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“Apiary”

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

quo;ve always been a bad news first kind of person (not sure what that says about me) so why don’t we start with the more troubling news and then get to the good stuff. So, here’s the bad news. The spice-crusted lamb T-bones in a sweet and sour fruit sauce with fried hummus ($28) came across like a poorly styled outfit. Separately, all the elements were lovely, but together, the look was rather incongruous. The lamb was expertly prepared (it gave me probable cause for gnawing at the bones), but that sweet and sour sauce was too cloying and seemed better suited for a plate of freshly fried egg rolls. Now, I love hummus, but a fried hummus cake was a textural mess and didn’t complement the lamb or the pair well with the sauce. Do over.

I wasn’t really all that wild about the grilled octopus ($12) that we shared as a starter either. The tentacles were tender enough, but the dish also seemed confused: green lentils, pickled onions and fennel confit? The plate seemed riddled with too many highly acidic ingredients that worked against each other rather than in harmony.
The Moroccan-spiced chicken with green olives and lemon ($21) wasn’t bad, but it should have been better. I love the idea of roasting a chicken in a North African spice rub—cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger—but the spice rub seemed to assault the chicken (a perfectly juicy quarter of a bird) rather than caress it. Instead of the thrilling effect I was hoping for, the chicken tasted (and looked) muddy. And where were the green olives and lemon? I couldn’t find any on my plate. And why was the couscous, so wonderfully fluffy and punctuated by apricots and mint, served separately from the chicken, in a bowl on the side? This chicken needs gentle spicing (rather than an all out lather), some olives and lemon, and a partner on the plate, not a next-door neighbor.

Now for the good news. A thick and flavorful fall squash soup the color of butternut is given a sassy personality thanks to a spicy dollop of tangy curried yogurt ($7). Hunks of roasted and caramelized pears are paired up with sheets of salty, smoky Serrano ham and a lovely pile up of radicchio, endive, and frisee tossed with Maytag blue cheese tossed in an aged sherry whole grain mustard vinaigrette ($12). These flavors were so beautifully bright and wildly vivid that I practically needed sunglasses at the dinner table. Mussels also show up here with a nice twist: plump ... [more, click below]

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Posted: November 14, 2008

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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