E. B. White observed in his 1949classic Here is New York that“New York is peculiarly con-

structed to absorb almost anythingthat comes along (whether a thou-sand-foot liner out of the East or atwenty-thousand-man conventionout of the West) without inflicting theevent on its inhabitants; so that everyevent is, in a sense, optional, and theinhabitant is in the happy position ofbeing able to choose his spectacle andso conserve his soul.”

In a city where the almost dailyopening of a touted new restaurantis an event, and where, for better or worse, the emergencesfrom out of the ashes of both the colossal Time Warner Centerand the Meatpacking District are vintage 2004 inflictedmega-spectacles, we find apt comfort in White’s recognition.

You can conserve your soul by notpaying $800 for a dinner at Masa inthe Time Warner Center or evercrossing the velvet-roped entry toa Meatpacking District Club at2 a.m. (or earlier) to pulsate withthe earth while sipping a pastel-colored drink.

New York City is in the midst ofone of i ts periodic restaurantupheavals and explosions. Gone isLutèce, Union Pacific, Gage & Toll-ner, Lespinasse (though star-chefChristian Delouvrier is now man-ning the stoves and modifying the

menu at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House). La Caravelle isclosed, and La Côte Basque is sort of gone (returned from thedead as Café La Côte Basque). Even Le Cirque will only reap-pear again after 2004 in a non-union setting. Balancing all the

Wining and Dining

New York CityTime Warner Center, Meatpacking District and Beyond

EDWARD AND MIREILLE GUILIANO

Top left: DiningRoom at Sumile

Bottom left:Chef JoshDeChelllis ofSumile

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Quarterly Review of Wines, Winter 2004/2005 79

minuses are a lot of pluses, at least one ofthem sensational, Per Se. The spread ofgood new restaurants is broader than inthe past — even including Brooklyn andthe Upper West Side! And before wefocus on the two epicenters, the Meat-packing area and The Time Warner mall,here are a handful that opened in thepast year or so around town that we rec-ommend: in Midtown, BLT Steak (106 E.57th St., 212-752-7470), Laurent Touron-del’s mostly meat new home base; alsoLever House (390 Park Ave., 212-888-2700), a distinctively corporate high-endextravaganza; on the Upper East Side,David Burke & Donatella (133 E. 61stSt., 212-813-2121), featuring DavidBurke’s singular cooking in a townhousesetting; on the Upper West Side ‘Cesca(164 W. 75th St., 212-787-6300); and in theEast Village, Hearth (403 E. 12th St. at 1stAvenue, 646-602-1300), with its Tuscan-inspired menu and big, eclectic wine listin a brick-walled setting that bespeaksthe East Village. Just the place for redwine braised octopus with celery root,celery and potato, or roasted duck breastwith fennel and black olives.

The West Village? Its cobblestonestreets lead seamlessly into the Far WestVillage, which encompasses the Meat-packing District. This area, includingthrusts into lower Chelsea, is supersatu-rated with restaurants, clubs, galleriesand fashion and style centers. Put yourcompass point on 14th Street and 8th or9th Avenues and draw a four- or five-block circle and you have redrawn themap of New York to include the hottestprime eating and restaurant destinationand a magnet for cutting-edge chefs.

For us, the finest restaurant in this cir-cle is Sumile (154 W. 13th St., 212-899-7699). Chef Josh DeChellis appears to bethe real thing: passionate, ambitious,well-trained, eclectic and perfectionist.Though in his early thirties, he hasworked at top restaurants across Amer-ica and in Paris, yet it was six weeks inJapan that appears to have transformedhis culinary aesthetic and given hiscooking authenticity and identity. Heuses Japanese ingredients for special fla-vors that nuance his dishes, which canbe ordered in appetizer or main courseportion sizes.

Our oyster-loving selves are rarelyastounded by a new presentation, butwe have to say we are agog over Sum-ile’s oysters with pineapple and norivinegar, which, just as advertised,explodes with flavors. Wonderful. Tunasashimi with green apple, lime andwasabi is another winning starter. Thesoft egg custard with duck confit andmatsutake is baby-food for grown ups.And do we love the duck breast withaged sake as well as the aged sirloinroasted on pine nuts with wasabi. Andnothing, nothing is more delightful thanthe tapioca and passion fruit sabayondessert. Sumile’s three tea panna cottatasting is runner-up.

