangelo Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, Insieme stands out as chic and modern in contrast to the rather drab, old school hotel in which it’s housed. The restaurant is relatively small, seating just seventy-five in the main dining room and thirty in the private room downstairs. Though the sliver of a bar at the front of the restaurant is currently not in service, seats will be added and service will start soon. One can survey the entire dining room at a glance. I find the size of the restaurant rather endearing, and the interior modern but comfortable; it’s a bit understated with just the right amount of dim lighting to make you feel at ease.
Chef and co-owner Marco Canora pays tribute to his Italian heritage with a daily menu that is split down the middle with traditional items on the left hand side and contemporary dishes on the right. There’s also a special tasting menu for $85. While I tend to think of myself as a traditional type of girl, my friends and I ordered a good mix of dishes from both sides of the menu. And what we found was that Marco’s ability to fuse traditional with original is remarkable. Though I still have a bias towards the traditional menu, it was hard for my companions and me to say which type of dish was better as it really just came down to each person’s subjective tastes. Items from both sides of the menu warmed our tummies and hearts.
The sardine alle erbe, broiled sardines with breadcrumbs, herbs, garlic and lemon, was such a delight that even Monica, who usually shies away from sardines, found it to be one of her favorite dishes. Any dish that can convert a non-believer is always an indication of true talent. As part of the fish crudo appetizer, the iced cup with diced shima aji and watermelon was nice and refreshing, but the most pleasant surprise came as I dug for more and found a Barron Point oyster at the bottom of the cup — an elegant and winning ending to this subtle, light starter.
Pasta may just be my Achilles heel. We tried the lasagna verde alla Bolognese, spinach pasta with béchamel and meat ragu; linguine con vongole, linguine with clams; potato gnocchi with rock shrimp, braised lobster mushrooms and tarragon; and cocoa pappardelle with wild boar ragu, parmagiano regiano and thyme. There have been several reviews on Insieme, debating the excellence of the lasagna, but having tried a variety of Insieme’s pastas, I’d say that we should retire this argument. Marco’s entire body of work distinguishes him as a master chef, so if I must contribute anything at all to the discussion of his lasagna, I’ll say, let’s not insult him by dwelling on lasagna. The linguine con vongole alone is one of the best I’ve tasted (if I could, I would specialize in pasta with vongole). The key to vongole is how fresh and clean the clams are. The manila and little neck clams are cleaned and snipped so that only the body is left. It’s sweet and juicy without a trace of sand. The potato gnocchi was also tasty but the cocoa pappardelle took second place with rich and distinctive flavors that paired together cohesively.
While I hardly ever make it to the secondi in Italian cuisine as I get stuck on the primi pastas, the main meat dishes at Insieme are not to be missed! The lesso misto, boiled meats with salsa verde, horseradish cream and mustard fruits, is dreamy! There are four different varieties of meat: cotechino (pork sausage), beef cheek, veal tongue and chicken breast. The broth is made from two whole turkeys, fifteen stewing hens and forty pounds of beef shin. The cotechino is poached in the broth then removed. The remaining broth is used to cook the remaining three meats. Chicken tends to be my least favorite meat since it can often be flavorless or overcooked, but the chicken breast in the lesso misto has got to be the best chicken I’ve had in years. It was so soft and tender it nearly melted in my mouth. The arista di maiale arrosto con fagioli, roasted pork loin with beans, sage and garlic, was also juicy and tender, and all the ingredients harmonized with one another adding to a wonderful dinner experience. I’m not sure what Marco is doing to his meats, but it seems that in his hands, they just bow under his direction.
Insieme is not entirely without flaws though. This was my second visit and I did find some inconsistencies in the quality of the food from one visit to the next. However, any dining experience relies heavily on knowing what to order, and I think my choices, with the help of the chef, improved drastically on the second visit. Nonetheless, I did try the lasagna both times, and, again, all I’ll add is that there’s so much more to the menu. The restaurant only opened in April, so inconsistencies are to be expected and need some time to be ironed out. Especially based on this latest visit, I have no doubt that I will be returning to try more meats and fulfill my linguine con vongole craving.
