MARIANI’S
November 10,
2003
NEWSLETTER
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This newsletter is
also available on the very
comprehensive food site www.sautewednesday.com
which has dozens of other links to food articles
from
around the world, as well as at The Grumpy Gourmet at
http://www.grumpygourmetusa.com/links.html
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New York Corner: Capitale by John Mariani
Quick Bytes
DINING OUT AROUND
by John Mariani
I
know that Cleveland does not leap to most
gourmets’ minds as a great
restaurant city, and for good reason. Neither
the locals nor visitors frequent downtown, so there’s little
impetus for restaurants to open in the city center.
The inhabitants leave at 5 PM and don't come back till 8 AM. The
section called The Flats showed stirrings of becoming a nightlife hub
in the 1980s but never really got going. Also, the
city’s restaurant scene is dismally covered by
the atrocious
food writing in the Cleveland Plain
Dealer. (Free sample: “Northeast
Ohio might lack enough four-star dining destinations, but there's no
shortage
of neighborhood bars that offer honest, no- nonsense fare that makes
you glad
to wear a blue collar—even if you bought it at Nordstrum.”)
Yet three visits in the last three years have shown
me that there are
all sorts of good restaurants, impressive wine lists, and
professional service
in the area--a word I use advisedly because so
many of the best new restaurants “in
Cleveland” are outside the city’s center and some 20 or more minutes’
drive
away in the suburbs. I
have in the past been very impressed with
longstanding restaurants like Giovanni’s
in Beechwood (one of the finest Italian restaurants in America), Barricelli Inn on Cornell Road, and
Three
Birds (18515 Detroit Ave.;
216-221-3500) in Lakewood, this last one of my Esquire
picks among the Best New Restaurants of 2003, of which I
wrote, “It would take more words than I
have space to list the reasons for the name Three Birds (think Bob
Marley), so
just ask them when you go to this terrific, ebullient American bistro
where it
would seem impossible not to have a good time, especially if you can
sit
outside in good weather. 
It’s one of
those restaurants that bring vitality to a neighborhood (left), in this case
Some of the most interesting restaurants
in the area are located in the residential Tremont neighborhood, whose
biggest
hit is the very neighborly Fahrenheit
(2417 Professor
St.; 216-781-8858 ) and whose chef-owner, Rocco Whalen, I last
year pegged in Esquire
as one of the “Chefs to Keep Your Eye On.” Just
down the block is a new place called Theory (221 Professor St.; 216-621-2301),
which
specializes in steaks and chops, along with theoretical oddities like
grilled
shepherd’s cheese with watermelon and a strip
steak with carrot foam.
About 20 minute's drive out
to Valley View, 
Lockkeepers gets its name from its
situation at Lock 39 on the Erie
Canal, and the new premises (right)
look like a few
million dollars
was thrown around to very good effect, starting with an
extremely
handsome, fairly masculine-looking dining room of polished wood and
brown leather. Upstairs is a private
dining room and a smaller
Sommelier Room that seats 10 within the exceptionally
well-stocked
wine cache where you feast on six to eight-course meals. Mark-ups on
the winelist seem to range from less than 100% to 150% above
retail.
a morel and vegetable fregula
and delicate sage-scented
consommé as
an appetizer, along with an open-faced foie gras sandwich on
brioche
with a strawberry-rhubarb confiture
and pink pepper honey. I was
crazy about his lacquered breast of
juicy pork with sauerkraut, roasted
baby carrots and mustard sauce—a testament
to Midwestern bulk
and flavor—and there was nothing wrong with the grilled veal
chop
stuffed with fontina and pancetta with glazed “nubile” (?) carrots, a
crisp polenta cake and a sage sauce. For
dessert go with the classic
crème brûlée or the rich, creamy cheesecake with
fruit compote and
coulis.
Best of all is
the pineapple upside-down cake with vanilla ice
cream and luscious caramel
sauce.
Entrees at
Lockkeppers run from $20 up to a hefty $39, for a
12-ounce filet mignon with roasted marrow.
You need not go too far outside of downtown
to dine at Classics (9801 Carnegie Ave.;
216-707-4100) located in
the new
InterContinental Hotel, whose mundane façade hides a fine modern
hotel. The restaurant’s name tells a good
deal about
what to expect, but not all. For the staid
formality of the dining room (below,
left) is one thing, but the
cooking of chef Guillaume Brard is quite another. He's had long
training in classic French and
Swiss restaurants like Le Béarn in Geneva and the Connaught in
London, which means
his technique is as impressive as his ability to re-cast traditional
dishes
while adding his own contemporary touches to the menu.
With just under 100 seats Classics offers a very
attentive service under manager Marc Prijkerboer. The
wine list inherited many older bottlings from the previous management,
so you'll find an astonishing number of Bordeaux
and California labels from the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s you won’t find
elsewhere
with any ease, most at very reasonable prices, and some with mark-ups
of
100% above
retail or less. The obverse is that
there is very little on this list under $50 and few younger
vintages. On the other hand, pricing the
wretched (but
popular) Santa Margherita pinot grigio for $48—which goes for $15-$17
at retail—is
the epitome of gouging.
Brard's cuisine is a fine example of how
French
technical
precision reminds one of just how wonderful classic French cooking
really is, like his
squab “Eprigramme” crusted
with parsley and stuffed with mushrooms and finished
with a thyme jus. He even redeems steak
Diane, which I haven’t seen in years on American menus, sautéed
tableside and
flamed with a Cognac-demi-glace. When he
edges away from the classics Brard shows himself in full command with a
dish
like his perfect turbot “Vadouvan” roasted with Indian spices, served
with snow
peas and a crab cappuccino on the side. An
appetizer crab cake with lobster and shrimp in an
almond crust with a
crisp salad and lobster vinaigrette was also excellent.
