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Tutti Friuli
The Bastianiches aren’t the
only ones with a Friuli fixation. Emanuele Simeoni,
a native of that Italian region, has just opened Barbalùc—a
stylishly handsome two-level space with a sophisticated,
pricey menu featuring regional dishes like polenta with
porcini sauce, a soft version of frico (fried cheese),
and sautéed John Dory in brodetto, not to mention
Friulian wines and ingredients like prosciutto di San
Daniele and Montasio cheese. As it is more or less explained
on the menu, the legend of the Barbalùc (a kind
of elfin spirit of vino who resides inside your wineglass
and scares children) sounds like something out of The
Lost Weekend, but that hasn’t deterred the
Ciprianiesque crowd already packing the chic upstairs
bar.
135 East 65th Street
212-774-1999
· Cuisine: Italian
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underground gourmet |
 Begin
Yegen
If you know anything about the eccentric Orhan Yegen,
formerly of Beyoglu
and currently the brains behind Efendi, you know
he’s something like the Jennifer Lopez of Turkish
restaurants—he loves ’em, and several months
later, he leaves ’em. Which is why, when it comes
to any Yegen-run restaurant, the Underground Gourmet breaks
with the custom of allowing new kitchens a probationary
period and adopts a strict get-it-while-the-getting-is-good
policy.
So far at Efendi, the getting has been very good indeed:
Yegen has reprised most of Beyoglu’s meze, soups,
and salads and added puffy homemade pita and a terrific
feta-stuffed grilled phyllo dough to his repertoire. Creamy
hummus, garlicky mashed-eggplant salad, and lemony mint-and-yogurt
soup are as irresistible as ever. Equally impressive,
though, is the new daily changing roster of homey, hearty
entrées. Yegen calls it quick-service Turkish food—the
dishes are cooked that day, and although they’re
served from a steam table, the Blarney Stone it ain’t.
Everything including a meaty, melting braised lamb shank;
a lush moussaka enveloped in bubbly, oily tomato sauce;
and ground-beef-and-rice-stuffed cabbage drizzled with
tangy homemade yogurt is succulent, satisfying, and meticulously
presented. For dessert, the creamy almond pudding is so
good it could force its chocolate, butterscotch, rice,
and tapioca competition into early retirement. Although
service is still spotty—you approach the steam table,
collar a waiter, pick out what you’d like, and either
get it to go or have it delivered to your table, usually
resulting in minor chaos—don’t wait too long
for Yegen to work out all the kinks.— ROB PATRONITE
Efendi
1030 Second Avenue, near 54th Street
212-421-3004 |
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| best of the week |
The James Beard House Culinary Sale
Julia Child's old kitchen is in the Smithsonian, but James Beard's has stayed put, and the Beard House is letting cooks and fans buy his pots, bakeware, cookbooks and much more.
The Beard House
167 West 12th Street
For more information, call 212-675-4984. |
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 Pulling
Up Steaks
You can’t be a star chef these
days without a consulting gig. Witness Luis Bollo at Suba,
Geoffrey Zakarian at Théo,
and now Rocco DiSpirito at Tuscan
Steak, which reopens February 27 with a longer menu
and a shorter name. At the not strictly Tuscan Tuscan,
DiSpirito returns to his Campanian roots after years of
dabbling in Asian exotica at Union
Pacific, his haute home base. Designer Jeffrey Beers
has installed cypress topiaries and an antipasto bar,
soon to be stocked with an abbondanza of salumi,
cheese, frittatas, and vegetables. The Florentine T-bone
hasn’t vanished—it’s just been jazzed
up with red and green condimenti. And coming off her French-inflected
work at Brasserie and Town, pastry chef Nancy Kershner
is poised to put a Tuscan spin on dessert.
Tuscan
622 Third Avenue, at 40th Street
212-404-1700 |
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Hero's Welcome
Claudia Fleming’s been recruited
by Pret A Manger, Tom Colicchio’s practicing ’wich
craft, and Nancy Silverton is drawing lactophile Los
Angeles crowds with her weekly grilled-cheese night
at Campanile. There’s just no question that the
upper echelon of American chefdom has two-handedly embraced
the humble sandwich. Further proof came last week at
City Bakery, where pressed sandwiches completely
overtook chef Ilene Rosen’s lunch-counter menu.
She’s still tweaking, but an early visit found
such inspired combinations as juicy chicken and queso
blanco slathered with zesty cilantro sauce on Sullivan
Street sourdough Pullman bread, buttery Fontina and
pickled onions on toasted Tom Cat semolina, and Cypriot
haloumi with grilled radicchio and a swipe of harissa
on a multigrain baguette. Rosen has also revived her
vegetarian banh mi (a soy-saturated Vietnamese sub)
and her oozing Canadian Cheddar on a Portuguese muffin.
A quirky pickle plate of Japanese daikon, Taiwanese
shallots, Thai garlic, and New Jersey half-sours cuts
through all that butterfat. Even dessert doesn’t
deviate from the theme: Pastry chef and owner Maury
Rubin’s pressed croissant with dulce de leche
and addictive grilled chocolate sandwich are icing on
the crust.
City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
212-366-1414
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Think Small 
When Bobby Flay opened Bolo
ten years ago, tapas were mysteriously absent from his
nouvelle Spanish menu. In Madrid, he’d seen people
juggling tiny plates of food and casually discarding
toothpicks and napkins on the floor, as is, apparently,
the custom. (Says Flay, “I didn’t think
it would work on 22nd Street.”) A recent trip
to Barcelona—and Manhattan’s current small-plate
craze—changed his mind, and he’s just introduced
a dozen delectable tapas, inspired by Spanish ingredients
and flavors but lightened and modernized for the New
York palate, and served in compartmentalized plates
(any four for $15). Mix and match diverse mouthfuls
like white anchovies with tangerine, serrano ham on
toasted tomato bread, and lamb tenderloin with oven-dried
tomatoes—but please, keep your napkins and toothpicks
to yourself.
Bolo
23 E. 22nd Street
212-228-2200
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Ask Gael
 I’d
like a new spot to feed my craving for Chinese.
Congee gets high marks for effort, with
a blue-sky ceiling, trompe l’oeil stained-glass
windows, hanging grapes, and crockery art that
could be homage to Schnabel. Maybe it wasn't good
feng shui to open quite so soon after 9/11, but
the owners are fresh and still smiling. No way
would we ignore the namesake rice soup, usually
a breakfast porridge, that comes in all flavors.
Six of us share a bowl studded with preserved
egg and pork and another with duck and meatballs—fabulously
sweet, almost gelatinous, a perfect foil to the
bitter wintry chill. Lemon slices add tang to
a splendid stir-fry of salt-baked squid with sweet
peppers and cashews. We rediscover chive stems—once
with razor clams, another time with juicy, rare
chunks of T-bone steak. Memories of sautéed
crab with soy and ginger, black-pepper scallops
with broccoli, and crisp chicken under a flurry
of scallion and garlic crackles make us eager
to return.
Congee
98 Bowery
212-965-5028
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In the Archives
Restaurant
Openings
Restaurant
Buzz
Photos: Kenneth Chen (1 & 3), Carina Salvi (2 & 5), Ellie Miller.
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