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“Olana”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Flatiron	Moderate	Good

Parmesan gnocchi, Brussels sprouts ($108), and salt-crusted red snapper with roasted almond brown rice, grilled abalone mushrooms and ginger braised rhubarb ($67). This sounded good, but still, I wasn’t chomping at the bit. I also hadn’t heard much about the front of house team either, brothers William and Patrick Resk. Patrick is a sommelier who was Executive VP of Euro RSCG Worldwide while Bill is a consummate front of house guy who most notably worked at Hudson River Club with Waldy Malouf back in the day. Olana is the brothers’ first venture.

So I was prepared for a pretty average experience when I sat down to dinner with my friend Steven. He’d just returned from a self-proclaimed Gay Vacay in Las Vegas. This included tickets to see both Bette Midler and Barry Manilow, plus a trip to the Liberace museum. Visits to the souvenir shops included several key purchases: “The Showgirl Must Go On” Bette Midler t-shirt, and a Barry Manilow rhinestone tiara, which he placed on Steve Hanson’s head when he ran into him in the hotel lobby with Molly Sims. Hilarious.

As he told me about his Gay Vacay, we had a few martinis and snacked on fat little rolls stuffed with sweet strings of caramelized onions or plump black olives (I loved both), courtesy of Iacapo Falai. Delicious. Hmm, well, they know people who can cook, so there’s that. I was encouraged. As I feasted on my rolls I took in the scene. The room was also nice enough. Accented with cherry red velvet chairs, super high ceilings, and oversized painted murals of the Hudson River Valley, it has a modern brasserie feel. The décor is stylish but in a benign rather vanilla fashion; it’s the sort of place you could go on a date but then again, take a client, or relatives visiting from out of town. At this point, things could still go either way. And then, we had dinner.

The bar at Olana

We started with sea bass tartare ($17), a fine dice fashioned into a rectangle and then poured over with a mix of champagne and fresh grapefruit juice, and garnished with mint. How bright and beautiful. It was a refreshing start to the meal that was countered by a more earthy duck egg, perfectly poached and balanced on top of a mix of roasted mushrooms and blanched asparagus. The only thing missing from the dish would have been a crusty piece of brea ... [more, click below]

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Posted: April 6, 2008

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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