I ended up here on a last minute whim this week, after, coincidentally, having just that afternoon reserved a table for dinner with a friend here in a few weeks. So it was in my head as Jonathan and I wandered Tribeca looking for a place for dinner. When we inquired, it turned out that a large party had cancelled for that night, so we had the restaurant entirely to ourselves for most of the meal.
The review last October in the NYT had me excited about the food, and the room was promisingly attractive and comfortable. The server was friendly and competent, and the wine list short but interesting. We were primed for an excellent experience! But what followed was…puzzling and, ultimately, quite disappointing.
Every dish was beautiful to look at, with painstaking technique evident in both execution and design. Beautiful vegetables were featured prominently, colors were abundant, and all elements were expertly prepared, with both proteins and vegetables cooked to perfection. We were shocked, therefore, at how incredibly dull the meal was.
Pete Wells said in his review that “Flavor is pulled from within far more often than it is applied to the surface by, say, spices and herbs.” Well, he was certainly correct that there were no spices or herbs at all. The problem is that there was also no flavor to speak of. We missed keenly the presence of even a hint of tang or acid - there seemed to be no use of vinegar, citrus (until dessert), soy, mustard, tomato or ANYTHING that would add lift and lightness. There were also a few textural mistakes, like a pea puree (chalky) topped with something exactly like the crunchy middle layer on a Carvel ice cream cake, and a “walnut milk” poured around arctic char that had a mouthfeel like skim milk. Fortunately, the dishes were all light on butter, cream and oil, so at least we weren’t subjected to heaviness, so much as a lack of life. The only seasoning we could discern was salt…but even that was often too little, and occasionally too much.
I didn’t take pictures, and I mostly don’t remember the dishes as separate entities. What was so puzzling was how beautiful ingredients, prepared with skill, could be combined into a meal of such unrelenting blandness? We delight in meals at home of simple grilled fish and salad, and fell in love with the food at Etxebarri, where there is also very little use of “outside” flavors like herbs and spices. We don’t require recipes with ingredient lists that stretch to pages. But something went very wrong in this meal, despite the obvious skill of the chef, pointing to how necessary balancing elements like acid are, even in simple dishes.
One word about the chef, also a little puzzling: he delivered a few of the dishes himself and we asked him, the first time he stopped by “are you the chef?” We expected conversation to ensue, as it has between the two of us and chefs at many fine restaurants around the world. He said “yes,” then turned and walked away. Remember - we were the only people in the restaurant, so he certainly had some free time. It struck us as odd. Much like the whole meal.
I tried to search on this board to see if anyone else had reviewed this place, but the name of the restaurant made that a little hard. Very curious to hear of other experiences. Right now, I am torn about my second (or first, depending how you look at it) reservation for later this month. Do I cancel, hoping to avoid another such lifeless meal, or give it another chance, assuming it must be a fluke?