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“The Strong Buzz, March 12th: The News (Irving Mill and Tap Room, Mercat, Boucarou, Yeo, Shake Shack), Events, My Dinner at Tasca”

Hello all and welcome to the March 12th edition of THE STRONG BUZZ: The News (Irving Mill, Mercat Update, Boucarou, Yeo Monkeys Around), Events, My Dinner at Tasca.

DINING FOR DARFUR IS SUNDAY APRIL 29TH!
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THE NEWS
Irving Mill and Tap Room
Suzanne, Mario and Sergio Riva, the owners of Candela, are closing the restaurant and completely redesigning it. They will reopen in the Fall of 2007 as Irving Mill Restaurant and Tap Room, a casual Greenmarket-driven seasonal American restaurant with a real star behind the stoves—chef-partner Johnny Schaeffer, who was the chef de cuisine of Gramercy Tavern under Tom Colicchio for 12 years.

His sample menu sounds great—baby beets, romaine hearts, garbanzo beans with pickled hard boiled egg and buttermilk dressing, beef cheek ravioli with bone marrow and asparagus consommé, a fresh sardine and fried egg open-faced sandwich with salsa verde, tomato, frisee, arugula and sherry vinegar, and monkfish wrapped in pancetta, with collard greens, and black eyed pea risotto. Yummy. Considering I live two blocks away and have been craving a great casual American restaurant in my neighborhood, this news is just about the greatest thing I’ve heard all year. (Other than the fact that the guys from Jane are also opening an American spot nearby on 3rd Avenue and 10th Street.)

The new space will be designed by partner Sergio Riva. He’ll transform the heavy dark wooded Medieval-styled restaurant into a lofty, light and airy upscale American tavern with a soft creamy neutral palate of color. The dining room will seat 100, and a 50-seat private dining room is being built on the lower level. The casual Tap Room will be attached to the bar area and will seat 25. Irving Mill will be located at 116 East 16th Street, 212-254-1600.

Mercat
A couple of weeks ago I reported on the opening of Mercat, a new place for Catalan cuisine down on Bond Street. My information was partially in error, as I was told the restaurant was already open, and indeed it won’t open until later this week (even early next week if they can’t get the gas turned on). I also inadvertently printed the owner’s cell phone number instead of the restaurant’s number, which was not ideal for him, though it was nice to know that I have (a lot) of readers who promptly call to make reservations at restaurants I write about. Anyway, apologies to Jamie Reixach, the owner of Mercat.

So about Jamie. As I mentioned, he’s a native of Barcelona and he based his New York restaurant on his passion for Catalan cuisine and Barcelona-style dining. To execute his vision, he hired a pair of chefs, Ryan Lowder (Casa Mono, Jean Georges), and David Seigal (Martin Berasategui in San Sebastian, and Jean Georges) to bring to life this region’s vibrant flavors and indigenous ingredients. Their menu is brilliant. There’s pancetta de cerdo—crispy pork belly with brussel sprouts, crosnes, and preserved cherries ($14), caracoles—skewered snails with cippolini onions, chorizo sofrito and alioli ($11), grilled sardines with preserved lemon and salsa verde ($11), and fideua negra—Catalan short noodles (think angel hair) with sepia in its ink, green peppers and alioli ($16). To transport you to Barcelona, the restaurant boasts an open kitchen, a jamon and queso station, a marble bar, a wine loft, and an intimate tapas lounge downstairs. Depending on when they get their gas turned on, they’ll either open later this week or beginning of next. Stay tuned. Mercat is located at 45 Bond Street, 212-529-8600.

Boucarou
Boucarou, a new East Village lounge and restaurant, is the brainchild of Patrice Bihina (aka DJ Patrice Parade), a native of Cameroon who grew up in a French home and then moved to America. His lounge takes its name from the open-air communal spaces built outside of homes in West Africa where family and friends gather together to eat, drink, dance and chat. A traditional boucarou is usually round, with three-foot walls and an open-air roof to protect it from hot sun and rain. Here in the East Village, Boucarou is decidedly more modern, with bamboo accents, long low sexy couches, floor to ceiling windows, and a great roof deck (that would be the open air communal space) once the weather turns less frigid. The menu will feature fusion fare by executive chef Malik Fall (Asia De Cuba)—pan seared sea scallops with fresh corn soft polenta and champagne strawberry coulis ($24), and Malik’s Mafe—a hearty Senagalese peanut stew with lamb, yams, and potatoes ($18). Boucarou is located at 64 East 1st Street between First and Second Avenues, 212-529-3262.

