Augieland

L'Impero 543 modernoillian stars

Bhodie and I were due for a meal with Kumatae. What we knew was he worked in midtown and liked Italian, so it seemed easy enough to choose Alto. While discussing the place and its chef/owner, Scott Conant, L’Impero (his other restaurant in Tudor City) came up, as it will. Kumatae explained he lived in Tudor city two doors from L’Impero and had never been.

Alto is a sleek cool room in a part of town where people work; L’Impero is a warm inviting room in a part of town where people live. Both serve Scott’s food, which is that of a modern chef with strong Italian roots (which is not to say modern Italian, think Keller and French) and the difference in distance was negligible to me so we decided to leave the decision for the day of as to which mood we were in. At noon it was snowing.

All I promised was that L’Impero would be a good restaurant for a guy from Tudor city who likes Italian food, on a snowy night. Then, while waiting at the bar we bumped into Chris Cannon, Scott’s partner on his way to some affair. This afforded he and I the time discuss a wine event we had both attended some four nights previously called La Paulée. La Paulée is not the kind of thing that can be described efficiently. Suffice it to say it is a glorious night of true hedonism, and exactly the type of thing you want fresh in the mind of management when their establishment is about to feed you. Chris offered to let the house plan our path, I requested they pair wines, and then this happened:

Marinated Pacific Yellowtail sea salt, olio di zenzero and red onion: spicy gingery oil, pink sea salt, and a tiny dice of red onion combined to offer piquant spikes drawing out the umame qualities in this pristine slice of fish. Yellowfin Tuna cucumber and ricci di mare emulsion: where the condiment of the yellowtail contrasted to draw richness from the fish, here cucumber combined with sea urchin and a rounder oil to play up the fish’s beef-by-way of the sea notes. A dead split between my compatriots for which was better.

Pairing: Petit Arvine 2005 Grosjean Freres "Vigne Rovette" Vallee d'Aosta as round as the fish was but with enough linear acidity to contrast the fish’s richness, aromatic like an Alsatian Riesling or Pinot Gris while remaining slightly more reserved.

Seared Sardine “Crostini” spicy beets, meyer lemon and grape salad: flavors I associate with soar, a fillet of sardine the skin crisped, on a pressed piece of toast with an agrodolce mix of sweet beets, sour lemons, aromatic vinegar, roasted pine nuts, and halved grapes; this was as light as the strong flavored fish oils of sardines can be and still be respected as sardines. The viscosity perceived in the fish’s flavor and texture were drawn out with heat, earthy sweetness, citric sour, the meatiness of the nuts, crispness of its own skin, and the light crunch of white toast.

Pairing: Manzanilla Amontillada Oloroso, "Almacenista 1/21 Jurado" Emilio Lustau definitely the pairing of the evening, an almost excruciatingly dry red sherry with balsam, pine, and walnut notes, it pulled meatiness from the pine nuts while otherwise being austere and tight enough for the components of the dish to bounce off of.

Crispy Sweetbreads Brussels Sprouts, salsify guanciale and potato puree: if only the six year old me could see this me loving thymus, mini cabbage, pork jowl, and salsify (I was always ok with whipped potatoes), I am not sure how he would react, but I am pretty sure all I would tell mini-me is “you will mature and you will see.” Various types of crunch: bits of sweetbread immersion fried till the outer layer crackled housing the rich sweet creaminess of this gland, crisp leaves of Brussels sprouts with their astringent, waxy greenness, crispy/chewy lardons of guanciale, and toothsome salsify, all playing off a smear of buttery smooth potatoes themselves contrasted by syrupy vinegar.

Pairing: Falanghina 2004 Cantine Farro "Cigliate" Campagna, crisp itself with precise enough acids to enrich the qualities of the meats but not draw the bitterness that can lie within them or the dish’s other components. Stone fruit aromas danced with the flavor that I would describe as fry.

Scallion Risotto balsamic glazed eel: I know the things that flavor the rice are what should be interesting here, but the striking sensations I remember from this are actually textures. Luxuriant creamy greenness surrounding individual rice kernels, each with a bite just short of crunch, topped with a lush fillet of eel that behaved as a base in combination with the notes of sweet and sour, with the slightest acerbic scorched touch in its glaze.

