It’s been a hundred and nine years since The Ritz London opened its doors on Piccadilly, its named derived from the Swiss maestro of the era’s hoteliers, César Ritz, which he lent to others (though none of the present Ritz-Carlton hotels is in any way associated, nor, any longer, are The Ritz in Paris and Madrid).
         The block-long hotel--the city’s first significant steel-framed building, in a French château style--was designed by Frenchman Charles Mewés and Englishman Arthur Davis, and it was to have innovations like bathrooms for every guest room, double glazing, Louis XVI furnishings, and brass beds.  The iconic copper lions guard the corners of The Ritz’s roof.  Of particular notice was the creation of the hotel’s Long Gallery extending from its revolving doors to the windows of The Ritz Restaurant and overlooking Green Park.  The exquisite Palm Court (above) became London’s premier venue for Afternoon Tea (£50).
         This article would double in length if I listed all the celebrated names who signed the guest book at The Ritz, from Noël Coward and Charlie Chaplin to just about every member of European royalty.  Adjoining the hotel is the 1740s Winborne House (now the Kent House, named after its architect) in an Italian Renaissance style, with rooms for very special occasions and stay-overs.
 
The Ritz upon opening in 1906

       Although upkeep at The Ritz has always been steady, its purchase in 1995 by the Ellerman Group for £80 million, and £40 million more for renovation, has restored every historic detail to mint condition while every modern amenity has been added to the 133 rooms (with 15 suites, each with its own butler), now largely done in a palette of salmon pink, rose pink, yellow and blue, with curtains of Jacquard and damask silks.  The size and comfort of the bed pillows alone are enough to keep you in bed long past breakfast, but then you would miss a very splendid first meal of the day.
     WiFi and internet access is ubiquitous, with complimentary use of laptops on request. There is a ladies’ salon and a men’s barber, a private club with its own restaurant, and a Casino. And while so many other hotels have now chosen to charge guests for a shoe shine, The Ritz resolutely does not—how uncongenial it would be to charge a man to have his shoes polished!
         Not without reason, The Ritz Restaurant (below) has been called the most beautiful in the world, and it’s hard to argue the point, with its vast yet welcoming size, crystal chandeliers, huge mirrors, gilt bronze garlands, veined marble and thick carpets. Just striding up to the room through the grand corridor makes you straighten up and stick out your chest.
        At night the dining room is a magical place, but when the hazy sun pours into the room at midday, it reveals all its breathtaking detail and color.  The service, at any hour, by a brigade of veteran captains, sommeliers and waiters, could fill a good-sized textbook on manners without pretense, a manner perfected by a crew largely made up of Italians and other continentals, overseen by manager Luigi Cagnin.
         The Ritz’s reputation for being fuddy-duddy vanished long ago, so it was odd to hear a sophisticated London friend of mine joke that my wife and I would be the only ones in the dining room on a Sunday night.  To our delight, when we arrived, the room was packed with well-dressed guests having an obviously happy evening.  I’m glad we’d made a reservation.
        Eleven-year Executive Chef John Williams (below) has carte blanche to find, buy and serve the finest ingredients possible in the London markets, from glorious British Isles seafood to British beef and dairy.  The menu, once of a highly dated style, is now brilliantly balanced with classic British and French dishes allied with flavors as contemporary as any in London right now.  The best way to appreciate all of it is the six-course “Menu Surprise” of Williams’s signature dishes (£95, with wines £165), or the strongly classic “Les Arts de la Table” menu that brings the wait staff to your table for the nearly lost art of carving and plating.  On Friday and Saturday evenings, “Live at The Ritz” offers a very popular four-course dinner and dancing to live music (£95).  It is to be expected, and applauded, then, that The Ritz is the single restaurant in London that still requires gentlemen to wear a jacket and tie.  Don’t even think of crashing the room without them.
         The wine list, overseen by head sommelier Giovanni Ferlito, has had a century to grow fat and deep, now with a global reach it once lacked.
       We began our evening with several whimsical amuses (below) that included an Oreo cookie-like black shortbread with goat’s cheese and citrus gel; smoked salmon mousse, creamed cheese and lemon macaroon topped with keta roe; and a “Coronation Chicken” spiced tuile made from crisp chicken skin.
     As an appetizer a fat langoustine (£24) was simply grilled and served with mint, black garlic and the sweetest peas in town, with which we enjoyed a Cuvée 113 Sauska Tokaj 2011. Terrine of silky goose liver came with spiced pineapple and gingerbread (£24), very English colonial in its tastes,  with a José Pariente Rueda Sauvignon Blanc Dulce 2012. 
         Williams does not need to add notes on the provenance of his ingredients because he would never serve any but the best obtainable. You certainly don’t have to guess the pedigree of his superb loin of lamb with caramelized shallot, mint and peas (£38) to know it was from a noble British breed.  Tender, fatted pigeon had a classic celery, apple and truffle sauce (£37) that was perfect for the slight gaminess of the bird.  These main courses were served with a Viña Tondoñia Reserva Rioja 2002, whose age was a boon to the cuisine.
         There is a selection of British cheeses as well as impeccably wrought traditional desserts like lemon tart with raspberries and meringue (£14) and a hazelnut semifreddo (£17) with chocolate and vanilla, ending off the evening with petits fours and chocolate.
         The prices on The Ritz menu are not cheap--how could they be for all this grandeur?--but neither are they out of line with restaurants of this high degree anywhere.  Add in the amuses and petits-four, with both tax and service included in the dish prices, and a three-course meal will run you about £80, less than a similar meal at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and The Square, which charge £95.  The Ritz offers six courses for £95; Gordon Ramsay offers seven for £175.
         The experience of dining at The Ritz puts into perspective the price of haute cuisine with a distinctly British touch, albeit with Italian waiters.  It also gives you a good dose of tradition with a touch of royal flourish, neither stilted nor faux, virtues that will always make a stay at The Ritz unique in its appeal.

NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

LA PECORA BIANCA
 CAFFÉ E CUCINA

1133 Broadway (at 26th Street)
212-498-9696
http://lapecorabianca.com

    NYC certainly has no lack of great Italian ristoranti or trattorias, but I must say I am always delighted when a new one ups the ante on authenticity, which is to say La Pecora Bianca Caffé e Cucina is as close as you’ll come to a trattoria in regional towns like Bergamo, Sorrento, Trento and Bari.  It is in the smaller towns that the seasonal menus are most in play; in Rome, Florence and Venice tourism too often drives what’s on the menu.
    Thus, a dish like emmer (farro) maccheroni  (right) with hen of the woods mushrooms, fava beans, peas and pecorino ($17) at Pecora Bianca is more likely to be found in trattorias in Lucca and Viareggio than in Naples or New York.  The pasta for this dish, like all of them at La Pecora Bianca, is handmade by Chef Simone Bonelli (below, right) , who once worked with the hyper-creative Massimo Buttura at Osteria Francescana in Modena.  There is spelt strozzapreti (“priest stranglers”) with hot and spicy ‘nduja sausage spread and equally spicy arrabiata sauce ($16); einkorn wheat goes into curly gramigna pasta with pork sausage, garlic, chili flakes and broccolini ($17);  red fife, a Canadian wheat, made into ribbons of  tagliatelle come with a lusty beef and pork bolognese sauce ($16).  Not only do these pastas on their own have a distinct chewiness to them--perfectly al dente--but they exhibit their own particular flavors and textures.  The risotto, made with Vialone rice, is vibrant green with peppery pesto and bright red with a sweet tomato reduction ($15).  This is not a place to find clichés like penne alla vodka.
    Owner Mark Barak (below), who also runs the Provençal bistro Claudette, opened La Pecora Bianca (“white sheep”) Caffé e Cucina on the corner of Broadway and 26th Street, and as soon as you walk by the large windows and look in, you will feel it is a place you’d love to try: the lighting is good, the décor a mix of the rustic and the sleek, with a restored marble column and white marble espresso bar, white marble staircase, terra cotta, oak plank floors and tables, and a hand-painted wall tile behind the bar and open kitchen walls.  Since this is a caffé, you can enjoy their own special blend of coffee (they also sell the beans, as well as jams and preserves and sheep and goat’s milk chocolates).  Outside is a 34-seat sidewalk café.
    Opened just last month, La Pecora Bianca teems with people who love sharing dishes, as did my party of four.  The place is extremely loud, I’m sorry to say, not helped by pumping in wholly unnecessary thumping music. Barak is host here, and he’s an ebullient fellow, obviously delighted that his cheery little trattoria is such an overnight hit, though I suspect it will have long legs simply because it’s not the same menu people can find all over town.
    You can tell a lot of guests zero in on the appetizers, perhaps the salume selection of cheeses (four for $20), but the really good stuff are the antipasti, like the charred peaches, sheep’s milk ricotta, lemon zest and hazelnuts ($12); the crudi seafood of the day sparked by citrus ($14); the crostino toast with ‘nduja, stracciatella and scallion ($12), and the eggplant with white nut pesto, honey capers, anchovies and breadcrumbs ($14).  For some reason we received no bread at the start of our dinner.
    Main courses number just four: a fish of the day with smoked eggplant, wild rice and tomato confit ($26); superb seared sea scallops with summer squash, guanciale, a touch of mint and shallots ($26); a juicy roast chicken with mushrooms, corn, pickled Serrano chili and red onions ($24); and a fine, flavorful NY strip steak with spring onions, potatoes, and cilantro-flecked chimichurri (a very reasonable $30).
    The fact that there are only two desserts on the menu--odd for a caffe--suggests they are afterthoughts, and neither the chocolate mousse made with goat's milk  nor the sheep's milk panna cotta prove otherwise.     The wine and beverage lists are formidable for a place of this size, amiably printed on two sides of a broadsheet, as well as another list of vini della casa you may order in 150ml, 500ml or full bottles, with plenty of the last under $50 and only one or two big trophy wines for those who must show off.
    But this is not that kind of place.  La Pecora Bianca, from its darling name to its party-like ambiance, is true to Barak and Chef Bonelli’s vision that to succeed beyond this year, they have to offer something different to an easily jaded crowd that often bounces from one new place to another. Those who have eaten here once will find that to get this kind of food, they will have to come back again and again.

Dinner nightly. Coffee/to-go 7am-5pm, daily