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“Barbounia”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Turkish/Middle	Flatiron	Moderate	Good

just order one loaf.

Cressotti's starter selection is nice and lengthy, which makes a meal of just appetizers a good option. I loved the charred octopus confit ($14). Cressotti braises the beast first, and then gives it some char and texture on the grill, and tosses it with kalamata olives, fava beans, celery leaves, and crystallized lemon. But the tuna crudo ($14) was a bit wan. We needed to brighten it with some lemon and a sheen of olive oil. That was really the only low point, and really, who needs another tuna crudo?

Instead, stick to the saganaki ($13)—the restaurant's baked cheese. This dish is a MUST ORDER of the highest priority. In fact, if you are not busy later, go in and order one at the bar. It involves several elements: a cast iron skillet filled with hot gooey melting cheese, a fig marmalade, fresh grapes and sliced apples, and slices of homemade walnut and cherry bread. The method: take some melted cheese, and drizzle, pour, and/or slather it on the bread, the apples (or your date), and top it off with some fig marmalade. Here my friends you will find that bliss via baked cheese is found. Then you must rouse yourself and get back in the game or your friends will have finished it off while you've been having you moment of Zen. Eating can be a competitive sport at my table.

After that cheese-gasm, we moved onto the kofte kebabs ($13)— fabulous cigars-shaped cylinders of minced beef and lamb amply seasoned with cumin, garlic, and coriander and served with a Turkish salad and a vibrant green mint tahini sauce. Our last app was the fire-roasted sardines ($12)—also terrific, and simple. They were grilled whole and topped with a tart salad fashioned from sheer ribbons of fennel and granny smith apples.

During intermission (the time between apps and entrees), we had a lot to cover. Julie had just returned from Italy with her husband and Kathy had just gotten back from a birthday weekend trip to Atlantic City with her husband, and I told them about a trip I was planning to Amansala (www.amansala.com) a yoga retreat in Tulum, Mexico with my friend Stacey. Then I took out a little surprise I had for each of them: copies of Sparks in the Kitchen (Knopf), the book I have been working on with Katy Sparks for the past three years. It was a big moment. Julie was one of my first editors, one of the first people to say "Okay, I know you are really new to this busine ... [more, click below]

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Posted: December 19, 2005

Other restaurants in Flatiron :
+ Suenos   + Amuse-- Closed   + Dos Caminos   + Lucy-- Closed   + Gramercy Taver   + Veritas   + Fleur De Sel   + Bolo -- CLosed   + City Bakery   + Shake Shack   + Kalustyan's Cafe   + Devi   + BLT Fish   + Sugarcane   + BLT Prime   + Barca 18-- CLOSED   + Beppe   + Barbounia   + Boqueria   + Eleven Madison   + Lonesome Dove-- CLOSED   + Hill Country   + Olana   + Wildwood   + Primehouse   + Allegretti   + Bar Breton   + Aldea   + SD26 by Bao Ong   + ABC Kitchen   + Ciano   + The NoMad   

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