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“Park Avenue Summer”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Midtown	Break the Bank	Great

food, starting out with an amuse bouche of watermelon cubes topped with a dollop of spicy labne yogurt, skewered and set into a flat of wheatgrass. It’s a pretty-as-a-picture dish that’s a wild ride on the tongue—juicy, sweet watermelon slapped with a bit of heat. Your follow up to the amuse is a phenomenal breadbasket generously stocked up with hot and fluffy cheddar and chile biscuits, sweet warm corn brioche rolls, and long thin pink lentil crackers. It’s quite possible to find that you’re staring at an empty breadbasket without even realizing what you’ve done.

Koketsu’s menu starts off with a selection of crudo and appetizers, and we began with salmon tartar ($16), which is one of the most inspired in the city, probably because it’s a riff on the salmon and tomato sushi served at Gari. Koketsu takes a glossy dice of pink salmon, tops it with pulpy roasted tomatoes and fresh basil, and a hit of that labne yogurt, which give the fatty fish sweetness, tartness, and an herbaceous note as well. His fluke sashimi ($15) makes an argument for him to open a sushi joint. Sliced into silky sheer rectangles, it’s adorned simply with two little dots of sauce—a homemade plum sauce and green herb pesto made from cilantro and avocado that add just the right punch to the fish without overpowering it. Softshell crab ($19) is meaty and wonderful, served battered and deep-fried, but greaseless, on a bed of diced avocado and strawberry that add a sweet creaminess to the crunch and the saltiness of the crab dressed in a vinaigrette made from white soy sauce.

Another fun dish is an appetizer ($16/$32) called “caprese” ravioli—an oval dumpling swollen with melting mozzarella, and topped with a fluff of basil and arugula salad set in a deeply flavored sauce of roasted yellow tomatoes. It’s a fancy version of bar food in some ways, the sort of dish that could even be eaten while watching the Celtics and Lakers battle it out, with a pitcher of cold beer. But my favorite dish of the night was a special that night—the corn gnocchi—creamy, pan-fried button-shaped dumplings topped with sugar-sweet roasted corn and fresh shaved summer truffles. Yum.

Bouillabaisse ($35) may be about the fish, in this case halibut, sea scallops and prawns and roe, but honestly, all I wanted was that broth—brick red in color and rich with the saffron, shallots and the sea, and bob ... [more, click below]

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Posted: June 1, 2008

Other restaurants in Midtown :
+ Lever House   + Aquavit   + RM   + Joseph's (formerly Citarella The Restaurant)   + Town   + Artisanal   + The Oyster Bar   + Geisha   + David Burke and Donatella Restaurant   + Riingo   + Amma   + Cafe Sabarsky   + The Stone Rose Lounge   + BLT Steak   + V, The Steakhouse-- Closed   + Bar Masa   + Cafe Gray   + The Bar Room at The Modern   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + Bistro du Vent-- Closed   + Shaburi   + Xing   + The Modern   + Bar Americain   + Alto   + Park Blue   + Mainland-- Closed   + Nobu 57   + Quality Meats   + Dona-- CLOSED   + Daisy May's   + 7Square-- CLOSED   + Amalia   + Fireside   + Anthos   + Patroon   + BLT Market   + Toloache   + Mia Dona   + Park Avenue Summer   + Convivio   + The Oak Room by guest reviewer Julie Besonen   + At Vermilion by guest reviewer Elaine Weiner   + Lunching at Inakaya, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Marea, by Guest Reviewer Susan Kane Walkush   + Le Bernardin   + New York Central -- A Reason To Eat at the Grand Hyatt Again   + Pampano Botaneria by Dara Pollak   

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