Pairing: Ribolla Gialla 2004 Antico Broilo Friuli light and fruity with melon notes, it flitted about right above this rich dish, dipping in to turn green melon with the rice and orange melon with the fish.

Roasted Striped Bass lobster, fregola and baby turnips and smoked bacon: I imagine cooked only on the skin side, a small fillet with crunchy skin and perfect flesh, with turnip’s bite and fregola’s chew dressed with a lobster foam. Yep foam and yep Italian; any other way of saucing would have lost this dish its lightness, and without the sauce it would not have had the gravity to play in the progression of courses. As it was served, it had the certain depth of flavor the rest of this meal displayed as well as the play in contrasting textures.

Pairing: Canaiolo 2000 Castello di Modanella Poggio 'Aiole Toscana: throughout this report the as yet unsung hero was our sommelier, James. Grooving on grapes and regions not necessarily untrodden but most certainly paths less traveled, he provided thoughtful evocative pairings, each well reasoned and explained. This meal could not have happened without these wines. Here, one of the traditionally constituent grapes of Chianti gets to play alone, with bright acidity and red fruit flavors suited to the beautiful layer of melted fat between skin and flesh on the fish, without tannin to mess up the higher notes of the lobster and herbs.

Duck and Foie Gras Agnolotti moscato passito di sardegna reduction & House-Made Spaghetti tomato and fresh basil: served together this is the ying and yang of pasta majesty. Both simple, one decadent, one zippy, both showing off the pasta over its dressing. The dish served each of us was the agnolotti which in its gamey richness is one of the best arguments for duck and all its parts as an ingredient I can think of. And then, as if to say the beauty of pasta is simplicity, the most simple of spaghetti “pomodoro” is refined to be what it always should be – a chewy noodle with a thin glaze of tomatoes’ essence with enough salt to coax its acidic zing and peppery basil notes making it seem even more simple.

Pairing: Recioto della Valpolicella Bertani "Valpantena" obviously chosen as hedonistic accompaniment for the duck, stewed autumnal fruits and spices came together as if prune juice and mulling spice had been reduced and trapped in a raisin, then stored in a cedar room. There were layers and layers of flavor and aroma always favoring the tarry over the sweet and constantly adding dimension to the opulent pillows of game.

Moist Roasted Vermont Capretto artichoke, speck and potato “groestle” here the chef has pulled out the ring mold and stacked toothsome bits of goat (at least three discernable cuts represented) studded with bits of smoky pork and the meat of artichoke hearts, on a potato cake. It is hard to separate this one from its wine except to say this would get someone that says they won’t to like goat.

Pairing: Barolo 1988 Bruno Giacosa "Villero" Piemonte at this moment in time in this bottle the flavors of this wine are pulling apart from each other, cedar, dripping cherry, sweet black tea tannins, tarragon, and so standing more alone than together and each note choosing the part of the dish it was best suited to. Glorious in its decay the combination was perfect.

Cheese: Robiola Bosnia with spicy marinated grapes, and Tillimook Burn with figs poached in chamomile and mustard seed syrup. I tend to prefer my cheese on a utensil with little accompaniment, however a couple of places have such exactly paired and perfect condiments that I must concede some things other than wine and forks can pair well. Both of these offered sweet and piquant foils in tune with the rich and funky notes of their cheeses.

Pairing: Primitivo 1959 Antonio Ferrari "Solaria Jonica" the story on this one is as good as the wine and almost as long as that of La Paulée. Find someone that knows it and have him tell it to you while you sip, but hurry because the wine will run out and then all we’ll have is the story.

Olive Oil Cake: dense, moist and nice but not getting me in the dessert camp.

Pairing: Grappa di Cammomila Marolo I don’t know why anyone would want to appreciate grappa, it’s a horrible habit that equally trades the power for blinding drunkenness with a somewhat medicinal relief from overeating, beating even Jagermeister for the most often repeated flavor memory the morning after. That being said, if you still want to develop an appreciation this is probably a wonderful jump-off point. The best grappas tend to have subtle flavors of woods and brambles that are not unlike tea; infusing this one with chamomile ends up working like training wheels for the nuances to be found.

