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“Gotham Bar & Grill”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	East Village	Break the Bank	Good

an average of $150 on a bottle of wine. There were so few selections in our price point that we decided on glasses instead. (The glass price ranged from $12 to $19.) We had two glasses of Albarino with our first courses, which arrived after a fun amuse bouche of lobster salad set inside a potato chip ring. I could have eaten a dozen more of those.

The seafood salad ($18) was bright and lemony—a tender collection of squid, scallops, octopus, lobster and avocado tossed together in a vertical jumble. The yellowfin tuna tartare ($18), a ubiquitous dish that I thought we should try to see if Mr. Portale could make his shine, was quite good. A tall mound of ruby red dice was amply seasoned with sweet miso, shiso leaf, and a zippy ginger dressing, and surrounded by a ribbon-like circle of Japanese cucumber slices. I have rarely had a better tartare, but what was even more special was the risotto. The rice was chewy but creamy, and it was folded over large (huge) slices of meaty porcini mushrooms, and bits of sweet-spicy lamb sausage. I could taste the heart (and the stirring muscle) in that plate.

Entrees, though, were disappointing. The Thai-spiced duck over jasmine rice in a red curry sauce ($38) was either menued incorrectly or it got the wrong sauce in the kitchen. There was no red curry sauce on that plate and the duck, which was tender and moist, was B-L-A-N-D, bland. I could not identify a single Thai spice on that bird. Perhaps a microscope would have helped. And the steak ($38) was tough to get into. I was sawing away for a while. Once I broke in, though, I did find some intensely seasoned and juicy beef, but the bone marrow custard it was supposed to come with (which was the reason we ordered the steak), was more accurately a mustard custard. It was like someone emptied a jar of Grey Poupon into a ring mold. The onion rings, done in the style of BLT Steak, were presented in a tall puffy stack off to the side of the mustard custard. They were doughy and greasy.

Our waiter, who we had not seen since our wine orders were taken (the service was just odd and non-existent) returned to ask if we enjoyed out dinner. We explained that we could not find the red curry sauce on the duck plate, and asked if perhaps it had been left out. He told us it was there, and pointed to the duck jus. We told him that the sauce he was pointing to tasted like reduced duck jus, not red curry sauce. He didn’t seem to know what to say next, a ... [more, click below]

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Posted: November 13, 2005

Other restaurants in East Village :
+ Yujin-- Closed   + Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar   + Mermaid Inn   + Five Points   + Lavagna   + Five Points   + Bond Street   + Jewel Bako   + Alphabet Kitchen   + In Vino   + Bao 111   + Chikalicious   + Il Buco   + Hearth   + Lima's Taste   + Mercadito   + Hedeh   + Momofuku   + Una Pizza Napoletana   + Winebar   + Uovo-- CLOSED   + Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction   + Gotham Bar & Grill   + Colors   + Chinatown Brasserie   + Knife and Fork   + European Union-- NEW CHEF; SEE APRIL 2007 Review   + Aroma Kitchen and Winebar   + Stand   + European Union   + Mercat   + Gemma   + Back Forty   + The Smith   + Seymour Burton   + Belcourt   + Graffiti   + The Redhead   + Double Crown    + Apiary   + Joe Doe   + Apiary by guest reviewer Kiri Tannenbaum   + DBGB   + Northern Spy   + Goat Town   + Saxon + Parole   + Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria   + Acme   + Calliope   + Nicoletta   + JEPPNEY by Claire Jaffe   + Feast   

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