MARIANI’S
August 21, 2005
NEWSLETTER
The
Kitchen, Denver, Colorado (2005)
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In
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NEW YORK CORNER: Sandia by John Mariani
QUICK BYTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Treats of Boston
by John Mariani
Boston is a small city of small neighborhoods, from Back Bay to the North End, from Chinatown to Fenway Park. And within every neighborhood there are restaurants that seem right for just where they are.
The most obvious of these is
Boston's Little Italy section, the North End, near
Faneuil Hall Market. It really is a pretty enclave of brick
buildings and tree-lined streets, not far from Paul Revere's
House. The North End is a very vibrant area, never more than in the past decade, and now that the Green Monster highway is torn down, it is far more accessible. Most of the eateries here are rather dated Italian-American restaurants with good, if rarely wonderful food, but there are excellent groceries and bakeries. The two best places to eat in the neighborhood are the personal expressions of two passionate Italian women (by way of Abruzzo), Chef Marisa Iocco (right), whose glasses make her look not a little like Italian director Lina Wertmüller, and manager Rita D'Angelo, though the restaurants are owned by Frank De Pasquale. Bricco is, hand down, the best all-around Italian restaurant in Boston, and one of the best in the U.S., which I reviewed here two years ago (go to: www.johnmariani.com/031006 ).
They are also involved, since last fall, with a
place named Umbria (295 Franklin Street; 617-338-1000;
www.umbriaristorante.com; left), which is a
pleasant addition to downtown. Set in a 5-story brick historic
building, Umbria has a nightclub upstairs (never a good sign for a
serious restaurant), a big wide open kitchen and pizza oven, and
windows that open to the street. Oddly enough, the menu has
almost nothing to do with the food and wine of Umbria, but there are
some good dishes here, including a insalata
di mare teeming with
scallops, octopus, calamari, shrimp, carrots, fennel, pickled
vegetables, cauliflower, and potato, all of which can easily feed two
or
more. Spaghetti alla chitarra,
an Abruzzese pasta shape, comes
with tender, flavorful little meatballs, but the best dish I tried was
perfectly made risotto with bright green fava beans. Lee Napoli's
desserts are also recommended.Appetizers run $9-$15, pastas $17-$22, entrees $24-$31.
I am, however, most excited by de Pasquale's and the women's newest venture, Mare (135 Richmond Street; 617-723-MARE),
one of the very, very, very
few restaurants in America that has a clue how to approximate the way
seafood is prepared in Italy. In fact, they improve upon the
originals by not overcooking fish, which is all too often the case in
the Old World. Mare is a 56-seat corner restaurant (right) in the North End, and, in contrast to the dreary Italo-American decor of just about everything else in that neighborhood, this has a smashingly good, clean modern design full of color, large, expansive windows, and a fast pace that seems just about right.
The problem with Italian seafood in this country is, quite frankly, that the owners buy inferior seafood, then they overload (mask it?) it with awful sauces, appendages of clams and mussels, a touch of this and that, and you end up with a dreary mess. Iocco knows better: her seafood is expertly cooked, beautifully, simply presented, and scintillatingly fresh, with each species revealing its essential characters.
Iocco, along with chef de cuisine Jeffrey Miccaud and sous-chef Christopher Pauls, has followed the trend for crudi--Italy's version of sushi--offering the freshest in Boston's considerable fish market each day, and, say the partners, "To the best of our ability, we're sourcing 98% organic produce from American and Italian farms, plus deep-water fish, cultivated shellfish, and seafood that has been certified." From the first morsel of pristine raw fish here, you'll know why how much weight such a statement carries.
Appetizers range from a novel potato cream with crayfish and chive oil (below) to deep-fried soft shell crabs with marinated barlotti beans and grilled radicchio. The barbecued octopus here is tender and silky, full of flavor, served with warm potato foam (an affectation) and brilliant green Genoese pesto.
I almost never find seafood
pastas appealing this side of the Atlantic, but Mare's are
superb--scintillating in their essential flavors, like the swordfish casoncelli with simple brown
butter, sage, and crispy pancetta. Paccheri
of jumbo crab meat is equally simple, served with favas and black
summer truffles, while their lobster spaghetti puts to shame every
other version I've ever had in the U.S. The cooks here know that a perfect branzino cooked in a salt crust needs nothing more than a garlicky rich bagna cauda in which to dip the white flesh, and skate is done Milanese style, gently sautéed, with arugula, baby tomatoes, and a lemon-caper aïoli, while grilled Alaskan King salmon is the only dish I tasted that went close to the edge, with a balsamic sorbet on the side; it didn't really work, but neither did it seem outrageous or strained.
