Virtual Gourmet

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Rhode Island Journal by Robert Mariani

Ever heard of a “lobster popover?” Neither had I until the night I dined at the beautifully restored DeWolf Tavern (259 Thames Street; 401-254-2005; www.dewolftavern.com) on Bristol Harbor, certainly one of the loveliest spots on the coastline. It turned out to be one of those terrific ideas you’re surprised no one’s thought of before. But Chef Sai Viswanath and his wife Melicia Phillips have loaded their menu with great ideas in the modern American mold with plenty of New England latitude and a few Indian spices. In fact, I’d have to say that this cozy waterfront tavern adjacent to the Harborside Hotel is definitely one of the most interesting additions to Rhode Island's culinary scene in quite some time.
         Stripped down to its bare granite walls and exposed ceiling beams, with sleek new bars upstairs and down, and a lovely harbor view, this former 1818 warehouse has warmth and a true New England ambiance. The upstairs dining room (below) would be anyone's idea of coziness. Every wall seems to sag a little, and floors tend to slant. There's a delightful fireplace, the table settings are excellent, candles are lit, and good baguettes are presented upon sitting down to an extremely well focused menu and wine list.
        As for that lobster popover, I was concerned that it would be extremely heavy. Not so. The crisp popover was light and airy; split down the middle, it made a perfect little soup dish for a ladle of savory lobster bisque with juicy lobster chunks, which seemed to have been cooked with the soup instead of being added later. It was accompanied by a small salad of warm wilted field greens that complemented the bisque perfectly. My wife began with the baby arugula salad with vinaigrette dressing, shaved fennel, red onion slices so thin you could see through them, tiny bacon bits for a smoky note, and tangy blood orange chunks. Nothing perfunctory about this salad: it was a great way to get your taste buds’ attention before the main course.

There are eleven entrees, including a vegetarian plate. I wanted to try everything on the menu: a fricassée of swordfish with white wine, champagne grapes, exotic mushrooms and scallions; pan-roasted salmon with a rouille in Ajwain tomato broth with vegetable vermicelli pilaf; a grilled Delmonico steak with sweet potato and bacon gratin; tandoori baby chicken au jus with Brussels sprout hash and sweet potato gratin (left); and roast quail filled with mushroom Biryani with a truffled soubise sauce. I finally opted for grilled baby veal chops. Bite-size and delicate, they’d been cooked just beyond pink and came in a nest of fresh fettuccine with a lean red sauce of tomatoes, black olives, roasted red peppers and a blend of seasonings that somehow mixed the familiar with the exotic in an extremely satisfying way. As you can tell, Mr. Viswanath's Indian background influences an array of seasonings here, and in a sense recalls New England's history as a spice trade market. ioo

            My wife ordered the roast trout with chorizo cornbread stuffing. The fish was hefty and cooked perfectly, and the stuffing was very light, adding just the right texture. But what absolutely thrilled us was the creamed spinach sauce. It was a very smooth purée that at first tasted like the traditional Indian saag but then blossomed on my tongue into a soft, sweet burst of flavors like ginger and saffron, none overpowering, with a subtle, perfect balance. As an added note, there was a small dollop of delicately shredded spaghetti squash that brought a sweet, ginger note to complete the experience. This is one of those memorable dishes that really satisfies without filling you up.
            There are about a half-dozen dessert items. But for those incapable of choosing among temptations there’s also a dessert sampler that contains a luscious mouthful of chocolate lava cake with a kirsch cherry center; a tantalizing hazelnut mousse in a little chocolate cage; warm apple cheddar bread pudding with a caramel sauce; a delicate fruit crisp with crème fraîche; and my favorite--a warm chocolate chip banana bread sandwich with rum raisin ice cream and butterscotch sauce. There was not a misstep in the lot and any one of the choices will get your eyes rolling. Having a chance to taste each one was the perfect ending to a ravishingly good meal.
          DeWolf’s also has a brief but very interesting tavern menu that changes nightly, and a stripped-down bar menu with items like southern fried chicken lollipops with mint ranch dressing and fruit chutney ($9); or steamed mussels ($10) in a saffron and white wine, or a coconut milk, chili and curry leaf sauce.
          First courses range in price from $5 to $12. Entrée prices range from $24 to $36.