Desserts, from patissier Anton Yeranossian,
come off
superbly here, from a flaky raspberry feuillantine
with mascarpone ice
cream
to a
chocolate fondant with orange marmalade. I’m
afraid his rendering of Baked Alaska will not bring
back the luster
of this old dessert, which probably can’t be improved upon because it
wasn’t
such a good idea in the first place when it was created back in the 19th
century.
Entrees run $27-$42, which puts Classics well into
the
ranks of the more expensive restaurants in
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NEW YORK CORNER
by John Mariani
CAPITALE
130
Bowery
212-334-5500
www.capitale.com
This became clear to me last evening not because a
chef was absent but because he had in fact left the employ of a
restaurant I'd named one of the Best New Restaurants of the Year for Esquire--Capitale, which is located
in a spectacular Stanford White-designed landmark bank building on the
Bowery that opened in 1894 and was long vacant and in deteriorating
condition before owner Seth Greenburg poured millions into the
restoration of its 60-foot ceilings, Tiffany glass
skylight, and superb tilework. Its banquet rooms are stunning and
have been getting a lot of big media parties.
Not even a terrine of Hudson Valley foie gras with Asian pear, lychee and lily bulbs had much to recommend it, especially since it came to the table in very cold, refrigerated condition. Risotto is something that takes careful cooking and time to make right, so it was hardly surprising that a plate of crab risotto with peas, mint, and a sprig of pea shoots that came out of the kitchen only minutes after being ordered was little more than bland rice mush with a few peas hiding beneath it.
That pork chop was certainly first rate, but pistachio-dusted fluke pavé with chanterelles, spinach, tomato hearts and a ginger-kaffir lime sauce was far less than the sum of its many parts would indicate. It just had very little flavor despite all the commotion on the fish. For dessert there was a good apple tart with spiced mascarpone, but a selection of ice creams came out so firm that I might as well have been digging them out of a carton from the supermarket. When ice creams are now so easy for kitchens to make and keep at the proper texture, these were indicative of a kitchen inattentive to details.
Capitale's wine list is exceedingly deep and broad, though top heavy with expensive bottles. Mark-ups do not seem unreasonable.
As for the current ambiance, entering Capitale has an undeniably dramatic effect. But the lighting, which was dim and gray when I visited this summer, has become even dimmer and flatter, obscuring the architectural grandeur as well as the food on the plate. (Don't be fooled by the brightness in the photo of the dining room above.) Then, at 9:45 they turn the lights even lower and pump up a mix of hideous pop music that makes conversation nearly impossible among a crowd that clearly does not dress for the occasion. Blue jeans rule. Stanford White must be turning over in his white tie and tails.
I'm sorry to see that Capitale has not evolved, and perhaps that is largely due to Becker's leaving the kitchen. But it seems to me the whole place is now geared more to the vibes than to the victuals, and so I can no longer recommend Capitale as a Best New Restaurant of 2003.
Appetizers run $9-$18, entrees $18-$37.
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“Coat
the chicken on both sides with olive
oil. Put the
chicken in the skillet in one layer,
and place the bricks on
top. Reduce the heat to
medium and cook
the chicken for ten
minutes. Remove the
bricks, turn the children over,
and
replace the bricks.”
—Instructions for “Pollo al Mattone” in
The Maccioni Family Cookbook
by Egi
Maccioni and Peter Kaminsky
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arrested
after
handing
two bags
of marijuana to
customers
who’d
come for their usual
chicken
and biscuits at the KFC
restaurant
where he worked in
Police believe Ayala
used the
code words “extra biscuits” as a cover.
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* From Nov.15-17 The Morikami Museum in
hosted
by David Rosengarten. $175 pp. Call
212-754-9494.
*
Throughout Nov.
& Dec. L.A.’s L’Orangerie (310-652-9770;
www.orangerie.com)
celebrates the
holidays with Dinner for Two, a 5-course menu with a bottle of ’95
Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Fleur de Champagne.
$200 pp. . . . Also, on Nov. 18 the restaurant holds
a 5-course dinner
featuring the wines of Niebaum-Coppola winery. $200 pp.
* On Dec. 7 a black tie
9-course
dinner showcasing truffles will be
served at The Left Bank in Duck, NC, to Benefit the American
Cancer. Chef George Robinson will
be joined by Mid-Atlantic chefs Ris
Lacoste of 1789 Restaurant in
Washington, DC; Sam McGann of The Blue Point in Duck, NC, and Ben
Barker and
Karen Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC. $250 pp. Call
252-261-8419 or
visit www.thesanderling.com
* On
Nov. 16, Arrows in
* On Nov.
17
*
From Nov. 21-23 The Williamsburg Inn in
* During
Thanksgiving weekend the Inn at Perry Cabin in
St. Michael’s,
MD, features a special 3-night package with
Thanksgiving dinner, breakfasts, and tea each
day. $1,141
(Signature Room), $1,336 (State Room) and $1,666 (Master Suite). Call
800-722-2949
or www.perrycabin.com
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John Mariani is a
columnist for Esquire, Wine
Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author
of The
Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The
Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife
Galina,
the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common
Press). To purchase from amazon.com, click on the
image below.
copyright John Mariani 2003