Eighty One

Eighty One is not just the name and address of this new restaurant. It is also perhaps the age of many clientle. Their spiritual age at least. The new restaurant was opened several months ago by Ed Brown, formerly of the Sea Grill (see Go Belly Up review).

Frank Bruni issued two stars last Wednesday, and I was tucking into the acclaimed vitals on Thursday. You don't always have a chance to follow so closely on Bruni's coattails. My interest also veered into personal territory because it is located stumbling distance from my apartment.

So how was it? Well, it was very "Upper West Side-ish." Go figure. The food was an entirely separate issue from the restaurant. The food was very, very good, though not quite mind-blowingly good enough to merit its very expensive price tags (most entrees over $35).

Or rather, with the food at this price, there just seemed to be a little something missing. It's hard to say what that "something" was: the service was attentive and friendly, the food excellent, the desserts beautiful. The "something", I suspect, was atmosphere. The other diners were older, tight-faced doyennes and then, strangely, a huge stroller (the massive kind with a built-in mobile) was parked in the dining room (along with attendant baby). Buzz kill.

I don't know about you, but when I come to the Upper West Side, I want to be reminded of its cool parts: the park views, the planetarium, the intellectual aspects, the characters. It should be a respite from downtown, as the leafy north, rather than an uncomfortable stay with relatives you neither knew you had nor do you really want to be around. It's one-long dinner with the in-laws.

Granted, the front of the restaurant, with its sliver of window overlooking the Natural History museum, is more clubby and welcoming to young couples. Understandably, other reviews, including Bruni's, bypass the creepy dining room in favor of the bar area. This has atmosphere; one almost wishes the whole restaurant had its dark-paneled elegance throughout.

The food: I started with the Baby Montauk Calamari ($17), grilled tendrils dressed in a very spicy pimento, which were tender and succulent. The BF went for the Sea Scallop and Foie Gras Ravioli ($17), generous and buttery, but not the best foie ravioli I've ever had. It didn't have that pop in your mouth whereupon your limbs melt, eyes widen and you have a moment. But good. He also ordered the White Asparagus and Marinated Leeks ($19) which was also wonderful and I could very much taste the Spring season. I couldn't resist the special crispy soft shell crabs, which are being served everywhere for the next week or two (in season). And he ordered the Casco Bay Codfish, one of Chef Brown's signature dishes. It tasted refined, perfectly measured and above all a real-crowd pleaser. A totally inoffensive dish at the height of its perfection. For desserts, the Greek Yogurt Cheesecake, with berries, was fantastic.

My final verdict: do as Bruni, and sit at the bar to eat. The food is excellent, but the dining room might suffocate you.

Were: 45 West 81st Street, New York, NY, 212-873-8181

Maccu or Fava Bean Puree

What says recession more than dried beans? Exactly. In the spirit of economizing, I decided to venture more deeply into the dried legume department. Fava had come across my radar recently and so I bought a 10 oz. bag for about $4 at Whole Foods. I used this recipe from Cucina de Calabria by Mary Anabile Palmer as my guideline, but I made several major mistakes: I shelled the beans after cooking, not before, which was messy; I also sautéed the onion in olive oil and added to the cooked, shelled beans. I used sea salt with rosemary, and added a little water while pureeing. However, the result is delicious.

Crostini (or crackers)
10 ounces dried fava beans
1/2 small onion
2 tablespoons pecorino or Parmesean cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil (I used more like 3-4 tbsp.)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
freshly ground pepper and sea salt

Soak the beans overnight. Drain and slip off the outer skins.

Put the beans and onion in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 3 1/2 hours to 4 hours or until beans are soft. Put in a food processor and pulse until beans are completely pureed. Add cheese, olive oil, fennel seeds and pepper. Mix well and serve on crostini.

Blue Hill v. Allen & Delancey

A&D has all the pretensions of the LES neighborhood it resides in. It tries to fly under the radar with a windowless, dimly lit interior of rustic details (read: rickety uncomfortable chairs) while still sweeping its Brit-styled snobbery all around. To wit, the beautiful yet dumb wait staff is not yet sure who to fawn over and how to do it. The food is a culinary fashion victim in the current taste for super-foodie things: fois gras with abandon (and not just a little, the whole goose it seems); tasteless sea scallops the size of albino hockey pucks and massive slice of fatty, chunky rabbit terrine served with a wee slice of toast. These appetizers were very large, which justified their exorbitant prices at least (but then were too big to leave sufficient room for the expensive entrée coming next). The main plates were quite small in contrast, which was baffling. They came and went without much anything remarkable (a bad thing, when you're paying $35 plus.) In short the meal was completely and utterly blah, veering towards bad.

In stark contrast is Blue Hill. On Monday night the West Village organic-seasonal resto was hopping. Tables were filled with a wide variety of people: older academics, a mother-and-son discussing a recently departed husband, a pair of pretty young German professionals and some rock-and-roll types squirreled into the back corner. We started with the fennel soup served with sweet Maine crab chunks and candied lemon ($10) and followed with fresh poached farm egg served over wild mushrooms and herb broth ($14). Freshness and delicacy reigns here; even hands in the kitchen render the dishes simple and succulent. My entrée of grilled hamachi with crispy green cabbage and mustard ($34) was fantastic; the fish was unbelievably fresh; it was delicately creamy and matched thrillingly with the surrounding mustard and mussel juice. Steamed cheesecake for dessert and wild mint tea completed the experience. Service was attentive and smiling, and it was all-in-all a class act at a top restaurant.

