<< previous review   next review >>

reviews

“Ciano”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Italian	Flatiron	Moderate	Great

th. The design of the restaurant has been modernized a bit, and rendered slightly more elegant with fine white tablecloths, silver flatware, and oversized china plates and bowls (they seem to be the same ones used at Cru and I’d recommend smaller less ornate ones for this concept). The walls are still rough brick and are lined on one side by a long rectangular canvas painting of dozens of rabbits that looks like it might have been done by a group of three year olds in a rainy day art class, but that is probably the work of some wunderkind out of Denmark whom I am too unenlightened to recognize. Lighting the room are several pewter chandeliers and a few other pieces that resemble burlap umbrellas. They’re actually quite striking.  

After a glass of bubbly for me, we moved onto a bottle of red from Montefalco, a town we had all visited in 2006 on a trip to see Susie when she was living in Rome. (Fellow Cru alum John Slover is offering a half-bottle international wine list.)

The menu is vast and offers almost a mind-numbing array of choices. There will be tough decisions made at your table. Don’t go with anyone who is indecisive or you may be there until morning. Our waiter, who seemed to be bouncing off the walls, electrified with frantic stress, came over and immediately directed (read: ordered) us to the items on the menu we must have. Now, I don’t mind getting feedback from servers about what the chef’s signatures are or even what their favorite dishes are, but this fellow gave us more of a directive, racing through each category with the four dishes we should be ordering from each. He seems quite disappointed when we told him we would take some time to look over the menu and let him know what we actually wanted. While we did agree with him and chose many of his suggestions, his manner was not quite right. He stressed us out.

That aside, I would repeat our meal down to the breadcrumbs from the smoky grilled bread that is plucked from the embers of the hearth. It is unfortunately served with a whipped truffle butter, which is overkill and completely unnecessary. Butter would have been fine. I really don’t need truffles overwhelming the simplicity of good grilled bread. I realize I am probably alone on this, but I am one for leaving the truffle to the pigs.

We started out with some antipasta, including the burrata, a creamy puddle of milky mozzarella served with more of t ... [more, click below]

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  

 Make a reservation

<< previous review   next review >>

Posted: December 12, 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   

Share ! Post a comment