[Sneakeater]

This place's tortured background needs no repetition. Nor does the fact that its chef is Neil Ferguson, the former Gordon Ramsey lackey who was scapegoated for the initial failure of Ramsey's New York operation.

I'd say it was mildly disappointing, but pleasant. Perhaps paradoxically, I'm sure I'll be back.

The room is beautiful. As is by now well known, you enter past a narrow bar area -- which, oddly, was NOT slammed at 8 PM last night. You then enter the dining room. It's dark (but not inky-dark like Peasant), lit by candles and dim lightbulbs. The dining room is in two parts: the front and the rear. The rear is decidedly nicer: more candles, more coziness. My (male) dining companion and I were seated in the front. I'd say the rear is sufficiently nicer to be worth asking for.

The menu is immediately appealing. Basic, hearty food, lots of offal. It's hard to choose an appetizer. I had the bone marrow -- which is served out of the bone. Very good. My friend's sweetbread raviolo was a bit disappointing: the pasty raviolo overwhelmed the sweetbread filling.

The six or so main dishes (three fish, three meat) were less immediately appealing, if only because they were more common. My friend had a basil-and-garlic encrusted lamb chop, accompanied by a small piece of some kind of "specialty" lamb meat. The chop was not as fully flavored as one would have hoped. I had the pork belly, which was more on the dry side than I prefer (I recognize that this is one of the standard methods of preparing pork belly -- I just prefer the moister, fattier way). I don't really remember what accompanied the pork belly -- but I do remember that it seemed more interesting on the menu than on the plate.

Dessert was surprisingly good. Mine was spiced blood oranges, and deeply flavored they were.

Cocktails -- at least from the list -- are fine. The wine list, however, is way too limited.

Service was as you'd expect at a determinately casual place like this: a little too familiar, but at the same time just a bit too inattentive.

What's not coming through here is how much I actually liked this place. While not as good as you'd hope, the food is better than decent. The room, OTOH, is pleasant in the extreme: everything I liked about the dining room at Bobo, without the air of "dress-up" that bothered me. I can see this being a good date place, for when you don't want the food to obtrude so much.

[Wilfrid1]

Thanks for that. I am going very soon.

I am nosy about the immigration back story. I wonder how the chef managed to transfer whatever kind of permission to work he has from one restaurant to another. (Of course, for all I know he may be a citizen...I am just nosy.)

[Sneakeater]

Oh, the bread is great!

One a little roll with bacon in it -- when the bread has bacon in it, you're really inclined to like a restaurant! -- and the other a sort of salty mini-baguette (I'm sure this has a name that someone will now embarrass me by knowing).

[Sneakeater]

I had the pork belly, which was more on the dry side than I prefer (I recognize that this is one of the standard methods of preparing pork belly -- I just prefer the moister, fattier way).

I have to say that the pork belly made me appreciate the suckling pig at Pamplona, which I think my friends and I undervalued when we had it recently. The Pamplona pig -- served as a recomposed brick -- is moist and flavorful (if not assertively piggish the way pig you get in Castille is). I think I want some more of that.

[Sneakeater]

I can see this being a good date place, for when you don't want the food to obtrude so much.

Given the nature -- and level -- of the food, this place would theoretically also be good for a Blaue Gans type of drop in, when you want something simple and hearty. But the room is just too fancy for that. And I don't think you're going to be able to drop in here.

[Suzanne F]

We really are listening. You don't have to keep talking to yourself.

I passed the intersection on Saturday; but where actually is the entrance?

[Sneakeater]

We really are listening. You don't have to keep talking to yourself.

But Suzanne, since nobody else appears to have been there yet, who ELSE am I gonna talk to?

I passed the intersection on Saturday; but where actually is the entrance?

It's on Allen, one door up from the northwest corner.

It isn't prominently signed, but it's the only thing near either of the four corners that looks like a fancy restaurant.

[Rich]

We really are listening. You don't have to keep talking to yourself.

But Suzanne, since nobody else appears to have been there yet, who ELSE am I gonna talk to?

You'd be surprised the great conversations SE has with himself. However, it really gets ugly when there's a disagreement.

[nuxvomica]

The menu is immediately appealing. Basic, hearty food, lots of offal. It's hard to choose an appetizer.

yup, that's what stood out to me too - lots of great sounding appetizers, which is what i'm planning my meal around. going tomorrow.

[Steve R.]

We really are listening. You don't have to keep talking to yourself.

But Suzanne, since nobody else appears to have been there yet, who ELSE am I gonna talk to?

You'd be surprised the great conversations SE has with himself. However, it really gets ugly when there's a disagreement.

As the old saying goes: "talking to yourself isnt a problem... arguing with yourself isnt a problem. Losing the argument? THAT's a problem!"