For dessert I heartily recommend the chocolate polenta soufflé with vanilla gelato, but I wasn't too thrilled by a bavarese cream made with Peroni beer.
Mare's wine list is solid and growing, best in Italian whites.
Prices for appetizers are $10-$16, full-course pastas $18-$22, and entrees $24-$36.
Two brothers are the figures behind the name Sibling Rivalry (525 Tremont Street; 617-338-5338; www.siblingrivalryboston.com), Robert and David Kinkead. The former has, since 1994, run one of the finest seafood restaurants in America, Kinkead's in Washington, DC; Robert also is chef-owner of the excellent American restaurant, Colvin Run Tavern, in Tyson's Corner, VA, opened two years ago. David has worked with his brother and other notable chefs, including Lydia Shire, David Burke, and Jean Joho. They have--sort of--joined forces.
Together they have come up with a cute name for a cute idea, which unfortunately gets a little confusing in action. The gimmick here is that the "dueling brothers" menu is split down the middle by ingredients and chef; thus, a summer vegetable like New England ramps will be utilized by David (left-hand side of the menu) merely as an adjunct to a rib-eye steak with ancho chile butter and onion rings; Bob uses the ramps in an asparagus, fava bean, radish, onion salad. "Rosemary and Garlic" come in David's mussels with grainy mustard and garlic cream, and in Bob's with braised lamb shoulder and rump with a rosemary-merlot sauce. It would be far more telling, and intriguing, if they each did their own interpretation of, say, a ribeye, or a sea bass, rather than simply add rosemary or ramps to a dish.
It's a confusing one-from-column-A-one-from-column B assemblage, because in one brother's case the ingredient is used in an appetizer, in the other's an entree, with no consistency. To help you out, appetizers are printed in red, entrees in black. It sounds easier to manage than it really is, unless you don't care about comparisons of each chef's talents worked upon something like ramps.
Anyway, how is the food? By and large quite good, from garlicky shrimp on creamy polenta with parsley, capers, lemon and croutons (David) to that braised lamb shoulder and rump (Bob). Best of all the dishes I tried was Bob's spit-roasted chicken with roast shallots, new potatoes and parsley salad. Less favorably received was very bland herb-crusted Atlantic halibut with lobster ravioli, asparagus and lobster sorrel sauce (David). Cloying desserts were nothing memorable.
The separated dining rooms, with a total of 168 seats, are far more shadowy than the photo at the right indicates, done in red and brown tones, with hanging lamps and iridescent curtains. The very loud main dining room has an open kitchen that throws some light into the room. The service staff seems hard put to keep up with the crowd, and on the night I visited the manager seemed to be chatting up the hostesses far more than he was seeing that the everyone needed whatever they needed.
The wine list is admirable and goes well with the Kinkeads' hearty flavors, but it's top heavy with bottles well above $60.
I should add that, despite the name and the hype about the two brothers cooking and understanding Robert's need to tend his other stoves in DC and Tysons Corner, neither Kinkead was on the premises the night I ate there. I suspect, their absence had an effect. If you're going to promote the idea that two brothers will be battling it out back in that open kitchen, it seems only reasonable that the contenders be there together now and again.
Appetizers run $10-$16, entrees $23-$36.
Boston
has a decent number of French
bistros--not a big number, but enough for a city its size. The best new
contender in the genre is out near Fenway--Petit Robert Bistro
(468 Commonwealth Avenue;
617-375-0699;
www.petitrobertbistro.com), the goatee-ed Robert in question
being longtime Boston chef Jacky Robert, who is a bit on the petit side; the bistro, with 100
seats set on two floors with 
a few outdoor tables,
provides an ideal balance of intimacy with bright convivially.
Much has been made of the darling low prices here, and I too applaud a menu where nothing at dinner tops $20, and that's for hearty bistro classics like skirt steak with shallots and shiitakes and choice of sauces ($19.75), delicious duck confit and Toulouse sausage with mushrooms and white wine ($15.25), calf's liver with bacon and caramelized onions ($14.50; right), and sautéed fresh foie gras with baked rhubarb and a vinegar-cinnamon reduction ($14.75).
Robert's background is as impressive as any in Boston--Maxim's and Prunier in Paris, Maison Robert in Boston, Ernie's in San Francisco, and the Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod. He opened PRB on April Fool's Day this year, but all has gone without a hitch and the bistro's become one of the most popular new spots in town, especially before a Sox game in the Park.
