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“Metropol--Closed”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	French	West Village	Moderate	Don't Bother

ved smothered in a suffocating blanket of super sweet overly cloying onions, layered with a thick spread of goat cheese, set on a giant puff of crust. I think there were enough onions on this tart for four tarts and enough goat cheese for a dozen omelettes. Restraint is something this kitchen, under the care of Olivier Samuel Smith (Lucien, Casimir), knows little about. The lobster salad was not bad actually—nice chunks of meat with greens and artichoke hearts, but the Frisee was perhaps the worst salad I have had the misfortune to come to know. Frisee is a French bistro classic—a salad lyonnaisse—that is traditionally composed of, yes, Frisee, along with chunky lardons, and a poached egg on top. At Metropol, the salad was composed of frisee, and that is where the resemblance to the classic stopped. The chef also added arugula, a couple of slices of bacon that seemed to have been cooked for breakfast sometime in the previous week, and a quartet of potato chips topped with semi-melted slabs of brie cheese (!), all dressed up in an crazy amount of overly lemony vinaigrette. This is what I might expect if Olive Garden opened a faux French Bistro. It was a ridiculous and ill-conceived combination that is best described as awful.

After our first courses were cleared, we made an attempt at conversation. In between yelling at each other (the only way to communicate over the deafening music and the roar of the dinner crowd), we tried to flag down our waiter because the ice in the wine bucket where we were chilling our (now empty) bottle of Proseco had melted and water was now pouring down over the sides of the bucket and onto our table (and into Laura’s lap). Eventually a bus boy noticed the flood and helped us out. When the waiter re-appeared, we ordered a couple of glasses of (bad) wine (the wine list, I might add is typed up in such a light font that it is virtually impossible to read without infrared vision), and waited for our entrees, hoping for a better showing.

Things improved slightly with the Steak Frites ($21)—a nice, full flavored grilled strip that was perfectly done at medium rare, as I had ordered it, though the fries were grainy and too potatoe-y, and tasted like cornmeal more than French fries. Cori’s Mussels ($12), served in what was billed as a white wine and shallot broth, were tiny and shriveled, and seemed to have been cooked in dishwater, while Laura’s Sea Scallops Provencal ($20)&m ... [more, click below]

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Posted: March 27, 2005

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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