The dining room has aptly beendescribed as a jewel box. Long, sleek andcozy (cherry wood tables, white terrazzofloors, chartreuse-hued walls, somehigh-backed rattan sofas with suede pil-lows) and seating just 60, it is reached bypassing through a handsome bar andthen by the kitchen on the ground floorof a Village townhouse. Sumile has madeit to its first birthday, and the reviewshave been strong. Will it make it to itsthird or fifth birthday? Who knows inthis fickle restaurant world, but if it does,you’ll see us there.

THE MEATPACKING DISTRICT

Sumile is prime West Village, just off 7thAvenue, but walk perhaps 1,000 yardsdirectly west and you are at Pastis, one ofthe anchors of the Meatpacking Districtand surrounded by restaurants. TheMeatpacking District, so-named becauseit once boasted 250 meat-packing estab-lishments in a bricks-and-mortar kind oflow-storied working world, has lost themajority of its wholesalers, but thoseangular cobblestone streets have becomea high-rent district for hip clothing bou-tiques, galleries, design this or that,clubs, clubs and more “night clubs,” andeating and watering holes.

Pastis (9 Ninth Ave., 212-929-4744) isone of the few restaurants in New Yorkwhere “amazing” is an understateddescription. The bistro food is okay —oysters, salad, steak frites, chicken, etc.,and lots of good egg dishes for brunch —but the scene is unreal: central casting

brings Sex and the City to your table. Thedistressed, vintage French-bistro décor iscarefully calculated. The tables are close,the noise-level high, the buzz palpableand solipsistic, and the wait and lines areits signature. It is “happening” and the-ater … and fun.

Just as busy and perhaps even harderto score a reservation at is Spice Market(403 W. 13th St., 212-675-2322), 100 yardsaway. Jean-Georges Vongerichten’sAsian street-food inspired theme-parkrestaurant with remarkable décorincludes 15th-century artifacts fromSoutheast Asia and a packed downstairslounge bar. Really, some of the food isexceptional but does get lost amid thescene. Overnight, Spice Market with itsexotic design and Asian-inspired farebecame a must-go on the restaurantchecklist of New York. We agree.

Two doors from Pastis but as differentas can be is 5 Ninth (5 Ninth Ave., 212-929-9460), one of those so-cool placesthat it does not have a sign, just anaddress. Here you can experience an1868 townhouse with brick walls, fire-places, a garden and the contemporaryfusion cooking of Chef Zak Pelaccio,recently transplanted from a Brooklynsuccess. The lounge crowd here isyoungish and eye-catching and what’son the dining room tables is ambitious,as in oysters with double-cooked porkand pickled ramps or roasted quail withonion fondue. And how about friedcaramel wrapped in phyllo for dessert?

Vento Trattoria (675 Hudson St., 212-699-2400) is yet another newcomer that isbig and packed so it merits mention. Wego for thin-crusted, wood-fired pizza notthe neon-lit, downstairs lounge scene inthis distinctive, triangular corner restau-rant with outdoor tables (like Pastis). TheItalian food is okay, but fine dining is notthe thing. Vento is a welcome destinationafter some tiring shopping or galleryhopping or disco dancing. Duty requiresus to mention the grand daddy of Meat-packing eateries, dating back decades to1985 and recalling many a blood-stainedapron meets club-centric early morninghunger, Florent (69 Gansevoort St., 212-989-5779), the simple, reverse-chic beforeit was chic, French bistro diner. Itdeserves your cash, at least once.

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The area has spawned two “hip”hotels with eateries, Hotel Gansevoort(18 Ninth Ave., 877-426-7386), across thestreet from Pastis, and SoHo House (29-35 Ninth Ave., 212-627-9800), a “privateclub” down the street from Pastis fea-turing 24 rooms available to the public.Then up the road, but on the other sideof 14th Street, so not strictly the Meat-packing District, is the Maritime Hotel(363 W. 16th St., 212-242-4300). Diago-nally across from Chelsea Market, this“happening” Maritime setting (with 130nautical-themed rooms) includes a first-rate Japanese restaurant Matsuri (363W. 16th St., 212-243-6400), with some-thing of a celebrity reputation and theartistry of the ex-chef of La Caravelle,and La Bottega, a casual Italian bar-restaurant aspiring to capture a seasidefeeling amid concrete waves of patiotables and imbibers.