Patricia Yeo
Peter, Penny and Mathew Glazier of The Glazier Group have closed the Monkey Bar in the Hotel Elysée in order to renovate and re-conceptualize the restaurant. They will reopen in May with chef Patricia Yeo at the helm. Patricia will remain at Sapa as Executive Chef and Owner. She’ll be overseeing both kitchens. Monkey Bar is located at 60 East 54th Street.

Shake Shack Reopening March 21st!
Now that we’re getting just a little taste of spring weather—I had a great run (really more of a slow crawl) outside on Saturday—I want to remind you all that Shake Shack reopens on March 21st. I’m not suggesting you line up just yet, but clearly it’s time to start thinking about a strategy. Here’s to the Shack!

EVENTS
Fifth Annual Hamptons Restaurant Week To Kick Off March 25th
The Fifth Annual “Hamptons Restaurant Week” is scheduled for the last week of March from Sunday, March 25th through Sunday, April 1st. During this weeklong promotion, all participating restaurants will offer a three-course prix fixe for $21.95 all night, except Saturday when it will only be offered from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each restaurant will also offer a discounted bottle of Long Island wine. There will also be discounts on lodging and more! For more information on participating restaurants, discounted rates and deals, please visit www.hamptonsrestaurantweek.com.

UNICEF Tap Project
A lack of clean drinking water is one of the most urgent health crises facing the planet today. On World Water Day (March 22) hundreds of restaurants in New York City, home to some of the best tap water on the planet, will invite their patrons to pay $1 for something they normally get for free...a glass of tap water. The funds collected will support UNICEF water programs, which provide safe drinking water to children around the world. For a list of participating restaurants, please visit www.tapproject.org.

BUZZARDS CLASSIFIED ADS OF THE WEEK!
Some great job openings were posted on THE STRONG BUZZ this week! Here’s a summary: The Good Fork in Red Hook needs a great line cook, a three-star NY Times chef is opening new seasonal American restaurant in Union Square and is looking for a GM, and a boutique PR Firm is looking for an account manager and team leader. And best of all, THE STRONG BUZZ is looking for an intern! To learn more about these postings, and to post your own ad please visit BUZZARDS!

MY DINNER AT TASCA
I’m gonna start this review with a fairly obvious declaration. New York is a tough town to open a restaurant. Come to think of it, it’s a pretty tough town to do anything for that matter. Just getting a cup of coffee can be murder. But the restaurant business? Now there’s a hungry beast with teeth. This is especially true when you open a restaurant of a popular genre, like Spanish tapas, for instance. You leave yourself wide open to comparison with the current players. And the roster of players in this field is flooded with furiously talented chefs—Andy Nusser at Casa Mono and Bar Jamon, Alex Raij at Tia Pol, and Seamus Mullen at Boqueria, to name a few—who cook their finest in sizzling Spain-simulated environments. I don’t know if I’d get in the ring with them. But kudos to those who try.

Which brings us to Tasca, a new tapas and wine bar owned by Robert Meller, an MBA who changed careers to pursue a life in the restaurant business. Oh the glory of the food biz, always lures ‘em in. Happened to me, too, so I can understand it. Anyway, Meller has done nicely for himself. He worked for BR Guest and has run a few off the radar spots like Busby’s, Saga and Landmark Tavern before getting into the game as an owner and opening Tasca with chef Craig Wilson. Wilson is new to Manhattan and was most recently cooking in Philadelphia and at Café Paradiso in Ardmore. The pair seems to be hitting it off so far. They’ll soon open another restaurant, Central Kitchen Brasserie, just next door.

Now back to Tasca. When Katy, Steven, Sam and I had dinner there last week, the place was packed: wall-to-wall bodies, three-deep at the bar, with every table taken. The energy was a bit frantic. I had trouble getting to our table—a four-top by the floor to ceiling windows that face out to Seventh Avenue South. I was shoved and poked and prodded and practically mowed down by a woman trying to get to the door, a busser with a bus tub, and a dishwasher carrying a flat of glasses. (Note to self: wear protective padding and possibly a helmet on the next visit.) It was like rush hour in there.

Once we were seated—and offered a selection of great house-cured olives and fried flatbread with creamy, fluffy hummus—things calmed down a bit. I just watched the others bob and weave to avoid injury. It’s much more amusing to be a spectator than a participant in this particular exercise.

Like most Spanish spots, Tasca is small. Adding to its petite size, is its odd shape. It’s like an angled geometric figure they haven’t yet named (somewhere between a triangle and a parallelogram). Its major design mark comes from the serpentine white-tiled bar that’s matched with about half a dozen long stretched teardrop shaped light fixtures that look like oversized white tadpoles. Tables and chairs are dark wood and floors are tiled in colorful Gaudi-esque motifs. On the far wall, there’s a wine room stocked with a terrific selection of about 150 traditional and off the beaten path Spanish wines by beverage director Jeffrey Weinstein. I’d definitely get him involved with your wine decisions. He’s got a ton of passion and enthusiasm for Spain and a lot of knowledge to share. We had a few of bottles of AN/2, a bright, juicy, peppery wine from Majorca that we loved.

