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“The Standard Grill”

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

front desk (the hostesses could not have been chillier), the iciness does not seem to have deterred anyone from coming ‘round. We found the front bar, washed in white with café tables and black and white tiled floors, packed. It was your typical MePa style zoo. Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds vied for seats at the long bar where charcuterie, chilly oysters and freshly mixed cocktails were being served in astounding quantity. It’s a bit of a wild party in there, and if that’s what you’re looking for, you will enjoy. Ditto the outdoor lounge and the al fresco Standard “beer garden,” which will begin serving a menu of sausages and the like come September 8th.

But the dining room takes on a more serene air than the frantic bar and café. It feels like it’s part Grand Central Oyster Bar, part old New York steakhouse with its barreled ceilings twinkling with white tiles, half-moon burgundy button-tufted banquettes, burnished wood-slotted booths, and polished tables. Its precise old New York décor was created by Hollywood set designer Shawn Hausman and the NY design firm of Roman and Williams, and it feels like you might find a cigarette girl strutting around the room selling Lucky Strikes, or the crew from Sterling Cooper tucked in for a three-martini lunch. Hey, if Draper and friends had any of the food we did, they’d enjoy themselves. They’d actually eat as much as they drink for a change. I’m certain The Standard Grill would become their regular haunt.

Dan Silverman, of Union Square Café and Lever House fame, is installed in the kitchen and he’s assembled a cracker jack team of cooks who are doing a seriously impressive job with a menu of reasonably priced seasonal American fare that matches those tufted banquettes in tone and style. The common theme throughout Dan’s menu is an interplay of flavors that keeps the mouth excited and interested. There’s nothing flat or dull about his food. And yet it’s still simple, not overly fussy or complicated. I loved it.

Lobster Louis—a chilled lobster salad—is given new life with the addition of a hearty dose of cayenne pepper. That heat plays perfectly off the sweet lumps of lobster tossed in a colorful mound with red peppers, scallions, and green olives ($23). Spoon this salad on a soft brioche roll and you’d reinvent the Maine classic like never before. Dan&rsqu ... [more, click below]

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Posted: August 30, 2009

Other restaurants in MeatPacking :
+ Paradou   + Florent   + One   + Bivio   + Spice Market   + Ono   + 5 Ninth   + Fatty Crab   + Del Posto   + Morimoto   + Los Dados   + 5 Ninth   + Merkato 55   + Scarpetta   + The John Dory   + The Standard Grill   + Bill's Bar & Burger   

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