THE TIME WARNER CENTER

The twin-towered, 750-ft., 55-storymulti-use skyscraper at Columbus Cir-cle named the Time Warner Center andglibly called the mall is enough — morethan enough — to test E.B.White’sresolve. It has reshaped the city’s mapin a way that is hard to ignore or avoid.Home of a record-selling $45M condo-minium amid many seven and eightdigit digs, Jazz at Lincoln Center, theMandarin Hotel, CNN studios and theTime Warner offices, it is alive andseemingly well. But many see it only asa dubious four-story mall with 40 storesand ten restaurants befitting someprovincial setting. And what ambitiousrestaurants, including: Asiate, BarMasa, Café Gray, Masa, Per Se, andV Steakhouse.

Asiate (212-805-8881) sits on the 35th-floor of one tower and is part of the Man-dar in Hote l apar t f rom the o therrestaurants in a number of ways, startingwith elevator not escalator access. ItsAsian-accented menu of talented Execu-tive Chef Noriyuki Sugie has not wonuninhibited praise, but the restaurantrepresents fine, upscale hotel dining,replete with tourists with cameras at din-ner. And why not with its drop-dead

glass wall view of Central Park and theNew York skyline?

Across the way amid the third- andfourth-floor restaurant court of the mall,Masa (212-823-9800) has won high praisefor Japanese cuisine of the ultimate qual-ity at prices that defy gravity. Sushi mas-ter Masa Takayama is lately facing emptyseats at dinner, which is saying some-thing as there are only ten bar seats andfour tables in this precious jewel box of arestaurant. How many repeat diners doyou get for $800 dinners for two? Lunchhas become an occasion when there is areservation. Not a good sign. The curioushave visited and not returned. Too bad,the experience is a rare one, but theprices come to people’s minds ahead ofthe food. The antidote was supposed tobe Bar Masa (212-823-9800), next door. Asleek (as in walls of Japanese limestone,linen half screens, African woods) andmore modest-priced destination for fiscalmortals or those without the luxury ofunlimited dining time, it has some hitsand misses on the menu, and neighbor-hood prices (as in the super high-rentneighborhood district, except those con-dos are for sale not rent).

Über-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichtenhas our highest respect and a seemingMidas touch. V Steakhouse (212-823-9500), however, is becoming the excep-tion that proves the rule. The developersgave him money and a free hand andprobably saw the restaurant as a loss-leader, with his star quality rubbing offon the complex. They built him a rococo300-seat steakhouse, where he has cho-sen to serve some odd and complicatedinterpretations of meat and potatoes.And guess what? The critics have beensparing in their stars and the patronsincreasingly sparse in their seats. Sadly,from our experience we agree. When youwant a steak it’s not after a sushi fusionappetizer with radishes and avocado orwith some perplexing condiment on topin a theme park of a mall. It worked forhim in Las Vegas, but in Manhattan …

Another star chef adding luster to themall is Gray Kunz (one-time 4-star chefof Lespinasse) with his 225-seat CaféGray (212-823-6338) on the third floor,which opened early October 2004 after a

number of delays. The space is spectacu-lar with a stainless steel and blue stoneopen kitchen drawing attention to itselfand beyond to the vast windows on thecity and Central Park. More soothingbrowns, creams and lavender floralmotifs bespeak the European grand caféthat is the restaurant’s inspiration. Withplans to eventually serve breakfast alongwith lunch and dinner, one wonderswhere all the escalator-riding diners aregoing to come from. For Kunz’s sake, wehope they come. The Asian-influencedbrasserie menu will change with the sea-son, but through all kinds of weatherexpect variations on Kunz’s short ribs,lobster salad and pike predilections. Andif you are a fan of pumpkin oil, you havefound a destination.

And then there is Per Se (212-823-9335). Wow. The French Laundry’sThomas Keller’s part-time return to NewYork is a full-time victory. The dininghere is among the finest haute-cuisineexperiences to be had in the world. Incase you missed it, we’re impressed.