His mussels are sweet and not too large, that foie gras is excellent, and there is everything to love about his roast chicken with its luscious pan juices. Also recommended is the roast leg of rabbit à la moutarde with sausage. There is a good cheese plate and blackboard specials each day. Curious, then, that the pommes frites lacked all requisite crispness and real potato flavor, more like fast food fries than glorious pommes frites. Also, fettuccine with goat's cheese, walnut, and parsley oil was bland and came tepid to the table.
If you can have only one dessert, by all
means make it pâtissier Kristen Lawson's chocolate-oozing Eiffel
Tower (left) , and her tarte
Tatin is
first rate too. PRB's wine list is as kind on the budget as the
food is, with lots of good vins du pays and more robust offerings at
very
good prices. And if there is a more ebullient, caring manager/maître d' and partner in Boston than Loie LeGarrec, I haven't met him. I think he's a good part of the restaurant's success.
Petit Robert Bistro is open every evening, with brunch on the weekends, a Bistro Express lunch, and its pastry bar is open every day from 11:30 AM to 5 PM.
NEW YORK CORNER
by John Mariani
Sandia
111 West 17th Street
212-627-3700
www.sandiarestaurant.com
There are dozens of restaurants in NYC and elsewhere whose
owners need to decide what they want to purvey. Is it great food and
wine in a convivial atmosphere, or is it a bar for a young crowd who
comes to drink and listen to loud music?
Scandia is just such a place, a restaurant with an earnest chef trying hard to turn out tasty Latin-Asian food that is sadly compromised by the cacophony of the front room dominated by a long bar.
It's a cool looking spot, basically a 40-seat narrow room with tables against one wall, and the 13-seat metal bar up front. But smack in the center is the dead giveaway--a D.J.'s console, with about a hundred buttons and switches on it to pump of the jam, which begins early and gets louder and louder and louder as diners exit and the bar crowd enters, which is around 10 PM.
My visit on a Friday night showed that late summer is not the optimum time to eat here, given that only three tables, including mine, were occupied at 8:30. The music--well, a thumping bass and crashing drums--blared loudly, and since there was no one at the bar, I asked it to be turned down; after my second request, the din was lowered. Unfortunately, that night the restaurant had an a/c problem that made the evening climatically oppressive. The fact that cocktails took ten minutes to arrive (including a daiquiri I asked for straight up that came as a gross slush drink) hardly endeared me to the place.
The current, recently arrived chef, America Corona, must be commended for her vigorous efforts to turn out tasty food, especially since she has inherited the last chef's menu, which ranges from a succession of really good appetizers that included saffron-glazed shrimp with very hot pickled jalapeños over watercress; yuca-coated scallops with roasted pineapple salsa; some nice fresh ceviches, and a spicy tuna roll in a crispy plantain crust with Thai basil aïoli. We were hungry and devoured these with delight, then waited for the main courses.
A glance at the banal wine list--which even includes Blue Nun Liebfraumilch (when was the last time you saw that on a list?)-- gave us pause, but a very good Argentinean malbec tided us over.
The main courses had flavor, if little finesse, starting with a red snapper stuffed with abundant shrimp, yuca, and orange, and given a citrus-chili glaze. It was overcooked and not pretty but it was savory. Five-spiced seared chicken with cucumber-scallion pancake and a rosemary plum sauce was a good choice (they were out of four menu items from a small menu that night) and grilled beef churrasco over green rice with a tangy peanut sauce won points at our table.
Desserts were little more than afterthoughts, none worth telling you about.
To repeat myself, Sandia is like so many other restaurants that want to attract a bar crowd and, for reasons that escape me, also want to serve decent food with a theme. Since owner Venrura Payano seems to need DJ to bring in the crowd, making any possibility to dine in peace ridiculous, I wonder why they just don't turn it into yet another Chelsea bar and serve burgers and Caesar salad.
Appetizers are $5-$12, entrees $16-$23.
Scandia is just such a place, a restaurant with an earnest chef trying hard to turn out tasty Latin-Asian food that is sadly compromised by the cacophony of the front room dominated by a long bar.
It's a cool looking spot, basically a 40-seat narrow room with tables against one wall, and the 13-seat metal bar up front. But smack in the center is the dead giveaway--a D.J.'s console, with about a hundred buttons and switches on it to pump of the jam, which begins early and gets louder and louder and louder as diners exit and the bar crowd enters, which is around 10 PM.
