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“Irving Mill”

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

e ($26). Arctic char is given an earthy dose of meaty flavor with a base of lentils, savoy cabbage, cipollini onions and a red wine jus ($26). I also loved his Atlantic cod ($28)—plated with a sort of seasonal hash of buttery roasted brussel sprouts, apple cider, and carrots—which was so moist that the fish kept slipping down off of my fork and missing my mouth. Eventually I got it.

Schaefer balances out his choice of four fish dishes with four meat options, including short ribs braised down in stout with farro, roasted tomatoes, and marrow, and a sharp slap of horseradish cream ($28), and a spiced Muscovy breast that’s pink and plump with flavor, with a side of quinoa and Swiss chard dressed with Meyer lemon, a nice change from the usual duck and fruit accompaniments. Indeed, here Schaefer shows that he can take it to the next level by bringing together flavors like these.

Matching the food is a wine list that offers 10 choices by the glass and an international list by the bottle that includes a Spanish wine that I’m loving at the moment— the Joan d'Anguera "L'Argata" Montsant ($48). There’s also a fun selection of beers like Dogfish Head (Delaware), Six Points (Brooklyn), and Spaten Lager (Munich). Complementing the back of the house is a team of servers that do fine work to provide careful service that honors the amount effort going on in the kitchen.

Desserts ($9) by pastry chef Colleen Grapes can be very good, but they can also be uneven. A pear crisp one night was dry and tasted more like it was topped with dry granola than a buttery crumble, and the gingerbread cake was rather bland for a spiced cake. However, the peanut butter parfait, a tall sundae glass layered with crunchy meringue, peanut butter brittle and milk chocolate caramel is a lot of fun, and it unleashes the kid inside all of us. Her chocolate bread pudding with bourbon-roasted bananas and cinnamon anglaise is as decadent as it sounds, but my favorite is a panna cotta made from Greek yogurt topped with stewed quince, apricots and pistachios, drizzled with rose water. It’s very elegant and slightly exotic, and I just loved the tang and the texture from the yogurt against the nuts and the rosewater. Some nights your petits fours are bourbon butter chocolate chip cookies, made from the butter solids collected form the buttered bourbon cocktail at the bar. Cookies that give you a buzz? Talk abo ... [more, click below]

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Posted: December 24, 2007

Other restaurants in Gramercy :
+ Casa Mono/Bar Jamon   + Pure Food & Wine   + Parea   + Gramercy Tavern (Lunch)   + 15 East   + Tocqueville   + Irving Mill   + Bar Milano   + Irving Mill   + Maialino   + Asellina   + Corkbuzz Wine Studio   + Breads, by guest reviewer Tracy Weiss   

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