![]() The restaurant was blissfully quiet until about 8:30 when background music suddenly went on. On the Weekday menu that night’s Feature-For-Two was a Free Range Brick Roasted Chicken with fingerling Potatoes Cherry Peppers and homemade Fennel Sausage ($37). On weekends there is a $37 Feature-for-Two meal that, our waiter informed us, is delicious and a great bargain. If you are still hungry, which I was not, my instinct would be to skip dessert and order another dip or small plate. Similarly, though I love peanut butter and brownies, the tastes did not enhance one other. Unfortunately, the large slice of Donut Bread Pudding – gussied up with candied Lemon Zest, Amaretto Almond Crumble and Whipped Cream –was too dry. There are three desserts on the menu: a Kettle Float ($7), a CMPB – Chocolate Brownie with Homemade Marshmallow and Peanut Butter ($7), and Donut Bread Pudding ($8). Other Small Plate choices, which I plan to explore when I return, include a Free-Range Chicken Pot Pie ($18), Mac-N-Cheese ($15), Ricotta Gnocchi ($16), Grilled Octopus ($16), Marinated Shrimp ($17), Salmon ($19) and Rabbit & Dumplings ($19). Though the small portion of beef sitting on a pool of polenta looked delicious, unfortunately, it was dry, chewy and bland, not to mention small for the price. Our only mistake was to go for the Braised Short Rib ($20). For any vegetarian, it could be the high point of their meal. Their crisp exterior and melting interior - atop a puddle of homemade tomato sauce – added up to a surprising dish, exceptional in every respect. And the three astoundingly good Eggplant “Meatballs” ($12) barely whetted my appetite. We ordered two Small Plates from the “Comforts” section and, here again, the emphasis is on “small.” Three delicious Pierogies ($12), stuffed with potato and cheddar, topped with sweet, caramelized onions were so good, I wouldn’t have minded more. Next time, if I go with a friend, I will order two. My only complaint is that I could have eaten the whole plate myself. Next came a really terrific Kale Salad ($12), with charred baby carrots, red onions, Jerusalem artichokes, slivers of radish and a healthy scattering of my favorite nut, Pistachios, all bound together in a delicious mustard Vinaigrette. I would have preferred a chewy Italian loaf. It was served with squares of the restaurant’s toasted, homemade bread. We began with the wonderfully smooth Whipped Ricotta ($9) sprinkled with scallions and drizzled with a Truffle Oil whose earthy emanations lifted the dish from good to amazingly good. ![]() By and large, we were delighted by our choices. “Curating” one’s dinner during an initial visit involves guessing at portion size, taking into account one’s dining partner as well as one’s appetite. We did not try “Gotham is Burning,” a Manhattan with a smoky kick, but ordered a lovely bottle of Nebbiolo, not inexpensive but delicious. One can eat at the small bar where a curated beer list and cocktail menu designed by – yes – a mixologist, offers classics and creative variations on those classics. The ambience is exposed-brick homey, and the tables tightly packed. We wanted to see, courtesy of the restaurant, what was drawing them in. On a recent cold winter night, when most local restaurants were half empty, The Copper Kettle was booming. It’s how a lot of New Yorkers like to eat these days, especially women, for whom splitting a salad and main course has long been a way of life. Basically, one eats a series of small plates – sophisticated little dishes – that add up to a full meal. In other words, there are no official Appetizers or Entrees. These are the operative terms used to describe the menu which is divided into Dips, Flats, Greens & Grains, Daily Presses (Sandwiches), Comforts (Small Plates) and Features for Two plus Sides. Now, the same team that brought us Spigolo has opened Copper Kettle Kitchen (in Spigolo’s old quarters), based on an altogether different concept and formula.Ĭasual and homey. Inevitably, perhaps, as business slowed during the recession, it moved from the low eighties on Second Avenue to the high seventies and, in 2015, gave up the ghost and closed. So we have a succession of decent but unexceptional - mostly ethnic – eateries or places with large and noisy bars that appeal to post-college twenty-somethings who increasingly populate the less fancy blocks of the UES.įor a brief time, pushing against the tide, chef/owner Joseph D’Angelo opened a serious Italian restaurant, Spigolo, that earned two stars in the New York Times, and brought grown up diners a menu that was inventive and sophisticated at prices that did not break the bank. Rents are so high that few new mid-price high-quality restaurants can afford to open and survive. ![]() ![]() The Upper East Side has a restaurant problem.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |