First Signs of Spring Menus
Technically, it's spring.
Though the weather's not cooperating, there are signs on menus all over the
city. Delicate ceviches,
arugula salads, rhubarb desserts, meyer lemon, mandarin, and other species of
citrus are cropping up at some of the finest restaurants. Which makes feel a
little closer to T-shirt weather, even if it's just indoors.
Rouge Tomate
Address:
10 East 60th St, btwn. 5th & Madison Aves.
Phone: (646)
237-8977
The thought of "healthy food"
makes most people depressed, but you don't feel that way at Rouge Tomate.
Not only is there an in-house nutritionist, but also a chef who trained under
Daniel Boulud and Joel Robuchon. That's a great combination when you're
gearing up for less layers and warmer weather. And the food happens to
be delicious. Chef Jeremy Bearman recently introduced a local seafood ceviche with kumquats, fennel, blood orange, cucumber, & avocado. While it's brisk outside, you
can take comfort in meyer lemon gnocchi with broccoli rabe, grapes, raisins,
pine nuts and feta. It's hard to
believe that James DiStefano's desserts are accounted for by the
nutritionist as well. Even if they weren't, I'd end the evening with the
"Citrus," which features a lemon & olive oil cake, with mandarin,
blood orange and housemade ricotta.
The Harrison
355 Greewich st (at Harrison)
(212) 274-9310
After a
long stint on Chopped, Amanda
Freitag's back in the kitchen at this Tribeca favorite with al fresco seating.
Her Mediterranean cooking style happens to be perfect for spring.
She's already added a number of new dishes to the menu, including chargrilled
octopus with fingerling potatoes, fresh mint and feta as well an entree of
pan-seared arctic char with meyer lemon preserve and Sicilian green
olives. As for dessert, Colleen Grapes has come up with a lemon and
rhubarb tart finished with thyme and vanilla creme fraiche.
Diner
Address:
85 Broadway
Phone:
(718)486-3077
www.dinernyc.com
When a restaurant updates its menu daily, you can expect very seasonal
cooking. It also makes a little difficult to recommend anything, because
they never serve the same thing two days in a row. You'll just have to
find out for yourself, but chances are they'll be something unexpected on every
plate. Last week, they offered a pear salad with fennel fronds, parsley
and chives as well as as unusual combination of veal carpaccio alongside
poached swordfish with a caper aioli and chervil. Diner doesn't miss a beat with dessert either. Expect
something along the lines of rice pudding with candied kumquats or almond cake
with citrus and candied almonds.
Blue
Hill
Phone:
(212)539-1776
Address: 75 Washington Place, at Washington Sq Park
www.bluehillfarm.com
A pioneer of the Greenmarket, Dan Barber paved the way for a generation of
seasonal chefs and sustainable cooking. Guests literally eat
farm-to-table at Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
You can even take a tour of the farm to preview your meal to come. If you
can't make it out of the city, you can still sample some of Stone Barns'
produce with a fruit and vegetable salad with Stone Barns greens and soy bean
puree or emmer and quinoa with both Stone Barns' guanciale and Berkshire pig.
Dan Barber only buys local, so expect Hudson Valley chicken and veal as
well as locally grown vegetables and artisanal cheeses.
Park
Avenue Spring
Address:
100 East 63rd St., at Park Ave.
Phone:
(212)644-1900
This restaurant takes the notion of seasonal
to a new level. Not only does the menu change every season, but also the
entire dining room. Winter's officially over here and spring has inspired
dishes, like peekytoe crabcake with raspberry and avocado (pictured right,) lamb chops
accompanied by rhubarb panzanella, and a side of sweet pea crumble.
For dessert, you can sample the scope of Richard Leach's talents with rhubarb
& semolina fritters and a warm strawberry & violet meringue pie.
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