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“Olana”

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

d to mop up the creamy yolk and the melted Parmesan cheese that garnished the plate. I used the asparagus but they’re not as absorbent as carbs. As a middle course, we went for the veal and ricotta cappellacci ($16/$25) which were almost Italian kreplach (meat-filled dumplings): fluffy veal and ricotta meatballs are studded with pistachios and Grana Padano cheese and wrapped up inside a pasta wrapper and simmered in a pulpy and super sweet roasted tomato sauce. At this point, my doubts were gone. There’s a solid team here doing good food. Who’s the chef again?

I especially liked an entrée that gave me a newfound respect for flounder. I mean when was the last time you saw flounder on a menu that wasn’t some place like Red Lobster? Here, Di Meglio takes a few meaty fillets and poaches them in blood orange juice and Armagnac, and sets the fish on top of olive oil crushed potatoes and a bed of vibrant Swiss chard ($27). It’s wildly unique dish that’s got these sweet warm sunny flavors that are really unexpected, especially when it comes to flounder, but it works quite well.

If you’re a fan of rabbit and foie gras, you’ll love the dish that he makes from roasted rabbit stuffed with almonds, apricots and foie gras, served over a salad of arugula and cannellini beans ($29). It’s very rich, and probably best shared, but I liked the interplay of the fruit and nuts with the rabbit and foie gras. If rabbit is something you don’t do, more simple meat and potato types can stick to the roasted and braised organic chicken with sweet potato puree, escarole and cipollini onions ($25) or Di Meglio’s riff on a steak—a Local Veal NY Strip with English peas, baby carrots, chanterelles, potato gnocchi, and onion confit ($34).

There’s plenty at Olana to enjoy, from a seat at the bar to an easy dinner in one of their oversized banquettes that allow for a feeling of spaciousness, rather than being cramped that’s more common these days of precious little square footage. Di Meglio is no Andrew Carmellini, but then again, few people are. He’s doing good food in a nice setting with a solid front of the house team lead by Bill and Patrick, along with Le Cirque ex-pat Nicola Libonati who learned a thing or two about being charming from the master of the art, Sirio. So yes, I was pleasantly surprised at my dinner at Olana. Perhaps it was my expectations, or ... [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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