Posted in Italian , Meat , Midtown West
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The Chopped (salad)
by Celia Cheng
May 1st, 2007
QUALITY MEATS
57 W 58th St
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-371-7777
Quality Meats opened last April as the latest addition to the Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group (SWRG). While the restaurant is located in Midtown and caters to those who work in the area with generous expense accounts, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed the atmosphere, food and service each time I visited. This statement may sound unfair, but I only mean that Quality Meats is a smart and nice contrast to the original old school Smith & Wollensky steakhouse (now steakhouse conglomerate). Not that there’s anything wrong with old school, but I tend to feel a little out of place despite my voracious appetite for meat! By comparison, Quality Meats is modern and has a varied menu that has been expertly and beautifully executed with a touch of levity.
In fact, Quality Meats is more of a contemporary New York restaurant than a steakhouse. And while there’s no doubt of its expertise in meats, I actually am a big fan of all the seafood served. Chef Craig Koketsu pays close attention to the orders coming in. When my friend and I ordered soft shell crab, crabcake, crab and avocado, and hamachi sashimi for appetizers, he altered the seasoning and ingredients of some to make sure there wasn’t too much overlap in flavors. All of it is extremely fresh and the presentation beautiful. The hamachi sashimi remains my favorite. The fresh hamachi (yellowfin tuna) pairing with the creaminess of avocado and refreshing, crunchy green papaya is a knockout.
The lunch menu at QM is really a delight with “The Chopped” salad as one its main highlights. Guests choose from a selection of mixes including classic (romaine, Boston bibb, beefsteak tomatoes, thick-cut onions, bacon lardons, and bleu cheese dressing), Mediterranean (arugula, olives, artichokes, chickpeas, cucumbers, roasted peppers and basil vinaigrette), roasted beet (red and gold beets, radicchio, endive frisée, arugula and toasted walnut vinaigrette), green goddess (romaine, cucumbers, olives, red onions, apples, sunflower seeds, and creamy fresh herb dressing), or eastern (napa cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro, hosui pears, green papaya, roasted peanuts and spicy lime vinaigrette). After choosing your mix, you pick “a finishing touch” from the choices of roasted vegetables, grilled chicken breast, marinated shrimp, thinly sliced diver scallops, seared yellowfin tuna, pepper seared filet mignon or lobster (when in season). I’ve tried the classic with filet mignon and the green goddess with lobster, both of which were fun and great lunch options, as they were filling but not heavy.
The QM burger is also a nice alternative as it comes with an avocado on top and is served with parmesan hot fries, a.k.a. Tabasco fries. With all the food we had ordered, I wasn’t quite sure what was so spicy at first, but then realized that the fries were seasoned with Tabasco and sprinkled with grated parmesan. The waiter also explained that in addition to ketchup, another condiment served with the fries is Tabasco mayonnaise, just in case the fries alone were not hot enough. I love these fries! Spicy foods always open up my appetite, so I couldn’t get enough of them.
For dessert, pastry chef Cory Colton makes a variety of his own ice creams, including “coffee and doughnuts” and raspberry chocolate truffle. But I actually fell in love with the warm apple tart with apricot and blueberry compote. The tart is thin and refined, but there’s something about warm apple pies, one bite and it just feels like home. Despite being uncomfortably full after an extremely copious meal, I wanted to finish this dessert — and those who know me know I am not a sweets girl!
After lunch on both visits, I was ready to go home for a nap. I felt completely satisfied and blissful. And walking out of the restaurant, I relished the thought of how good life is. And for that, I give Quality Meats a thumbs-up.
Posted in American , Midtown West , Salad , Seafood , Steak
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Olivier’s Alsatian Flammenkûche
by Celia Cheng
April 23rd, 2007
DB BISTRO MODERNE
55 W 44th St
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-391-2400
It’s been a while since I last visited DB Bistro Moderne. I remember it to be very pleasant, the staff professional and the food delicious, all of which is still true. But for the purposes of Cravings, I didn’t have a particular craving. Of course, the talk of the town back when the restaurant opened in 2001, was the original DB burger, then one of the most decadent and expensive burgers in town — a sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle served on a Parmesan bun (it’s now $32 but was $27 when first launched). Since then, many burger joints and restaurants have emulated the concept of high-end burgers at prices that make DB’s seem cheap by comparison. From my perspective, the rest of the menu is so stellar that there are plenty of other goodies to choose from.
