dish du jour
great dining experiences by Lois Levine
Sometimes, a simple downhome, Downtown Italian trattoria is all you need. Olio e Più gives you just that, but with two menus. The one for pizzas, cooked in the restaurant’s wood-burning oven, offer an abundance of toppings, including truffles and smoked mozzarella; the trattoria menu features such delightful basics as whole roasted branzino and pasta primavera (below). An additional convenience for early birds: The restaurant is open for breakfast and brunch from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Olio e Più, 3 Greenwich Ave., 212.243.6546
A Palette for the Palate
Robert (above), the restaurant located on the ninth floor of the Museum of Arts and Design on Columbus Circle, can arguably give the museum a good run for its money in terms of its own artful design. The eye-popping views of Columbus Circle and Central Park; individual chandeliers created out of colorful LED Lucite panels; sculptural steel cocktail tables; and banquettes and chairs done in deep pink and purple suggest you are in the midst of some colorful design exhibit. The dishes, unlike the surroundings, are simply adorned, but peppered with lush flavors. A starter of Blue Bay mussels was grounded with Spanish chorizo; a main course of braised octopus with new potatoes was chunky and generously portioned; and, for dessert, a dense Oreo cheesecake with blood orange jam did a lovely job of satisfying the sweet tooth. | Robert, Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, 212.299.7730
Victorious Vietnamese
I remember doing a profile on Le Colonial during its first NYC inception in the 1990s, and being wowed then by the exotic setting and sensuous Far East fare—and I am wowed once again. The restaurant, which recently underwent a multimillion dollar renovation, retains the sensibility of the original but with even more retro dazzle: The 1920s French-Vietnamese colonial setting includes oversize potted palms, rattan chairs and a red-tinned ceiling. The food is equally exotic: Signature dishes include grilled shrimp mousse on sugar cane and a five-spice roasted duck with shredded jicama. Other standouts are a soft salad roll with poached prawns and hoisin peanut sauce (left), and lemongrass chicken in a clay pot with jasmine rice and a soft-boiled egg. French Indochina never looked or tasted this fine. | Le Colonial, 149 E. 57th St., 212.757.0808
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photos: robert, alan batt; Olio e Più, Srdian Kalinic; Le colonial, yuki kunishima; sea fire grill, christopher villano; le périgord, evan sung; mari vanna, chef alexander lohkin and vinegret salad, travis vaughn
Strictly Italian
IN New YORK | january 2014 | innewyork.com | for details on other restaurants, turn to dining (p. 66)
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