My visit on a Friday night showed that late summer is not the optimum time to eat here, given that only three tables, including mine, were occupied at 8:30. The music--well, a thumping bass and crashing drums--blared loudly, and since there was no one at the bar, I asked it to be turned down; after my second request, the din was lowered. Unfortunately, that night the restaurant had an a/c problem that made the evening climatically oppressive. The fact that cocktails took ten minutes to arrive (including a daiquiri I asked for straight up that came as a gross slush drink) hardly endeared me to the place.
The current, recently arrived chef, America Corona, must be commended for her vigorous efforts to turn out tasty food, especially since she has inherited the last chef's menu, which ranges from a succession of really good appetizers that included saffron-glazed shrimp with very hot pickled jalapeños over watercress; yuca-coated scallops with roasted pineapple salsa; some nice fresh ceviches, and a spicy tuna roll in a crispy plantain crust with Thai basil aïoli. We were hungry and devoured these with delight, then waited for the main courses.
A glance at the banal wine list--which even includes Blue Nun Liebfraumilch (when was the last time you saw that on a list?)-- gave us pause, but a very good Argentinean malbec tided us over.
The main courses had flavor, if little finesse, starting with a red snapper stuffed with abundant shrimp, yuca, and orange, and given a citrus-chili glaze. It was overcooked and not pretty but it was savory. Five-spiced seared chicken with cucumber-scallion pancake and a rosemary plum sauce was a good choice (they were out of four menu items from a small menu that night) and grilled beef churrasco over green rice with a tangy peanut sauce won points at our table.
Desserts were little more than afterthoughts, none worth telling you about.
To repeat myself, Sandia is like so many other restaurants that want to attract a bar crowd and, for reasons that escape me, also want to serve decent food with a theme. Since owner Venrura Payano seems to need DJ to bring in the crowd, making any possibility to dine in peace ridiculous, I wonder why they just don't turn it into yet another Chelsea bar and serve burgers and Caesar salad.
Appetizers are $5-$12, entrees $16-$23.
SOPHIA LOREN REVEALS THE MOST DISGUSTING THING SHE EVER DID WITH A CHICKEN!
"In [the 1954] film Attila, I
remember Anthony Quinn had to eat chicken off the bone and kiss me at
the same time. It was the most disgusting thing I've ever done in
my life. Not because I didn't like Tony, but because I like to
have my own chicken and do with it whatever I want."--Sophia Loren in Bon Appetit (August 2005).
WHICH WILL BE FROM A MASSIVE CORONARY AT A PLACE CALLED BUBBA'S
In reaction to
a study by the Trust for America's Health
indicating that Alabama had the highest percentage of fat people in the
U.S., the state's tourism officials unveiled their new slogan, "Eat
Up!" and publishes a brochure called "100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama
Before You Die," which includes fried catfish, fried pies, hot
orange rolls, fried onion rings, deviled eggs, fried green
tomatoes (right) , and
strawberry pizza.
QUICK BYTES
* On Aug. 23 in Atlanta, Seeger's will serve an 8-course
dinner celebrating the wines of Joseph Phelps. $180 pp. Call
404-846-9779.
* On Aug. 29Chicago Naperville New Orleans
* From Sept. 1-Dec. 30, The Fairmont Washington, D.C. is offering a "Capitol Comedy Package," through the eyes of the "Capitol Steps," a bipartisan troupe of current and former congressional staffers who perform a live political satire. The package incl. a Fri. or Sat. night stay on the Fairmont Gold floor, private check-in, a dedicated Gold Floor staff, complimentary breakfast, high tea, afternoon and evening canapés, an honor bar, a pre-theatre dinner in Juniper, two tickets to a performance, with transportation. Prior to bedtime, guests will indulge in Fairmont's signature Chocolate Fondue in the Fairmont Gold Lounge. $619 per night. Call 202-429-2400; 1-800-441-1414 or www.fairmont.com.
* From Sept. 2-4 13thAnnual Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley
* On Aug. 29
* From Sept. 1-Dec. 30, The Fairmont Washington, D.C. is offering a "Capitol Comedy Package," through the eyes of the "Capitol Steps," a bipartisan troupe of current and former congressional staffers who perform a live political satire. The package incl. a Fri. or Sat. night stay on the Fairmont Gold floor, private check-in, a dedicated Gold Floor staff, complimentary breakfast, high tea, afternoon and evening canapés, an honor bar, a pre-theatre dinner in Juniper, two tickets to a performance, with transportation. Prior to bedtime, guests will indulge in Fairmont's signature Chocolate Fondue in the Fairmont Gold Lounge. $619 per night. Call 202-429-2400; 1-800-441-1414 or www.fairmont.com.
* From Sept. 2-4 13th
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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.
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copyright John Mariani 2005