The current executive chef, Olivier Muller, is from Alsace, so I decided to try his specialty on the menu, Olivier’s Alsatian flammenkûche. It is absolutely exquisite! Flammenkûche is a typical Alsatian savory tart or flat bread, topped with cooked onions, smoked bacon and fromage blanc. Though the ingredients are all strong flavors, there’s a delicate restraint in assembling them on this thin-crusted tart that makes it an elegant and not overpowering treat. While The Bar at The Modern — another Alsatian-influenced restaurant — is one of my favorites in town and it also has a flammenkûche on its menu, it pales in comparison to the one at DB Bistro Moderne.
The portions may seem dainty, but it’s rather deceiving because the food is filling. I shared the flammenkûche with a friend and ordered a yellow fin tuna tartare with celery coulis, fennel, mango and curry dressing. The curry dressing and tuna tartare juxtaposition is what intrigued me. How would the clean, unadulterated taste of raw tuna work with the forceful flavor of curry? Under Olivier’s expert hands, the ingredients work in unison as friends rather than enemies, as if they had reached a pact to let one another shine modestly in their own right rather than either trying to steal center stage.
A glass of Ayala champagne to accompany my meal completed the ideal power lunch. And my experience overall reminds me now that DB Bistro Moderne is a good choice to return to for a snack at the bar anytime, preferably with a glass of wine and the flammenkûche to start.
Posted in Alsatian , American , Bread , Cheese , Midtown West , Pork
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Lepeshka (Bukharian homemade bread)
by Celia Cheng
February 16th, 2007
TAAM-TOV
41 W 47th St, 3rd floor
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-768-8001
After Peter Meehan’s review of Taam-Tov in The New York Times last week (February 7, 2007), the restaurant has been overwhelmed with a new set of diners quite distinctive from the regulars. These new explorers have come to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the Diamond district as a destination spot, pulling out the Dining Out article to reference dishes they need to try. I was among this crowd, eager to add Taam-Tov to my list of favorites.
One of my most beloved restaurants in 2006 was Café Kashkar, the Uighur restaurant in Brighton Beach, so imagine my delight at finding out that there’s a closer alternative for Central Asian cuisine in the City. The thought of being able to have manty, lagman and pilaf whenever I pleased was just to good to be true. And as it turned out, it was. Though my heart fluttered in anticipation of food as delicious as Café Kashkar’s, I was disappointed, dish after dish. Taam-Tov is a bit of a novelty as a Central Asian restaurant in Manhattan, but the food is definitely mediocre and leaves much to be desired. However, before I go off and completely dismiss it all together, there was one thing that was so outstandingly yummy that it will make it into the Craving section of this site: the lepeshka, Bukharian homemade bread.
The lepeshka from Taam-Tov is not just better than Café Kashkar’s, it’s in a league of its own. I would not think to go back to Taam-Tov for the food, but there isn’t a loaf of bread I crave as much as theirs in the City. To me, lepeshka looks like a pie, with the center flattened. It’s a dense bread. I almost would choose the adjective “strong” to describe it. The outside has a thick hard crust that is crunchy and fun to bite into. The inside is chewy but not fluffy as the texture is rich. It’s so satisfying that I couldn’t stop myself from eating more and more of it, dipping it into the avocado salad. The waitress offered me the option of ordering half a loaf instead of the full loaf since I was dining by myself but of course I opted for the full loaf and brought home what I couldn’t finish, and even by the third day, I was amazed at how satisfying it still was, even though it had become significantly harder.
The lagman, a beef noodle soup with vegetables seemed tasty upon first try, but as I continued to finish it, I noticed that the overpowering flavor of garlic didn’t allow me to taste anything else. I am a garlic lover, but not when it’s used to cover up flavor as opposed to enhance it. The lamb ribs were actually not bad. The meat was flavorful and tender but not to the extent that it slid off the bone. I decided to try the bakhsh, Bukharian pilaf, which turned out to be rice sautéed with parsley and diced chicken. The meat was hard and rubbery which made it inedible as well as unidentifiable. I had to ask two different members of the wait staff what it was before learning that it was chicken. This dish somehow managed to remove any juiciness from both the rice and the meat. The beef stroganoff was unremarkable and had dried out by the time I brought the leftover home.