Here's the bottom line: Blue Hill is the real deal and A&D is a gauche knockoff.

Where: Allen & Delancey, 115 Allen Street, 212.253.5400
Blue Hill, 75 Washington Place, 212-539-1776

Ali's Kebab Cafe

Ali is a friend of a friend. The Alexandria native is also a local Steinway Ave. legend, which was cemented into fact by a recent appearance on "No Reservations" (after many mentions on food blogs and local magazines.) His Kebab Cafe anchors Astoria's Egypt row of hookah and kebab houses. Yesterday, he made us a special dinner for Easter: we started with pita and various dips, on to duck liver on lentils, marinated sardines, poached egg on braised lamb cheeks, sweetbreads with peppers, and then the piece de resistance: a spring lamb roasted with squash, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, wild celery and herbs and spices. We finished with with a struffoli, from a nearby Italian bakery, which we brought ourselves. It was amazing; we were the only ones on the restaurant and Ali outdid himself with his amazing hospitality and muscular love of life and eating.

Where: 25-12 Steinway St., Queens, NY, 718-728-9858

Spicy Mina

Axel/Ben (the other belly in this blog) is a devoted reader of Chowhound and, as such, has been spearheading our Queens eating adventures. Last night: Spicy Mina, which is just a few blocks away from the Thai destination, Sriphiphai, where we went several weeks ago. Mina's is traditional Bangladeshi food and according to the message boards has an uneven reputation. Yet our meal last night was fantastic. Bangladeshi cuisine is similar to Indian food, but more lemongrass and ginger and less gravy. We ordered samosa chat ($5) to start, followed by fantastic chicken soup for two ($5) - make sure to generously add the fresh chopped green chilies in vinegar for heat - and then two mains: shok ponir, $9.95 (aka palak paneer or saag paneer and in English: spinach)and shrimp dopeaja, $15.95 and a couple of garlic nans. The total came to $46 before tip. The entrees were great; the shok panir was made with whole fresh spinach leaves, easy on the paneer, and dotted with red chilies. It was extremely fresh and unbelievably tasty. The shrimp was also full of flavor, with a spicy ginger sauce, and was perfect wrapped in a little nan. My only regret that there was not more sauce to mop up. For the most part the restaurant was quiet and the service was languid. No beer served, but they do have fresh lassi. We highly recommend trekking to Mina's!







Where: 64-23 Broadway, Woodside, Queens, NY, (718) 205-2340

Ed's Lobster Bar

There has been some recent excitement in my family. My father, who is semi-retired, has taken on geneology with gusto. In his research he found his mother's maternal grandmother, it appears, came from Russia and was a physician (and had a surname of Melowitz). In remarkable powers of extrapolation, we concluded she must have been a Jewess. Which confirms what I have always known deep down in my heart, that I am a Jewish! This is great news to me. No matter that I'm like 1/116 Jewish, I am still claiming it.

"I always knew it," said Ben (nee Axel). "Welcome! We're the best!"

Rebecca said, "it explains everything."

So in the spirit of my newly-discovered bi-furcated multi-religious heritage, I did what anyone would do. I went to see a holocaust movie with Ben. We saw The Counterfeiters (excellent) at the Angelika. However, lest I forget my goy-ish roots, we promptly skuttled ourselves over to Ed's Lobster Bar on Layfayette Street afterwards for a decidely non-Hebrew dinner of lobster rolls and raw oysters. The decor is a Martha Stewart fantasy: Hampton's white picket fence with sea-faring and preppy accents,; it has a long counter for dining and a hand full of tables in the back. We didn't imbibe, but the bar looked substantial and full of goodies, including fresh muddled (virgin) limeade. I went for the lobster pot pie ($18) that was something of a diet buster with full cream, sherry and nuggets of the sea beast with potatoes and carrots. Ben chomped down on what looked to be a supreme lobster roll (and his fries were excellent.) We slurped down a few raw oysters to top it all off.

Noodle Bar

Last night upon leaving the IFC, after a screening of Blindsight - a doc about blind Tibetan children who climb a mountain (yes, I cried all over myself) - I declared I wanted noodles. Then magically Noodle Bar appeared on Carmine Street, looking about as third-worldly as you can in West Village. Perfecto. We walked in and took one of the three tables-for-two (counter space is king) and ordered some vitals. We started with the excellent chicken roti ($3.5), and crab rangoon ($5), before moving on to five-spiced fish and chip ($9.5) and roast duck broth noodles ($10). In short: everything was great and as it should be except for the fish 'n chips. Ugg. Five-spices? They were soggy, tasteless over-fried lumps of veiny fish. But the roast duck noodles saved me. Spicy, salty, duck-fatty, egg-noodley, enough-veg-to-not-feel-guilty.  The place is great, and what the nabe needed (and I like to think a eff-off to over-hyped Momofuku schlop over on the east side of town.) My only complaint is that it closed promptly at 11 p.m. and IMHO, noodles are great late-night food. Stay open later Noodle Bar!

Where: 26 Carmine Street, West Village, 212-524-6800

ED NOTE: This photo is shamelessly stolen from the ChowHound web site.