When I first reported on Alto I enjoyed my meal as well as my anonymity immensely. I haven’t seen cause to update that opinion because that report brought me to the group’s attention and my opinion has not changed. I think Scott’s food is unique for its melding of Italian tradition and modern technique. Where some make their food the way Italians would here in New York, and others make Italian food the way French chefs would, Scott makes fine modern cuisine that is nothing but Italian.

Chris knows about Augieland, and he also knows that I don’t generally report on places that know I write a blog. Maybe he thought his place could blow me away so fully I couldn’t help but write, maybe he was just taking care of another enthusiastic diner he had recently shared a food and wine passion with at an over-the-top gala event. Whatever his inclination, this meal was flawless. Seldom have I experienced any cuisine at this level, especially Italian. Before dinner, Kumatae explained he didn’t like talking about food much except maybe while eating. The next day little else was discussed.

The Inn Lw12, 762 gueuledeboisillian stars

Disco fries: anyone in the world who considers himself into food should be aware of these. I have only had them in the culinary Meccas that are the diners of the Jersey Shore still open when the bars close, but I am sure every town has a version and a cool name for them. If yours doesn’t, move. Truly genius food stuff, they are basically steak-cut French fries placed on an oval stoneware plate and topped with a couple of squares of yellow American cheese product. The dish is thrown under a salamander until the cheese is limp enough to lay on the fries but not melt (I am not sure that this type of cheese has a melting point that is attainable before that of the fries and the plate so this seems the standard level of warmth). This combination is then topped with the thick brown gravy and its skin intended for open-faced roast beef sandwiches and Blue Plate meatloaf. When dining with dainty companions there is also a version with the gravy in a soup cup on the side.

Poutine: the first time I heard of poutine was in the back of a black car in the wee hours of the morning en route to the neighborhood from a house party in Brooklyn. Bubby suggested we reroute the car to Montreal for the most amazing drunk food ever, French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy. To date I have never been to Canada to sample this product but I have ordered when it comes up here, each time to be assured by Bubby it was nowhere near as good as the one that awaited us had we made the drive to the great white north. I very much enjoyed a dish called poutine at Shopsin’s on a couple of hungover mornings, but like disco fries I imagine the magic of poutine is in their ability to temper the hangover effects of a long ambitious night of consumption when ingested on the way to bed, not from.

I was always sure I would get talked into this Canadian road trip one day and when Bubby gifted me with the cookbook of Au Pied de Cochon last November it was pretty much cinched we would be going soon. Then I learned of the imminent opening of a place called The Inn Little West Tweflth and saw a way to delay the trip till the summer.

When I called The Inn Lw12 I remembered to ask if they really had poutine and if they would have Beaujolais (it is what Pied seems to recommend as pairing well). In my eagerness to try the version of poutine made by a Canadian restaurant in New York under the influence of Daniel Boulud what I forgot to ask was if they were open, which is why when Bubby and I showed up Tuesday night they had to explain they weren’t. They were soft opening to feel out the space with a limited menu and beverage choice for friends and family. After some pleading they said they would slide two of us into the bar and we could order but couldn’t hold it against them if we chose something they had run out of because they had planned to serve about seventy that night and were well past that long before we showed up.

In general I avoid reporting on places that haven’t opened, but as restaurants like Waverly Inn and L’Atelier shade the lines of open or not I have amended my rule for scrutiny to what is being charged. If a place is open and expecting full price for what they are serving I feel they are subject to my full expectations of a restaurant. Inn Lw12 was a gray area, they were charging full price for what they were offering, but on my first visit there was still craft paper in the windows and I watched them turn away people that hadn’t been on the phone that AM. My instinct was to give them space and save reporting for a couple of weeks but they so impressed me during their version of the soft open I figure I will sing their praises.

It has always seemed to me discounting prices while you get up to speed would be fair. If you run a new restaurant and you expect inevitable glitches, accommodate your guests in some way -- free desserts, a round of drinks, fifteen percent off, whatever, but say thank you to members of the general public that aren’t friends and family for letting you learn on us.