At the end of the day, Cravings is about finding what’s good on the menu, so despite the mediocrity of the other dishes, Taam-Tov wins a gold star for its homemade bread. And if it’s too embarrassing to just order a loaf of bread for $2, get the avocado salad to accompany. The mashed avocado with tomatoes slightly resembles a fine guacamole. This was fresh, refreshing and very enjoyable. Okay, so I lied, it wasn’t just the bread that was good, but the two went hand in hand.
Posted in Bread , Kosher , Midtown West
Beef Salad
by Celia Cheng
November 20th, 2006
SOBA NIPPON
19 W 52nd St
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-489-2525
Wow! What a rough month it’s been. I’ve eaten 20 days without finding anything that really struck me as worth sharing, until now. Well, I take that back. While in San Francisco for a weekend, my dinner at The Slanted Door was amazing! It was my second visit to Charlie Fan’s famed Vietnamese restaurant in the Ferry Building, and like the first time, the overall experience was flawless! But I will reserve that topic for a future feature.
This month, having suffered through the most mediocre of mediocre meals, I’ve decided to just do one longer piece and briefly touch on the mostly unremarkable ones and then talk about how my palate and stomach were rejuvenated at Soba Nippon.
I tried the burgers at BLT Burger twice, hoping that the second time would give me the confirmation that I needed to deem it a good burger. And here’s what I can say: the quality of the meat is good — black Angus beef — and I like the Idaho hand cut French fries, but both times, by the end of the meal I just wasn’t jumping for joy. I’d still rather have the burger at Corner Bistro, Burger Joint or Tony’s, even if the quality of the meat at any of these three places is not comparable to BLT’s. And if I want a fancy burger, DuMont wins hands down. The burgers here are not big and the buns are kind of pathetic, compared to the buns at Royale (caveat being that I love sesame buns and BLT’s are plain). It’s not that the burgers are outrageously pricey, other than the $62 Japanese Kobe burger, which I would never get because ordering a burger made of 100% Japanese Kobe beef is a complete waste of that type of meat and downright stupid, but here you know you are paying for the BLT name more than anything else. Having said all those unkind words, I am still happy that this is my new neighborhood burger joint that delivers. In the depths of winter when I am hibernating and refuse to move, it’s not a bad option.
Moving on to European Union. I had heard good things about this nouveau bistro in Alphabet City when it opened without its liquor license. It took so long for them to get it that they had to close in between. Reopened a month ago with both food and alcohol, I thought it would be a good time to try it. Interestingly, a friend recently brought to my attention the chapter on food in David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day: Today’s Special. One paragraph in particular, strikes a cord with me after my experience at E.U.:
“As a rule, I’m no great fan of eating out in New York restaurants. It’s hard to love a place that’s outlawed smoking but finds it perfectly acceptable to serve raw fish in a bath of chocolate. There are no normal restaurants left, at least in our neighborhood. The diners have all been taken over by precious little bistros boasting a menu of indigenous American cuisine. They call these meals “traditional,” yet they’re rarely the American dishes I remember. The patty melt has been pushed aside in favor of the herb-encrusted medallions of baby artichoke hearts, which never leave me thinking, Oh, right, those! I wonder if they’re as good as the ones my mom use to make.”
The humor definitely lies in the way Sedaris phrases his opinion and experiences but I find some truth in what he says here. E.U. tries too hard… to overdress and overcompensate everything. The steak tartare with sea urchin sabayon would have been fine without the latter ingredient, and the butter clams have completely wasted the precious Iberico ham it’s mixed with. The watercress and beet salad with bottarga and goat cheese vinaigrette was again a dish with just too many ingredients that worked to flop rather than as a whole. The fish and chips were also just okay and left me thinking that I should pay a visit to A Salt & Battery. The one side dish that I did enjoy was the beer-glazed carrots, perhaps because that was one of the simpler dishes. But you see! Even the unpretentious carrots needed to be “beer-glazed!” E.U. is packed but the overall feeling I get from the experience is that it’s trendy and more of a place to be seen.