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Moda (525 South Water Street; 401-331-2288; www.modarestaurant.com) in Providence, RI, is 180 degrees in the other direction from the antiquarian charms of DeWolf Tavern.
      Where there used to be Grappa, now there is Moda, owned by Dino Passaretta. The once hip- and-happenin’ riverside bistro named after a rustic Italian drink has been replaced by a very chic new restaurant aptly named for the Italian/Spanish/Portuguese word for “style.” With black quilted walls, spare, understated tables and chairs, and a wonderful sunset view of the Providence River, Moda lives up to its name. As in so many similar places where form wins out over the flavor, Moda could have been more about style than about food   But Passaretta and Chef Jules Ramos are as passionately devoted to modern cuisine as they are to design. not here.
     Ramos, formerly of Mills Tavern, calls his food "Progressive American," with a fresh, take on just about everything. His appetizers include items like tropical scallop carpaccio with spicy coconut dressing, and a duck confit spring roll with asparagus and an orange sesame dressing. We began with black Mission figs aptly paired with paper-thin slices of silky Serrano ham, drizzled lightly with honey and citrus essence and served with a parmesan crisp.
      We also tried the hazelnut duck French toast. This is one of those over-the-top appetizers I could happily devour as a full meal. Over a piece of Portuguese sweetbread cooked in egg batter, perfectly tender slices of medium-rare duck were topped with a dollop of creamy foie gras mousse and garnished with sweet little tidbits of Lincoln rhubarb and a few well-placed hazlenuts.
       Moda's entrees are equally hard to categorize. Each dish mingles culinary cultures to stunning effect. To wit: Statler chicken breast grilled and roasted with a cilantro-yuca purée served with succotash of peas, corn and edamame; a palette of grilled spring vegetables with capers, extra virgin olive oil, and three sauces. We had the domestic lamb chops, two large chops scented with an exotic hot “berbere” sauce and accompanied by chive pommes purée, and a truly luscious rosemary-fig chutney. Mahi-mahi with tomato risotto and sautéed vegetables was full of flavor, and a Rhode Island raised venison chop came with pot-roasted new potatoes and a tomato-fennel jam.
      Chef Ramos’s creations are not so much meant to dazzle as they are to help you mix familiar flavors in new and interesting ways. There were no “experiments” but everything tastes new, like his caramelized salmon; grilled prime sirloin with shoestring potatoes, asparagus and tangerine chimichurri; miso-glazed tuna; and grilled Kurobuta pork, with something (unappetizingly) called a "robust fungus vinaigrette." mu.oi[

     For dessert, my wife had the warm chocolate Valhrona cake, as rich and naughty as chocolate can get, accompanied by a scoop of wonderfully intense espresso ice cream. I had the light and stimulating Hawaiian pineapple carpaccio—very thin slices of fresh, sugary pineapple topped with a scoop of coconut sorbet and finished with a citrus-y lime ice and piña colada sauce.
     There is also a “chef’s table” for four at Moda, right in the kitchen, where, with 24 hours' notice, you’ll be treated to a multi-course meal fully orchestrated by the Ramos himself.
    There’s a very popular cocktail lounge and on summer evenings a deck where you can also dine from the same upstairs menu.
         Moda's appetizers run $8-$15, entrees $17-$30.

NEW YORK CORNER

Caviar & Banana Brasserio
12 East 22nd Street
212-353-0500

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What ever became of Rocco's on 22nd, the notorious object of scorn, ego, bad business practices, and crummy food featured on the TV show "The Restaurant"? It was shuttered by owner Jeffrey Chodorow, and celeb chef Rocco di Spirito subsequently lost his other restaurant connections and is now doing a radio food show in NYC. Chodorow, who owns something like two dozen restaurants around the USA, most in Miami, as well as Mix in NYC and Las Vegas, completely gutted the gaudy Rocco's and installed Caviar & Banana, a name that suggests this is yet another tropical themed restaurant designed to bring in the singles crowd en masse for Technicolor cocktails and a menu of tidbits. Chodorow is a master of such places, but at Caviar & Banana, he seems to be putting much more emphasis on the integrity of the food and toning down the decibel levels to maintain a clientele interested more in conversation than in Latino rap.
      C&B's co-owner is Claude Troisgros, whose family runs the famous namesake restaurant in Rouanne and who himself runs restaurants in Rio and The Blue Door on Miami Beach, the latter with Chodorow. How Troisgros spends his time attending to these bi-continental restaurants gives me pause, but he is a top chef and, with exec chef Bobby Varua, formerly of Jean-Georges and Daniel, the cooking do far has imagination and discipline, despite the menu being far too lengthy and thereby open to mistakes.
     The decor, with a long open kitchen, is relatively simple for such a concept: Blue wooden walls with natural wooden floors, white leather chairs, and funky banquettes covered in strips of parti-colored fabric. The service staff could hardly be more friendly and they seem well trained to describe the huge menu, the numerous cocktails, the fruit drinks called batidas, and the sensible wine list, which includes some of the most interesting reds coming out of South America right now, with a broad majority of bottlings well under $50.
     Go right ahead and order one of the cocktails and then get a mess of appetizers.

