Today's review roundup includes: Onera, Philoxenia, Cafe Gray, Silver Leaf Tavern, Memo.
Onera's "fresh and liberal spin" on Greek cuisine wins two stars from NYTimes Frank Bruni: (222 West 79th Street; 212-873-0200):
.... In September he got one. Having sold Ecco and taken the deep breath that all first-time Manhattan restaurateurs must, [ Michael Psilakis] opened the felicitously christened Onera, which means dreams in Greek, his ancestral language and ethnic identity. His big gamble turns out to be our happy reward: a restaurant that puts a fresh, liberal spin on Greek cooking, taking it well beyond the virtues of grilled fish. That brings impressive versions of crudo (although Onera does not call it that) all the way uptown. That offers squab and poussin. And, yes, that embraces offal, presenting a five-course tasting of it, with wine pairings to boot.
... Mr. Psilakis treats Greece the way many New York chefs have long treated Italy or Southeast Asia: as inspiration rather than doctrine, a set of seasonings, ingredients and ideas to draw from and disregard. He bows as much to American trends as to Hellenic traditions. I have not, during extensive travels in Greece, encountered many medium-rare slices of duck breast, but Onera serves them, using a Greek dessert wine for a portlike sauce.
I never noticed an uncooked fish craze in Athens, but New York is in the grip of one, and so the first stretch of Onera's menu is devoted to raw meze, most of which were terrific when I had them. Sweet, glistening ocean scallops were dressed with a vibrant mix of yogurt, cucumber, fennel and anise. A briny dab of sea urchin came atop a thin, round, quarter-size pedestal of pickled beet. There were meat selections as well: slices of lamb entwined with feta, fried shallots, olives and a sun-dried tomato emulsion; ribbons of veal that were part of a geometrically deconstructed vitello tonnato. These too were great.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Raw meze of scallops, veal and lamb; bacalao; moussaka; sheep's-milk dumplings; John Dory; lamb; rose sampler.
If you prefer a more traditional take on Greek cuisine, than perhaps you should head over to Astoria and for some meze at Philoxenia, reviewed this week by NYTimes $25 and Under (26-18 23rd Avenue, Astoria, Queens; 718-626-9162):
I knew that feta could be good — most cheeses, properly sourced, are — but I'd never had any as creamy or agreeably full-flavored as the Macedonian feta at Philoxenia. The feta cheese special ($6) is an ample portion, warmed in the oven with pitted olives, garlic and diced tomatoes. One night our waitress nudged us toward it and away from the feta saganaki ($5), but we didn't pay attention; I'd advise you not to make the same mistake.
The seafood was uniformly reliable, a quality one does not always find in modest Greek restaurants. The grilled octopus ($10.50), a single tentacle, charred and crispy, is served in a bath of red wine vinegar, olive oil and oregano.
It exemplifies an elegant and simple equation that Greek cooking is known for: Hot fire plus fresh seafood equals good eating.
BEST DISHES Feta cheese special; grilled octopus; any fried fish; grilled Greek sausage.
NY Mag loves the food but hates the view at Cafe Gray (10 Columbus Circle, in the Time Warner Center; 212-823-6338):
...The desire for an informal space is admirable, and oddly enough, unique for this egalitarian locale, but this airport-hotel dining room is a match for the mall's mendacity.
... Kunz is Swiss and is thought of as a French chef, but his passion is to match his European expertise with Eastern cuisines. True to the word cafe, the menu at Cafe Gray is more populist than that of Lespinasse. Kunz's plates are small, precise�his first-course portioning may provoke moderate squinting, but his flavors are huge. Double-boiled oxtail consomme, dark as sable, thick as varnish, is so powerfully rich, with its satiny raviolini packed with an herbed burst of foie gras, that it relegates other clear soups to mere broth status. A coral-and-cream cloud of lobster chowder, whipped at the last minute with lovage oil, proves more luscious than bisques twice as dense. A gentle sweet-and-sour broth of saffron and zucchini serves as a base for a harvest ragout that is the answered prayer of every hungry vegetarian. The rustic opulence of risotto is perfect for Kunz, and he studs it with shards of wild mushrooms, their liquid drenching the velvety rice grains with their smoky perfume. The bottarga variation of vitello tonnato is novel if less exciting, and both tarragon-yogurt dressing on marinated-j-cama-and-kaffir-lime remoulade beneath tender skewered shrimp render each overtly herbal and earthy. Cured yellowtail with rock salt and chili oil highlights the chef�s love of Asian techniques, but his pasta fiori, in a bristling, resplendent, nearly electrifying pool of tomato concasse and thyme, is the appetizer to hoard.
Entrees are more generous and anything but dainty. There are no more-indulgent short ribs around, piled high in sloppy, succulent splendor on a cushion of lush soft grits. Lamb chops are just the opposite -- firm, fragrant, offered with a piquant carrot-curry emulsion. Sounding like a dish right out of Bennigan's, puffed-rice-crusted fluke is an unexpected rush, the crust lending the fish the nutty appeal of the meatier pompano. Port laced with lime spruces up salted cod into a fitting partner for chunks of sweetly tart langoustine. Kunz's soft, moist pork shank drenched in stout and maple syrup with bean stew could keep an Irish bar in business for generations. And the only drawback to meltingly lush slices of roasted duck drizzled in walnut vinaigrette is that feelings of inadequacy may put you off ever roasting the bird yourself for the holidays.
Ideal meal: Pasta fiori, short ribs, hazelnut souffle.
Village Voice Robert Seitsema stumbles across '"one amazing sandwich" at Memo (1821 Kings Highway, Brooklyn; 718-339-8001):
Suddenly I stumbled on a dazzling pool of light spilling onto the sidewalk. Arriving at its source, I spied, through the window of a Turkish diner, a meat wrangler making an amazing sandwich. As two bulging donerkebab cylinders -- one lamb and one chicken -- twirled in vertical competition, the dude wielded a long knife, carving a prodigious quantity of glistening flesh from each and depositing the wads, not in a flimsy cardboard pita, but in a giant round seeded loaf split down the middle, a lepeshka. Turkish meat in Uzbeki bread? Chicken and lamb together? Next he heaped on tomatoes, onions, lettuce, yogurt, and hot sauce so that the ingredients cascaded out the top, and handed it to a customer fidgeting in anticipation. Even though I still had lots more Chinese eating to do that evening, I couldn't resist dashing in and securing one for myself.
... Make sure you order "mix lamb and chicken gyro" on "home bread" ($6), with both white and red sauces. And bring a friend to help you finish it.
