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“North Fork Table and Inn”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Suburbs	Moderate	Great

all of it—every single dish—with the help of one guy, his old sous-chef Jose Lavirega. Gerry’s still got it. Local fluke is sheared into shimmering slices and draped over bright puckery grapefruit supremes. It is sprinkled with Hawaiian sea salt that woke everything up with a happy shout. There’s nothing else to it, and it’s perfect. A bowl of asparagus risotto was just pure edible spring—and was cooked so it was creamy but still maintained the integrity of the grains of rice. It was finished with lemon essence (more please) and Parmegiano Reggiano ($14). The roasted beets, gathered from local farmstands, were quite possibly the most gorgeous expression of that humble root I have ever experienced. They beets are sweet and earthy and come in all different colors—blood red, sunny yellow, blushing pink. They are sliced into coins, into wedges and slivers, and tossed with tangy bits of crumbled local Catapano Farm’s goat cheese, salty toasted pistachios and a nice sherry wine vinaigrette.

Entrees were uniformly wonderful. Weakfish (also known as ocean trout) is served with a crispy skin capping moist and flaky white flesh ($25). It sits in a great puddle of tomato-fennel broth that reminded me of bouillabaisse, and that was bobbing with firm sweet peas, tiny pasta, and tender slices of fennel. A small dollop of parsley pesto crowned the fish’s skin, a final touch that gave the dish an extra hit of zip. I loved it. The Berkshire pork ($26) comes two ways—a loin wrapped in smoked bacon and a nice big hunk of cumin-braised fresh bacon.—with a mess of sweet smoky honey-glazed onions, a hill of soft white polenta, and a mound of wilted spinach. It was homey and smoky and addictively good, like a dish from a North Carolina barbecue that had moved up north by mistake; like something that required a Gingham napkin, not one made from Italian linen. The Colorado rack of lamb ($37) is served with a few dense sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi and a generous smattering of chanterelles in a glossy lamb jus. While this dish was quite pricey, it was also quite terrific. Three chops were pink and juicy and so tender I could have eaten them with a baby’s spoon. I used a knife and fork, but I picked up the bone with my fingers when I couldn’t get at the last bits and nibbled (read: gnawed) them off before passing the plate over to Jamie so she could have one too.

Desserts&mdas ... [more, click below]

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Posted: June 4, 2006

Other restaurants in Suburbs :
+ Gaia in Greenwich CT   + North Fork Table and Inn   + Izakaya and the New Water Club in Atlantic City   + La Estacion (Fajardo, Puerto Rico) by special guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + The Lunch Truck at the North Fork Table and Inn   

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