Okay, so after two high-profile restaurants, I decided to go grass roots and check out the long-standing Turkish restaurant, Taci’s Beyti, close to Coney Island. Now, everyone knows that I’m willing to travel for food, but I have to give my friend Adria kudos for driving out from Mamaroneck to Coney Island to try this restaurant. I also have to apologize profusely and make it up to her for asking her to come all the way for such a below average Turkish experience. In fact, I can’t think of a worse Turkish meal I’ve had in the City. Granted, my standards may be a little high after returning from Turkey, but even the last Turkish meal in the City at Taksim ranked higher than this one. The pan-fried calves liver cubes are much better at Turkish Kitchen, and the gyro platter with yogurt at Sip Sak far surpasses the one here. The meze were most unimpressive and the mixed grill again, just mediocre. The one thing that was very good was the lamb sautée — a casserole of small pieces of baby lamb filet mignon sautéed with tomatoes, onions, green peppers and herbs. The meat was so tender that we thought it had been slow cooked, but the waiter told us it took only a couple of minutes and the trick is marinating the filet mignon.
Finally, once I reconciled that I would have nothing to talk about this month I went to Soba Nippon to satiate an old craving.
It’s been nearly two years since I was last there. I knew that I was craving the beef salad but couldn’t quite remember what it was all about. I also recall that the beef soba salad is one of the most appropriate dishes to have during the hot summer months. Even so, on this cold fall evening, I stopped by Soba Nippon to jog my memory. I ordered the prix-fixe dinner so I could have a taste of everything. The key dishes being: agedashi mozzarella, beef salad, and the mori soba (plain cold soba with sprinkles of shredded seaweed).
The soba is handmade at Soba Nippon and the owner actually has a buckwheat farm in Canada, which is explained alongside a large photo of the flowering buckwheat plants on one wall inside the restaurant. I have never been a fan of the soba here. The texture is too hard and it’s cut too wide. Soba shouldn’t be too hard nor too soft (such is the case at Sobakoh) but just right. Therefore, despite the restaurant’s name, I would opt to forgo the soba for some of the other dishes.
One of my favorite things is the complimentary fried soba sticks they provide as snack before your meal — goes so well with beer. They serve it with a little dish of chili mayonnaise. Once I started eating the sticks dipped in the mayo, I couldn’t stop. I have a pretty high threshold for spicy foods but I found the mayonnaise to have a particularly strong kick — fabulous! When I asked the chef what was in the mayo, he just said “Chinese chili oil.” Okay! It works.
The agedashi mozzarella is one of Soba Nippon’s concoctions that is delicious. Since mozzarella is a relatively mild flavored cheese, substituting the cheese for tofu — the original dish that this is based on is agedashi tofu — actually works really well, especially because the cheese is slightly melted inside after being deep-fried. This is really something quite special and worth trying.
Oh, now the beef salad! It gives me great pleasure to talk about this dish. The salad is a regular iceberg lettuce, shredded red cabbage and carrot salad with a ponzu-based dressing. What’s remarkable are the thin slices of seared beef prime rib that sit on top of the salad. Dressed with sesame seeds, the beef is still slightly warm when served, and so tender that it almost melts in your mouth. While this isn’t Kobe beef, it is a similar type of pleasure you get. The cut of the meat is so luscious and juicy, laced with just the right amount of fat. I almost started to cry in ecstacy!
The beef salad is also made as a cold soba dish: beef soba salad. Even though I don’t love the soba here, when the cold soba is dressed with the perfect toppings in the beef salad, it complements the salad and creates a delicious soba dish. So for those days when you prefer to go low-carb, there’s the option of just the salad, but when you want a heftier meal, order the beef salad soba. You won’t regret it either way.
So ultimately, the month wasn’t so tragic after all. I have a short memory, especially when something good comes along to save the day… or month!
Posted in Japanese , Meat , Midtown West , Salad
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