The experience is a minimum three-hour indulgence, sometimes longer,which is why Per Se is open for dinnerd a i l y a n d l u n c h o n l y o n F r i d a ythrough Sunday. Don’t be in a hurry,and if you have guests, make sure youenjoy their company.

The meal here comes in flights of food;a five-course meal is the minimum, nineis recommended and we have twicecounted sixteen small courses served tous when we put ourselves in the chef’shands. Bliss … though perhaps a littleintellectual palate fatigue as superioringredients are meticulously preparedand paired into thrilling combinations.This is a restaurant that dares to be dif-ferent and is in a league of itself in NewYork for “religious” dining.

With only 64 tables in a handsometiered room with a boardroom brownlook and feel and with a terrific wallview of Central Park and beyond, this isa restaurant that will probably neverearn back the $16 million investmentthat equals perfection in every thing …from the entrance to the wine room tothe spacing between the tables to thekitchens to the coolers to the table linen

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and more. You see, it is the developer’smoney, not Keller’s that fixed this tem-ple of haute cuisine in the Time WarnerCenter. Perhaps it helped sell condo-miniums and is little more than anadvertising expense. It certainly putthe Center on the restaurant map.Lucky us, we get to dine there in arestaurant the likes of which it is hardto imagine someone replicating in ourtimes. Though if you can buy a base-ball team expecting to lose money, youcan probably spend tens of millions tobuild a restaurant that will neverrecover the investment.

What to say about the food? Thebreads made in the restaurant are thebest in town …d i t t o t h eb r i o c h e . T h e

dishes are a l loriginal and allwork (no mis-fires or miscon-ceptions here).It is grand to seeg r e a t F r e n c htechnique and the very best ingredientsand an amazing creativity for pairingscome together. The “oysters andpearls,” a sabayon of tapioca and tinyoysters with a dollop of ossetra caviar isillustrative and delicious.

Seasonality is respected and cele-brated, so, for example, during latesummer there was emphasis on corn asaccompaniment to several dishes andfruits, such as nectarines and plums,with duck dishes. The lobster corn

chowder with sweet corn beignets wasan epiphany.

Classics like Keller’s foie gras au tor-chon with red onion marmalade and afresh foie gras with fruit in season(plum) are better than any we’ve tastedin France or elsewhere.

Early fall saw a few dishes with truf-fle oil and polenta, gnocchi, snapper,turbot, red mullet with Mediterraneantouch veggies like eggplant, tomatoes.Then there was Peking duck breast withnectarines, cumin-scented sirloin ofyoung rabbit with sweet carrot puréeand pea tendrils, lamb with sweet cor-nels, chanterelles and a yummy yukongold purée.

The portions are modest-size as is thecheese tray, but each cheese is servedwith accompaniments (in addition to aselection of nut breads); for example,chaource with roasted beets and blackpepper shortbread, or cabri ariègeoiswith celery branches, summer trufflesand candied hazelnuts. Pastry chefSébastien Roussel is a wiz and worksmagic with eatable works of art such asyuzu bavarois et son gâteau, mango pâtede fruit and cilantro sorbet, red Califor-

nia prune with toasted fennel pain deGènes, fennel marmalade and fennelbud ice cream. The chocolate selectionmade with Valrhona is phenomenal.Cube magique au chocolat, déclinaison auchocolat et café or tour au chocolat arethree examples you must experience asno description can do them justice.

The service here is highly profes-sional and not the least bit pretentious.The meals are challenging to the palateand mind by design, and the waitstaffbecome your friends and guides. Thesommelier is helpful, and can steer youto many values and treasures on thebig list, including half bottles andwines by the glass. By the way, the

check here comes to no more than atany of the very top restaurants. Bookwell in advance.

If, after considering these “new”restaurants, you still have doubts aboutwhere to make a reservation in NYC,permit us to mention Daniel, JeanGeorges, Nobu, Babbo, Circo, CaféBoulud, Le Bernardin, Union SquareCafe and Bouley as among the stan-dard-setting safe bets that make NewYork the humble city it is.

Inset: Thomas Keller, chef extraordinaire; above: Dining Room at Per Se