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“Minetta Tavern”

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

r heads spun around and around every time another couple was ushered into the dining room. Bottom line is you should allot a good thirty minutes to mild gawking. Once that’s out of the way, you can get down to socializing with your friends and to the eating and drinking part of your evening.

If you begin at the bar, you’ll be pleased to find a selection of fine cocktails, beers, hard ciders and wines served with a clever little bar menu that includes warm cheesy gougeres ($6), saucison en brioche ($8)—a sort of riff on the pig in a blanket, served in the form of a slice of buttery toasted brioche punctured through its center with a coin-sized slice of meaty saucison with a schmear of grainy mustard, along with La Quercia prosciutto ($8) and a chips and onion dip ($6) suited for a football game.

Move to a table in the front or back room, both of which have a rather Waverly Inn vibe, and you’ll find a concise, Tavern-appropriate menu, overseen by chefs and partners Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson (Balthazar and Pastis).

Rather than show off with some fancy culinary footwork, the kitchen is happy to serve well-priced food in that classic crowd-pleasing McNally paradigm: straight forward, perhaps even pedestrian food in other hands, but in theirs (for the most part) immensely satisfying.

Their menu is well-conceived: concise in length and pretty classic French-Continental in style, offering ten entrees—grilled dorade romesco ($22), two different burgers (ordinary, $16, and Pat LaFrieda’s Black Label, $26), an equal number of apps—oxtail and foie gras terrine, $14, a trio of tartares ($18), and a petite omelette with mushrooms and truffle oil ($12)—and a section from the grill of dry-aged cote de boeuf ($90 for two), and the like.

About the time we had moved on from eyeing Mr. McNally himself having dinner in the circular banquette to our left, and Ferris Bueller in the corner to our right, our appetizers had arrived (service is efficient and friendly and food is timed on the quick side).

There’s no reason to ever eat fried calamari again when you might have Minetta’s stuffed calamari ($12)—a rather Iberian take on the dish—warm grilled tubes of tender squid stuffed to capacity with well-seasoned whipped salt cod and set in a mix of fleshy, briny olives and slippery ribbons of piquillo peppers. Rather than go with the more ord ... [more, click below]

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Posted: March 20, 2009

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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