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“The Mott”


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

squo;s a nice menu—the sort you might find at a neighborhood restaurant in Park Slope.

Jamie had just returned from a vacation to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding and was looking very relaxed and tanned after mastering the art of surfing. I was quite impressed and conceded that the closest I’d ever come to surfing was paddling out with a Styrofoam kickboard in a shallow, waveless pond at summer camp. Not exactly the same thing, but hey, I haven’t been to Hawaii yet. I am sure once I am there my inner Gidget will be found and unleashed.

As we discussed the ins and outs of paddling out and catching the wave, our appetizers arrived, and unfortunately, they were wipe-outs. Perhaps we ordered wrong because I’d heard raves about the gnocchi and the chilled tomato soup. But we had the Long Island fluke crudo ($12), glossed with chili oil and dotted with cubes of melon. This did not work at all. First, the fish was way too warm and rather than thin slices, it was sliced almost into dominos. It was too thick and clunky. The chili oil brought in a lot of heat, but the melon added little balance or acidity, which I think all fish needs. Instead, the flavors of the fish seemed rather muffled. An arugula salad ($11) was also a miss. While it included lovely baby arugula leaves tossed with delicious hunks of duck confit, toasted pistachios, shaved fennel and juicy grapes, the salad was obliterated by its dressing. The greens were coated in what appeared to be mayonnaise, and little else. It tasted like something that belonged on cole slaw. What this salad needed was a nice vivid vinaigrette—perhaps Moscato or Port Wine based—not what amounted to a cream sauce lacking brightness or complexity. With both of these dishes there was a sense of flavors being suffocated, not freed.

Luckily, things completely changed once our entrees were served. They were terrific. Cod is seared perfectly and served in a rich seafood broth reminiscent of clam chowder broth bobbing with salty little cockles, slips of piquillo peppers and sliced baby artichoke hearts ($22). The scallops were also flawless: a trio of fat caramelized lobes served on a bed of vegetables that spoke beautifully of late summer: cherry tomatoes, a fresh chiffonade of basil and slender, tender yellow wax beans. I’d have eaten just the accompaniments but lucky me, I got those succulent scallops too.
Honestly, we were so pleased with o ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in Soho :
+ Balthazar   + Savoy   + Blue Ribbon   + Lupa   + Public   + Kittichai   + Lure Fishbar   + Barmarche   + Porcupine-- CLOSED   + Ama   + La Esquina   + Jerry's- Closed Now   + The Tasting Room   + Papatzul   + Shorty's.32   + The Monday Room   + Ed's Lobster Bar   + Aurora   + Provence   + Tailor   + Hundred Acres   + Delicatessen, By Guest Reviewer Julie Besonen   + The Mott   + The Dutch   + Cherrywood, by Guest Reviewer Dara Pollak   


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