Tis the Season (New Restaurants!)

Sorry for the hibernation: a looming work deadline impaired my ability to dine around town. Now that time has come and gone and I can resume my culinary pursuits.

First stop was Maialino, the new Danny Meyer restaurant located in the Gramercy Park Hotel. The space was formerly Wakiya, a critically panned, pan-Asian restaurant. Meyer took over the space earlier in the year and made a quick turnaround to get the spot up and running by the holidays.

I managed to snag an 8:30, Friday night reservation a week after opening, which ranks highly on my reservation coup list. Expectations were high: early buzz was strong and I was eager to eat some real food as opposed the seamless web grub I had been relegated to over the past few weeks.

Our foursome was sat in a spacious booth. We decided family style was the best to experience this place, so we covered the menu, hitting antipasti, pastas, and entrees.

We started with some cured meats (can rarely go wrong here), octopus, and fried artichokes. The restaurant also graciously sent over a plate a special pate that they were offering that night. Everything was spot on--though my favorite were the artichokes. They were lightly fried, perfectly crispy, but still retaining their earthy flavor. I could have eaten them like candy.

Next up our pasta and entrees emerged from the kitchen. The house speciality is called Maialino, which is a suckling pig. I fell in love with suckling pig when I visited Segovia, north of Madrid. It is unabashedly fatty, tender, and delicious when prepared right. Maialino's blew me away. It was an epic piece of meat (meant for two, our foursome was handily defeated by it) but it was the most tender piece of pork I had ever eaten in my life. I'm still thinking about it two weeks later. To complement, we ordered the half chicken. We all agreed that ordering chicken at a restaurant is certainly a faux pas, but this was chicken re-imagined. It was perfectly cooked, with a crispy skin and tender breast meat. It was a perfect companion to the Maialino. The pasta was also a triumph, freshly made, perfectly cooked, and wonderfully flavored.

Full from our feast, we opted for apertifs in lieu of a more sugary afterthought. My experience at Maialino was one of the more positive I've ever had in New York. The atmosphere is wonderfully unpretentious, the food delicious, the prices reasonable. I read an article that mentioned Danny Meyer wanted to make this a neighborhood restaurant and that he is not trying to cultivate an elitist reservation regime that certain restaurateurs (ahem, McNally, Carter) seem infatuated with. This is a wonderful breath of fresh air for New Yorkers and I think Maialino is an exciting new place that will be around for a while.

Green with envy

One of the more exciting aspects of living in New York is the buzz that comes with a new restaurant. This is a double-edged sword, because with excitement comes the inevitable struggle to secure a table at the hotspot du jour.

A major impetus for restaurant buzz is the NY Times food review. The debate over the relevance of food critics in the age of blogging is a separate topic, but I still believe that the review carries major weight. When the erstwhile food critic Frank Bruni decreed two-stars on Locanda Verde, a new Italian spot in TriBeCa, it certainly cemented this restaurants status as a destination for at least the next few months.

A friend and I decided to brave the buzz and attempt a walk-in this past Friday. Fate smiled upon us, when after being quoted a wait time of an hour, the host seated us after about 15 minutes. It boded well for what would be a great Friday night meal.

The space is open and fairly sizable by Manhattan standards. The noise level was approaching din at times and the bar was three people deep, but this can be chalked up to the aforementioned buzz. It is dimly lit and decorated in warm reds.

The menu was expansive and divided into the usual sections you'd expect to find. My friend and I decided to let the server espouse her favorite items. She suggested two crostini: ricotta and blue crab, the rabbit terrine, lamb sliders, octopus, and the grandmother's ravioli. We took all those suggestions and a bottle of red. Right of the bat, the wine list impressed me. I am far from an oenophile, but I do enjoy my wine. I was please to see bottles starting at $30, a rare find in New York. Our server was well-versed on the wine list and gave good advice.

The crostini arrived swiftly and were exceptional. I was skeptical of ricotta crostini, but was floored by the smoothness of the cheese and the spice blend that covered it. The blue crab was fresh and bright, a cool dish for a steamy evening. Impressed so far.

Following the crostini, the lamb sliders, octopus, and rabbit terrine arrived. The lamb sliders came as a couple, I would have preferred a foursome. They were sandwiched between a fluffy roll and were juicy in the best way possible. Lamb is not a favorite protein of mine but in a slider form, my heart can be swayed. The octopus was good, not great. It was cooked very well, but the flavors were not as bold as I would have wanted. It did have a nice char though. My favorite appetizer was the rabbit terrine and frankly, this was the greatest surprise of the evening. Terrine is a dish I feel compelled to like, but it rarely inspires me to order it again. I find the congealed texture very unappealing but this terrine was rich, smooth, and the rabbit was tender.

Round three was the grandmother's ravioli, which Frank Bruni noted as making him wanting to swap ancestors with restaurant's proprietor came with high expectations. It fell short for me. The pasta was expertly cooked and had a soft, yet firm texture but I did not get a ton of flavor from the ravioli. The sauce was lovely and had a nice acidic taste that I wish I could jar and take home. Perhaps too much buzz is a bad thing.

For dessert, we followed our server's request again. She suggested the corn budino (a cousin of panna cotta) and the pistachio cake. Again, her recommendations were spot on. The pistachio cake was moist and had a nutty taste that reminded me of desserts I ate while in Spain or Italy. The edges of the slice were slightly overcooked and chewy, but the inner segments were delightful.

The corn budino was another story completely. This dessert was flat out delicious. It had a light texture that was airy and refreshing for a summer day. The main constituent of the dish was sweet corn and the seasonal splendor of this ingredient really shone through. The dish was unique and wonderful.

Consider me a believe in Locanda Verde. The major drawback of the meal came when the check arrived at the table. Locanda has been touted for it's shrewd menu in the face of the recession but I still managed to rack up quite a tab. Yes, I ordered a fair amount of food and split a bottle of wine, but still was sticker shocked. The service, food, and atmosphere certainly warrant the cost, but I would not go into Locanda with a "recession-friendly" mindset as I did.

All and all, worth the trip and worth braving the walk in.