[nuxvomica]

the room is pretty - precious pretty, actually, a little too studied for me but still pleasant. Sneak, thanks for the tip - the rear dining room is nicer and more cozy as that's where the banquettes are. the caveat is that it may be hard to get if you are a party of two on a busy night - those tables are set up for 3+ (the 3-tops are very cute banquettes with half-moon tables but ample room. they were not that busy tonight.)

the food is a little too classic french fussy, some of it is decent to good. the bread, while decent and home made, was not good. Bacon bread did not taste of bacon in the least but was very good with the (too cold) butter. The french roll was good, topped with tons of salt though, if you are sensitive (easy to remove).

as sneakeater mentioned, the wine list is EXTREMELY limited. we had a bottle of Petalos, from Palacios's Bierzo vineyards, that was a touch warm (the room gets warm too with all the candles, too) - none of the "cellar temperature." a glass of fairly rich gruner veltliner was good.

the caramelized bone marrow was the favorite of the evening - served with shallot puree and US caviar. interesting combination, we liked it a lot. good guinea hen terrine (although not exactly worthy of Gael Greene's rave) with knuckle and foie with a little frisee and beet. the spanish mackerel did not work with the bacon gnocchi -very good on their own or with the accompanying apple bits- all the ingredients did not work well together - gocchi with apples & mackerel on its own worked fine. the beef, cabbage and onion worked well - nice piece of beef, potatoes (i forget the preparation) topped with onion marmalade, cippollini onion stuffed with cabbage, cabbage leaf encased shoulder (rich and satisfying). portions are on a small side (despite $18 apps) - perfectly fine for me but not for a hungry guy. the desserts didn't really appeal to us so we went with a plate of Saxelby's cheeses. good cheeses (fresh goat, cheddar, blue and a great one i'm forgetting - none we tried before) from vermont and virginia. in contrast pretty generous portions, reminded me of Centro's cheese plate - not a dainty sliver of anything. accompanied by breads (toasted wafer-thin raisin walnut not very good, the french one was better) green grapes (ok) and a fresh fig (very good). i was really tempted by the sweetbread raviolo, by the way, but the early reports were so so, so we decided against it - who wants mushy sweet breads?

wobbly table was fixed quickly. food pacing was pretty slow. service nice but needs work. asked about the cheese selection, our waiter said very helpfully "same as last night" - but he did go back to find out. any food question was either answered right away or staff went to check. however, the cheeses were dropped at the table without one word of explanation. a hostess (the? there is only one i think) was very nice but kept walking through the dining room with both hands in her pants' pockets. stood at the host stand in the same fashion. management (looked like the owner was there too) didn't seem to notice or care. like Tailor's shorts, this stance did little to say "serious food."

only one bathroom for the entire space (lines 4-5 ppl long) was rudely lit - way brighter than the fairly dark dining rooms. nice but not worth traveling far. should work well for a date. the bar seemed quite nice too. there is a large lounge-style table on a side of the bar - fun for a group. busy but not packed. food a little too ambitious for what it is. cocktail list of mostly classics looked good (another phrase of the moment - "libations"). it's very early on and it needs work but you can't stop hoping they will prune the decor a touch and work out the food/service issues. it's sorta Bobo east - decor-wise only - the whole country pub chic that's been going on for a while now.

pricing may be an issue - 3 apps, an entree & cheese (plus wine - under $60) - ended up being a hundred a person

[Daisy]

Eater linked to your post, nux. Good News/Bad News About Allen & Delancey

[Orik]

We liked the food - the bone marrow, as described, worked very well even with the caviar; terrine of guinea hen and foie was equally good and well assembled. Lamb - chop (quite tasteless) and neck (very flavorful, probably too strong for some) with professional mashed potatoes and Dorade - a reasonably stong flavored fish coupled with two eggplant preparations, pine nuts, olives. The cheeses were not bad, but didn't hold a candle to some cheeses purchased at extortion prices from Whole Foods the day before (Red Hawk and something from Jura). The wine list is not only limited, but the selection is bad and overpriced. I don't think there's too much wrong with the decor except the light is too low and the chairs too high. Service was better than what nux got, but still finding its way. I didn't think portions were small.

The bread - amateurish, oily, very oily.

[Orik]

To clarify, those were the cheeses we purchased the previous night. A&D served some slightly aged goat from Consider Bardwell and three others I don't recall.

[Wilfrid1]

Sneakeater's first post here is so dead on, I almost have nothing to add. I will, though, once I gather my thoughts.

I am starting to feel that no new restaurant should be allowed to put pork belly on its menu, and existing restaurants should be obliged to rotate it off within the next three months. Talk about overkill.