To break in the wine, we started with a couple of platters of Spanish cheeses (manchego, majon, cabrales, la serrana, monte enebro) and meat (Serrano ham, chorizo, lomo, salchichon and sobrasada). They were delicious, and beautifully arranged on long wooden paddles with membrillo, fig jam and grilled slices of raisin bread. Our waiter impressed us, giving us a mini-dissertation on each of the cheeses and meats; a Power Point would not have been out of place. As we worked our way through the platters, pulling off meats and cheeses with our fingers, Sam was marveling over how good the chorizo was. “Oh my god, The Devil Wears Chorizo!” he cried. Our conversation was slowly devolving. Soon, Steven and Sam were engaging in some raunchy talk (of course, Katy and I did not take part). But by the time we were done with our cheese and meat, someone suggested that the wooden paddles/platters that might be used for something other than cheese. Boys, behave, now. Yeah, it was one of those nights.

In any case, we made quick work of the platters of cheese and meat and soon moved on to The Big Dance—the tapas. I liked the sound of many of these little plates, but unfortunately, they read a hell of a lot better than they ate. Bummer, man. Salt cod croquettes, shaped like little missiles, were good, but they could have been cooked a little longer. They were slightly jaundiced in color, rather than the golden hue I’d hoped for. The pale fritters were accompanied by an orange alioli that was way too sweet; it tasted like liquid candy. Grilled coins of chorizo came in a cazuela with caramelized fig and balsamic syrup ($10). While I liked this dish—figs and chorizo are quite nice together—this sauce also bordered on cloying.

While Steven like the octopus grilled with paprika and lemon, I thought the flesh was mealy. The albondigas ($9), little meatballs in a pulpy tomato sauce, were, well, so sad. They were absolutely (and shockingly) flavor-free and quite hard. Save them and you can use them the next time you tee off. Sangria-braised short ribs ($11) sounded good, but they were overcooked so they weren’t nearly as flavorful as they should have been. They were served with a mushy and unnecessary sweet potato bread pudding.

Thankfully, there were some menu stars. The best of the tapas lot was a simple salad of bright juicy blood oranges and shaved ribbons of fennel ($7), and the gambas al ajillo ($13), a terra cotta cazuela stocked with plump sweet shrimp in a bath of garlic and piquillo peppers that packed a sneaky smack of heat. Wow. We loved the shrimp. But it left me wondering, if this is what the kitchen is capable of, why such inconsistency?

We decided to try to a main course to allow the kitchen to take us to a place we hadn’t yet been and they did. The whole grilled snapper ($28) was sublime. Tucked under a salty crust of skin we found loads of sweet, flaky, almost creamy-moist meat. A simple side of spinach, a grilled half a lemon, and some olives finished it with all it needed. The accompanying grilled bread was a nice touch too, if it hadn’t been hard enough to be used as a hammer. We cleaned the fish of its flesh and left only it’s bony skeleton and the rock hard bread.

Things went back down hill with dessert. Churros were undercooked and raw in the center, and crema Catalan was grainy and more like a scrambled egg custard than a smooth, silky crema. Oh dear. Get me a taxi.

Perhaps I’m being too hard on Tasca. But the thing is, I’ve had so much better than this at other tapas spots around town. It’s hard to compete with the octopus (or anything for that matter) at Tia Pol, you can’t beat the chorizo with pickled piquillo peppers at Bar Jamon, and don’t even think of finding better brandade croquettes than at Boqueria. I have to say that Tasca feels careless in some ways, like there’s not enough attention being paid to the food. To their credit, the service was very good and the energy of the room, aside from being frantic and slightly dangerous, was warm and inviting. It’s a place you could happily wile away a few hours over some interesting wines from Spain and a few nice dishes—meats, cheeses, olives, hummus and the gambas—especially if you live in the neighborhood. But honestly, there’s little incentive to make a special trip to a tapas joint that doesn’t cut it when so many others do. Admittedly, comparison is a dangerous game, but it’s also inevitable in New York. In this town, in this business, someone else is always gonna shine brighter, which means by necessity that others won’t.

Tasca is located at 130 Seventh Avenue South, corner of 10th Street, 212-620-6815.

And that’s THE STRONG BUZZ for this week. Thanks for reading and until next week, READ IT AND EAT!

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Posted: March 12, 2007

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