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“European Union”

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

wed with Pecorino, proscuitto and roasted tomato confit. The fries are crispy and brown and pretty much make you realize that you have no will power and that any effort to limit the number of fries you consume is fruitless because you go weak in the presence of fried salty potatoes. It’s okay. It doesn’t make you (or me) a bad person.

Desserts ($8) will also play on your weaknesses. They are terrific, and it’s nice to see a gastro-pub to really pay attention to the last course. Pastry chef Mina Pizarro offers delicate sugared beignets, infused with just a hint of orange blossom, served with little puddles of milk jam and chocolate sauce for dipping ($8), and a Linzer torte with huckleberry compote and vanilla gelato. There’s also a cake that’s a version of those gold-wrapped Rocher bon bons. It’s a slim, super dense slice of sin that’s really more like an adult candy bar layered with salted caramel, chocolate and hazelnut. But the dessert that we all couldn’t get enough of was the English toffee pudding with caramel gelato. Mina’s version is light and moist and almost airy in texture—sort of like toffee in the form of some sort of magical evaporating cake that melts in your mouth. As she moved the pudding closer to her, Alison announced that she thought it should be illegal. I hope that doesn’t happen. I’d like to get at it again.

I’d like to get at much of the food at EU again and already have been back several times since Akhtar took over. I gotta say, the place just works. I group EU in with restaurants like August, Red Cat, Spotted Pig, Five Points—places that become your regular haunts because the food is immensely appealing to the point of being craveable (see CHICKEN, above). Because the room, designed by AvroKo with floor-to-ceiling steel-framed windows, amber blown bulbs, and salvaged pieces, is beaten up in that chic, weathered sort way that feels sexy and timeless. And, because, in spite of the past, in spite of the struggle, here in the present, they’ve found a little something called the sweet spot.

European Union is located at 235 East 4th Street, between A and B, 212-254-2900.

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted: April 9, 2007

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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