The restaurant's name becomes obvious when you are presented, gratis, with a caviar tin of pearly-looking taro and beets and a glass of crispy fried plantains dusted with cinnamon and sugar (right). They are addictive, so watch yourself. You don't want to miss the pasteis empanadas filled with a choice of meats or shrimp, green peppers, tomato, hearts of palm and Minas cheese. Also delicious is lagoa, a messy but delicious plate of melted mozzarella, sautéed lobster and shrimp laced with garlic and topped with a sweet-tangy sauce of coconut milk and grilled spiced cashews. You can easily make a meal out of the salgadinhos, an array of tapas-like items including cheese bread called pao de queijo, octopus with an achiote vinaigrette, tuna confit with capers and black olives, and shrimp salad in an Acai vinaigrette. Somehow one of Troisgros' signature dishes I recall with pleasure in the past, a big raviolo stuffed with taro in mushrooms foam and truffle oil, was bland, perhaps by comparison with the zip of the other dishes.
So far I've only described one side of the menu. Next comes a category of moquecas, which are Brazilian stews of coconut, red onions, tomato, ginger and other ingredients made with your choice of monkfish, giant shrimp, lobster, chicken or vegetables, with a side dish of rice. The chicken version was quite good, hearty, filling, and fun to eat from a big black kettle set on the table. Just the thing before going out and razing a rain forest.
For reasons that escape me, there is even a "samba burger" on the menu. Then you get to the churrascos section (below). 2222222222

We had juicy lamb loin crusted with yuca and herbs. And now, finally, there are the entrees, which include a superb duck confit in black Acai and red wine Tanat sauce, caramelized pearl onions, sautéed mushrooms and Chinese okra. Also succulent and good was roasted grouper with caramelized bananas, the zing of lime juice, the sweetness of raisins, and a sweet-sour soy sauce with arugula sprouts. If you really need them, there are also side dishes.
    You'd expect desserts to be gooey and rich here, and they are. Troisgros' well-known crêpe passion, which is like a soufflé pancake with passion fruit coulis is as good as ever, and if you are a chocolate addict, you should be very happy with the Amazon cup of compote, ganache, mousse, whipped cream, and caramel.
      As noted, there's simply no reason for the menu to be as large as it is, and I'm hoping time and customer preferences will help winnow it down by at least 25 percent. But for the moment, most of the food really sings and a lot of it is fun to share. Curiously enough, entree prices are moderate, $17-$34 (for a dry-aged strip steak), but appetizers are quite pricey, from $9-$19 (for foie gras).
      I hope Caviar & Banana succeeds on the consistent goodness of its food and does not simply flare up and die down as a place to go of the moment. Chodorow's track record is impressive so far--Rocco's excepted--and I think he and Troisgros are in it for the long haul. Now all C&B needs is a midnight conga line.

. . . HAVING FORGOTTEN THEIR CAR WAS IN THE PARKING LOT

Three men in Gerringong, Australia, wearing balaclava masks, tried to rob a seafood restaurant by kicking in a sliding door, while 20 diners stared back in amusement. Said owner Greg Moore, "The door's open, the sign says 'Slide' but obviously with their balaclavas they couldn't read too well." Failing to kick in the door, the two men ran off.

* In Seattle, Madison Park Café owner Karen Binder is hosting two wine dinners, one featuring Washington wines from the award-winning Apex winery, on March 21 ($75 pp), and the second starring French wines from highly regarded importer, Robert Kacher, on May 9 ($75). Call 206-324-2626.

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani, Naomi Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).