Feast is fabulous. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here's why I think so.

First, this new seasonal American restaurant, is the best thing to happen to the fairly horrific stretch of what might as well be called NYU Avenue (Third Avenue between 12th and 13th Street) since Nicoletta opened its doors. The restaurant is remarkably peaceful given the beer-swigging madness that goes on just outside its doors. Step inside and have a seat at the long bar, or settle into one of the restaurants oversized and sturdy reclaimed farmhouse tables, lit forgivingly with wrought iron sconces and bare-bulb lighting, and you’re transported somewhere far more atmospheric and genteel: think Cobble Hill, the West Village.

The restaurant’s cuisine is also quite a departure from the bistros, burgers, and burritos that litter this sad stretch of Third. It’s completely misplaced by virtue of the fact that it’s thoughtful and refined, but really, once you’re inside, who cares. The chaos of the world outside disappears.

For Feast, chef Christopher Meenan (formerly Chef de Cuisine of Veritas) has teamed up with owner Brian Ghaw (owner of Savoy Bakery in East Harlem) to feature two three-course prix fixe menus (as well as an a la carte for those who prefer not to feast) each night. Both feasts track the seasons, but one goes the straight vegetable route ($38 per person), while the other is a carnivore’s a nose-to-tail banquet ($48 per person) supper. This month’s nose-to-tail feast features lamb in every iteration possible from carpaccio with honey crisp apples, almonds, cognac and mustard to a lasagna layered with lamb shank, goat cheese, broccoli rabe and topped with preserved lemon, and a shepherd’s pie with lamb belly, sweet potato and pesto.

This restaurant is true to its name. It’s like Thanksgiving in there every night of the week. (But you don't have to cook, or clean, and lovely, very attentive servers do all the serving.) Each feast includes four starters, four entrees and two desserts. You will not go hungry. In fact, you may not be able to eat again for a few days. It’s a lot, and because it’s quite good, it’s hard to stop. There were four of us for dinner on Saturday night, three of us omnivores, and yet went the veg route. With this sort of dynamic treatment of vegetables, there’s no need to eat meat. Seriously. And I’ll say this as well: While Amanda Cohen is the city’s undeniable vegetable queen, what Chef Meenan is doing with vegetables here is also quite noteworthy. I think it’s safe to say Dirt Candy has a bright new competitor in town.

Now, as I explained, each “course” includes four dishes. This means you won't spend half the meal negotiating who'll order what and getting assurances that you will have your fair share of what you really wanted to order, but were too late to call. By giving you everything on the menu, the Feast meal plan takes all the anxiety and stress out of high-stakes foodie dining. And here’s another nice touch: rather than send out four big platters to take and pass around the table, the chef plates each dish individually for ease of sharing; there’s no game of dinner table Twister needed to get at what you want. It’s remarkably civilized and also does the food a lot more justice than if it were picked apart by being passed around. This method allows each dish to have every one of its intended accompaniments in every bite.

So you’ll get your very own quartered and roasted acorn squash topped with Roquefort crumble, bacon-like slabs of caramelized pear, fresh frisee and maple vinaigrette. You won’t miss a forest mushroom on the precious goat cheese tartlet. A couple of dishes are served for two people to share, which means yes, you may have to fight over the herbed aioli dipping sauce made for the beet frites, but otherwise you’ll be pretty much assured of getting all the goodies. The only dish that didn’t quite work for me was the “baby vegetable garden”—a few baby carrots stuffed into skinny shot glasses with olive soil and crème fraiche on the bottom that could not be accessed given the diameter of the shot glass. It was nice to look at but impossible to enjoy.

The second course includes four more dishes (this meal is enormous and really boggles the mind at just $38 per person). One of the most impressive plates is the mushroom Bolognese with spaghetti squash. While I would not call it a Bolognese—it’s not a sauce at all—it’s more of a tartare with all of raw steak’s rich, dark complexities—it’s wonderful all the same. Crispy fried eggplant is turned into a sort of cup and filled up with risotto, a contrast of textures that I quite liked. The kabocha squash agnolotti, are on the sweet side, plumped up with mascarpone, but they are delicate and lovely.

Dessert, at the moment, is a terrific market apple crisp with a side of ginger lemon crème fraiche. It’s served in a large fluted ceramic baking dish (you are given two per table) like it just came out of mom’s oven. It’s something you wish you got at home. It’s not a sexy dessert, but sometimes, in particular when the world outside can leave you a bit frayed, you just want something good, honest and simple. That’s this.

Feast
Doors will open at 7:30am – 4pm Monday through Sunday for coffee and freshly baked-on-premises breakfast pastries (raw dough will be brought from Savoy Bakery uptown) for neighborhood locals.
Dinner hours are 6pm-11pm Monday-Wednesday and 6pm-1am Thursday Friday and Saturday; Feast will be closed Sunday evenings for dinner.
Brunch will be offered Saturday and Sunday starting in April, and a lunch menu will eventually be developed to compliment the breakfast pastries in the morning.
 
Feast is located at 102 3rd Avenue, New York, NY 10003, between 12th and 13th Street, 212.529.8880, www.eatfeastnyc.com
 

Andrea Strong