Restaurant review: Recipe

Last night my old friend and fellow Upper West Sider, Steph, met me for dinner at Recipe, a tiny little sliver of a restaurant that was featured in the "$25 and Under" section of the New York Times dining section over the summer. (Here's the review, if you're interested.) They offer local and seasonal New American fare to the 26 diners that can fit inside at once.

We started by sharing a bread basket with "New York honey-butter and sea salt." Lame that we had to pay for bread and butter, but at only $3, it wasn't the end of the world. And who knew that a little drizzle of honey AND a sprinkling of salt would be so darn delicious on unsalted butter?

All that bread and butter was followed by healthy salads. Mine had roasted beets, lolla rossa (that's a red leaf lettuce - I learned something new!), goat cheese, and toasted pecans; and Steph's had bitter-sweet greens, pancetta, walnuts, and shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese. I've had a lot of unimpressive salads lately, but the salad I ordered last night was wonderful. It had just the right ratio of salad leaves, small and tender beet wedges, creamy goat cheese and crunchy nuts. Steph really enjoyed her salad as well, though I wasn't crazy about it since I don't like bitter greens. But I did really like the porky flavor of the salad dressing - they must have used some of the grease rendered from the pancetta. Nice touch.

For my entree, I ordered a berkshire pork chop with sugar snap peas, fingerling potatoes, zucchini, and a port and pineapple glaze. The pork chop was a hair overcooked for my taste, but the port and pineapple sauce was lovely. I question the chef's decision to serve the pork with chunks of pineapple which were almost the same size as the chunks of fingerling potato since they were the same color. The zucchini was also served in strange little chunks - almost like they'd used a melon baller - I've never seen zucchini cut up that way. Odd. Good flavors though all around. Steph ordered a red snapper special that looked very pretty. I believe it had been sliced down the middle, deboned, and then tied back together with chives and served with its skin and tail still on. It was topped with some pomegranate seeds. I didn't try it - I don't like snapper - but Steph liked it.

The meal ended on a high note with a show-stopping warm banana tart tatin with a scoop of vanilla gelato. It came in its own little cast-iron skillet. Oh. My. Heavens. It was insanely good. Like my eyes rolled back into my head for a moment good.

I liked Recipe. The tiny clothespin on the menu and the checkered cloth napkins were a little country cute for me. And our wine was served in a glass cup instead of a wine glass. Since I'm not used to seeing wine in that receptacle, I couldn't tell if we got a pour or not. But the food was well-seasoned, surprisingly refined, and quite tasty. I don't know if it's worth a subway ride for non-Upper West Siders, but it's definitely a great place to have in the neighborhood.

Steph and I give it:

(that's two and a half stars)

Details:

Recipe

452 Amsterdam Avenue (between 81st and 82nd Streets)

New York, New York

(212) 501-7755

dinner for two: ~$150 (so much for that $25 and under idea . . .)