|
|
Fork Play February 16, 2010
Happy Birthday. Deals & Deals. Folk Art Treasures. Gascon Invasion
Dear Friends and Family,
Looking for the right place to celebrate a birthday for the man who used to have everything. His wife thought it must be some place impossible to get into like Monkey Bar or
 Momofuko Noodle Bar. She left me to choose whom I preferred to be humiliated by. I have no secret telephone number to reach Simian Cagemeister Graydon Carter. And my public putdown at David Chang's hands (click here to read about it) still smarts.
Turns out my choice Standard Grill (Washigton at 13th Street) on Saturday night was perfect. My pampered friends loved the look of the place - the shiny white tiles of the vaulted ceiling, the 240,000 pennies set into the floor. Felt younger and hotter surrounded by the youngish hotties still arriving at 11. And amazingly, spoiled jetsetters cruelly grounded, even gave nods for the food: the silken chicken liver royale to share, the splendid flash-seared lamb chops, and my inevitable choice - the "million dollar chicken" served with
 toast, lemon wedges and mâche. That did not hide the lack of a real side. I had to order chef Dan Silverman's crispy potato chunks with smoked paprika aioli that was a giveaway when the place first opened. But I shouldn't complain, given the chicken-for-two is just $34 and I took the leftovers home for breakfast. The birthday boy liked the $1 full sour pickle so much, he had two.
***
You may have recognized the blue borders today saluting our teams in Vancouver.
***
Deals and Deals
Scott Conant rolled his new Faustina (Bowery and 6th Street) like a tornado into the space just surrendered by Table 8. He's given the place a fast makeover that seems to tame what was painful noise. And his mostly
 sharable small dishes are mostly good or very good. Or in the case of the duck-egg-enriched fonduta with grilled ciabatta - positively sense-stirring. And it's possible to keep the tally moderate. Click here to read my first impressions.
Upper West Siders were standing outside in blustery winds waiting for Five Napkin Burger to open on the corner of Broadway and 84th Street. The oversized patties of napkin-challenging chopped chuck - with cheddar and bacon or Gruyère and caramelized onion -- come with first-rate frites or any other side you prefer for just $14.95. Definitely a deal. Click here to read more.
I've been boycotting Café Fiorello (1900 Broadway) since they dared to charge $18 for three antipasti, a nasty boost from the already outrageous $24.50 for 7. The $35 Restaurant Week dinner - designed in Shelly-Fireman-as-
 Jewish-mother-mode - brought us back. A smiling manager gave us a booth and brought olives. We both chose three seafood antipasti sprawling on the plate for starters from the prix fixe, followed by seafood studded pasta with an expert tomato sauce, fresh, not too much - a big hill for each of us. And those weren't just throwaway sorbets: they were house made, sharply tart lemon and dense dark chocolate excess. At the door I grumped that the farewell chocolate pieces were suddenly really small. "Take as many as you want," the maître d' encouraged. Well. Okay. At least.
The $35 Restaurant Week menu at Benoit (60 West 55th Street) was impressive too. My starter choice, warm pig's
cheek and garlic sausage with leeks and frisée and mustard
gribiche, was the best dish tasted on a deserted Super
 Bowl Sunday. The homeless man outside leaning against the front window was trying to catch the action on the plasma screen in the bar.
I hadn't been by since Chef Pierre Schaedelin took over and some good buzz seemed to be building. Clearly I was recognized because a superior rendition of tarte flambé appeared without a word along with the usual giveaway gougères. Lots of choices on the winter deal, even the signature puff pastry crusted salmon. But I'd been longing for boeuf bourgignon since "Julie and Julia." (I'm happy that nostalgic film didn't make me crave a cigarette.) Our friends shared the roasted chicken for two, at $42 not as cheap as Standard Grill's, and frankly, not as flavorful (less salt I would say). But it's served with a big cone of decent fries and garlic baked in the shell. The tarte tatin was a taste of Paris.
Let's petition Mayor Mike to make Restaurant Week permanent till the Dow reaches 11,000 and unemployment drops to 5 per cent.
***
Salt Seller
You who are young and immortal don't have a lot of sympathy for your elders who need or at least, ought to cut back on the fat and salt and sugar as we grow older and fight to stave off obsolescence. I'm certainly no poster elder for moderation. When there's a great cheese assortment, I'll certainly dive in. But I don't need 25 giant salt bumps on an
already salted olive mini-baguette. I told Picholine Chef Terrance Brennan how I tried to scrape off the excess lumps embedded in the crust. "I'll try to order them without that added salt," he said.
But when I complained to The Standard's Chef Dan Silverman who offers the same luscious bread - without olives - and asked if he would consider getting the baker to hold back, he said: "Absolutely not. I love salt."
I predict that all serious chefs will be more focused on
using less salt in the months ahead. And one day Dan Silverman too will be 60. Ha.
***
Folk Art Treasures
Collectors emailed asking to see photographs of my rooster weather vane. Here it is. The gallery priced it at $2200. Make me an offer. I think I've found a good spot in my office for this charming slice of watermelon but I might sell that too.
Gascon Brio
I remember when Ariane Daugin arrived in New York as a college student, before she got a part time job selling pâtés and terrines at Trois Petits Cochon in the Village. Born into the Daugin family in Gascogne, she had grown up with a fattened goose or duck liver in each hand. And my tours of Truffle Country often took me to papa Andre Daugin's hotel in
 Auch for garboure, foie gras stuffed gooseneck soup, and of course, foie gras, six or seven ways at a single sitting.
When Ariane first co-founded D'Artagnan, foodies like me who rushed off to France twice a year to keep our mouths au courant, complained that she and her partner were not allowed to import uncooked foie gras. In some circles this was seriously tragique.
Now D'Artagnan has grown into a multi-million dollar business delivering natural and organic meats - cured, smoked, cooked - truffles and mushrooms and foie gras in all its guises - to chefs and gourmands.
Of course Ariane would mark the company's 25th birthday with the legedary Gascon brio.
Sunday's 32 star progressive dinner is sold out, but "Berets, Baguettes and Le Band," Gascon music and finger foods at noon in the meat-packing district February 18 is open to the public.
Visiting French chefs will be cooking special dinners at Adour, Daniel, BLT Fish, Le Bernardin, Per Se, Eleven Madison Park and elsewhere. For more information go to www.d'artagnan.com
***
| Photographs of Standard Grill chicken-for-two, Faustina's duck egg fonduta, 5 Napkin Burgers and fries, Café Fiorello seafood antipasti, Benoit's chicken-for-two, Rooster weathervane and watermelon slice may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.
The Daguin photograph is by Charles Pinarel.
| Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2010.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