At the top of my current list for ways to do this, having eaten twice at Inn Lw12, is the limited menu approach. As the restaurant got up to speed they only offered one cocktail, a caipirinha-like thing, and they made it well (but expensively), they had a passable red and white wine but not an entire list, and they had seven starters and seven entrees. A small enough program, it would seem, to properly concentrate, yet large enough to actually cause the place to run its paces. It went so well Tuesday with Bubby that I begged my way back in Thursday with Pichon, Helmet, and Chakka, only to find Bubby and Luh at the bar. Both times we sat in the bar area, once at the bar and once at a bar- height table at its end. This isn’t a sampling of all they will be doing but rather what they were:

NIGHT ONE Tuesday PRE-OPENING:

Crispy Pig’s Trotter with Mustard, Frisée and Lentil du Puy: sandwiched between two squares of pressed white toast were bits of roasted pig’s foot, rich and sweet without the abundance of gelatinous fat you would expect, surrounded by strips of wafer thin crispy pork skin, a scattering of dark green French lentils, and frisée, dressed vinegar-y enough to draw natural sweetness from the pig, but not so much that the other ingredients’ flavors and textural contrasts were overshadowed.

Salad of Salmon Confit, Citrus Escabache and Winter Leaves: Salmon cooked slowly and gently enough that none of the volatile fats were upset making for wonderful cubes of redolent, supple, rich orange flesh in the salad with this almost perfect sampling of what should be some of the greatest fish out there, which sadly often isn’t these days. Vinegary fennel escabeche, decent flakes of maldon sea salt, a mélange of fine herbs spread through mixed lettuces, layers of sliced fennel bulb, and citrus sections all played to this strong representation. A faultless salad, I ordered two more of them on the second visit and the five of us who have shared them so far all concur.

Grilled Lamb Burger, Harissa Mayonnaise and Chick Pea Fries: ground lamb formed in a patty around herbed goat cheese, grilled on a bun with LTM and a smoky, piquant mayo. More of the mayo on the side added zip to creamy cubes of chick pea puree (with the consistence of a loose polenta) dusted in corn meal and fried golden.

Poutine: medium-gauge fries topped with white cheese curd served in a cast-iron dish and broiled so the corners of the fries on top had a little blackening on their edges. To me the dish tasted like disco fries with far better gravy (more meat-flavored than brown-flavored) and saltier cheese, both of which I appreciated. Bubby declared it the right flavor but the wrong look. So I guess I am still due a roadtrip, but I am glad to have this arrow in the quiver of ammo against late night stumbles while at home anyway; they are pretty tasty.

NIGHT TWO Thursday PRE-OPENING (This night I did call ahead to be sure of a place and was happy upon my arrival to find my name horribly misspelled in the computer, allowing me to rest easy that I had received the same treatment any enthusiastic diner would, and nothing special because of Augieland.)

Duck Barley Soup with Savoy Cabbage, and Winter Roots: bits of duck leg meat in a rich broth perfumed with tarragon, laden with baby turnips (and/or parsnips), mirepoix, and wilted lettuce-y leaves of cabbage. More often than not I have been served tarragon in dishes with various iodine crustaceans and it gets soapy when not handled most carefully. Here it was definitely abundant but was pleasingly suited to these flavors; I will be playing with it at home.

Organic Berkshire Pork Chop with Braised Endive and Pear: a roasted chop coated with a lovely slightly sweet/slightly sour almost Asian barbeque-type sauce, it was succulent and juicy, with a great play between the roasted bits of pork and the sauce.

I also tasted Veal Tongue and Cheek with Coco Beans, Pearl onions, and Parsley; Pan Fried Monkfish with Fennel Polenta and Pine Nut Gremolata; Garganalli Pasta with Chanterelles, Rocket Pesto and Parmesan; Cheese plate; and have nothing but appreciation for and nice things to say about them all.

What will happen when The Inn Lw12 opens full bore? I am not sure so I won’t say. I will say that I have been to many preview nights at many restaurants around town and have never been as impressed. The room is comfortable, warm and convivial without being over the top, the service was the same, and the food existed at a level that was far above the relaxed atmosphere and prices. I suspect this place will end up very crowded just because it is small and even a modicum of success will cause it to be tight. The calm confidence in preview seems to suggest that will be ok.

It is about time for the followers of trend to figure out that their leaders have already left MePa, and thusly places that have survived on proximity to skill rather than skill should start to fall out of favor. As this happens and those of us that eat dare our way back into that recently overcrowded pool, this will be one of my dive-in points.