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“ABC Kitchen”

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

ith tomatoes, housemade chicken sausage, kale and ricotta ($15). I loved the interplay of flavors and textures. He could very well open a pizza shop and offer Otto a run for its money.

Of the pastas, I have to send a shout out to the old school Jewish guy in the kitchen who decided to serve kasha with lusciously airy golf-ball sized meatballs made from tender veal and creamy ricotta ($14). It’s traif, for sure, but it’s delicious.

We also loved the fish, a black sea bass basted in butter suffused cut with chile and herbs with a side of red bliss potatoes and lemony spinach ($25). The fish would have made Eric Ripert do a double take it was that good: moist and silky and well seasoned a flash of heat and the freshness of soft herbs.  

The only part of the meal that didn’t wow me was dessert. We opted for a special: a buttermilk biscuit cake with blueberries and vanilla ice cream. It was doughy and lifeless, and did not do justice to the fruit.  Considering it was a birthday dessert, it was a bit of a disappointment, but this was the meal’s only miss. Otherwise, it was an exceptional evening of food, service, and company.

I should also mention that the restaurant, with a windowed bar up front and a wide dining room in the rear, is lovely: pretty but rustic, Anne of Green Gables meets Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It seems the place has finally been exorcised of ghosts of restaurants past: Colina, Chicama, Lucy, Lucy Latin Kitchen, all of them, dust in the face of a new design that includes ethereal elements of silvery light and sheer glass with rustic urban hardware, weathered beams, and wrought iron trim. Antique chandeliers strewn with what appear to be singing blue birds light the room with a sort of dewy glow, adding a mirage of delight and wonder. I could have sat there all night long, just bathing in that light, and wondering how I might be able to get some fried calamari for dessert. Now, that would be interesting.

ABC Kitchen is located at 35 East 18th Street, between Broadway and Park Avenue South, 212- 475-5829.

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Posted: August 1, 2010

Other restaurants in Flatiron :
+ Suenos   + Amuse-- Closed   + Dos Caminos   + Lucy-- Closed   + Gramercy Taver   + Veritas   + Fleur De Sel   + Bolo -- CLosed   + City Bakery   + Shake Shack   + Kalustyan's Cafe   + Devi   + BLT Fish   + Sugarcane   + BLT Prime   + Barca 18-- CLOSED   + Beppe   + Barbounia   + Boqueria   + Eleven Madison   + Lonesome Dove-- CLOSED   + Hill Country   + Olana   + Wildwood   + Primehouse   + Allegretti   + Bar Breton   + Aldea   + SD26 by Bao Ong   + ABC Kitchen   + Ciano   + The NoMad   

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