Almond
Posted by bellastraniera - 26/02/10 at 04:02 pm Tell someone the address of Almond restaurant, and they’re liable to say: “Wasn’t that Borough/Rocco’s/Caviar and Banana/Commune?” The answer is yes, yes, yes and yes. Walking into the space may also make you experience déjà vu all over again, because interior has many of the same elements of its predecessor Borough – the same tables and chairs, the same posh billiards room in back, the same rough-hewn wood lining the walls, the same popular bar scene – with a prettified face lift of coral wallpaper and gilt-framed mirrors.
Before you consider the place doomed, know that while this is still El Chod’s space, the owners of the very successful Almond restaurant from the Hamptons are much of the time, making sure things run smoothly. The crowd has gotten a polish too. Gone are those grubby locavores that patronized Borough, now the crowd includes stick-thin women in wrap dresses and big jewelry, men with winter tans and cashmere V-necks. (”They’re not on our team, ladies,” our waitress whispered.) Chelsea Clinton dined there on a recent night. Celebrities, gays, emaciated women, face lifts: Almond is a Hamptons away from the Hamptons, and I mean that in the best possible way.
To my dismay, Almond just changed their cocktail menu, which is too bad because now it doesn’t include the Sidecar Royale ($12), which was a luxe version of the sidecar with champagne and a sugar rim. Maybe the bar will make one on request if you ask for it.
The house smoked bluefish with Greek yogurt, dill, and crispy latke ($10.50) was a noble effort: I endorse any attempt to popularize smoked bluefish. Almond’s has the right flavor, but it’s a little on the light side. Properly smoked bluefish should really stink. The house-cured copa crudo ($9) with with a lemony salad of baby greens was very nice, though again they needed more oomph in the smokehouse. Can you even really smoke things in Manhattan given the restrictive zoning laws? Unclear.
Don’t skip the sides: Swiss-cheesy mac and cheese ($7) was very good one night, a little under-salted on another, and there was no salt on the table. (Update on this trend from a friend of mine who was a server at the Palm: Apparently the reason that salt shakers aren’t on the table anymore isn’t because of any Bloomberg initiative but because people have been stealing them. Even rich people. Even at fancy places. No kidding.) The mac and cheese is emblematic of Almond itself: it’s not crazy good, it’s not bad, but it’s nourishing and sustaining and provides you with decent food while you’re enjoying the scene. A side of polenta ravioli ($7) was highly unorthodox – you’d be as likely to see a starch inside a starch in Italy as you would a turducken – but still very good and delectably buttery.
The kitchen puts a lot of focus on sauces and sides but sometimes neglects the central piece of meat or fish on the plate. An entree of grilled sea scallops with caramelized endive polenta ravioli, duck prosciutto and cippolini onions ($26.25) seemed calibrated for a girly palate, with several clashing sweet tastes and slightly tough scallops in the center. While the arctic char was bland and under-salted, the huckleberry sauce that accompanied it was too sweet.
The roast chicken “au vin” ($19.25) with its thyme-flecked crispy skin fared better, and the accompanying “au vin” sauce added more depth of flavor without overpowering everything else on the plate.
While an entrée listing of “steamed market vegetables with a single boiled egg” may be unintentionally hilarious, the croque provencal was a gargantuan amount of food. It was a flavorful, good gratin, but the mega size of it all rendered it very un-French.
Almond offers a rotating cast of daily specials, like the whole roasted fish available on Thursdays. Our roasted sea bass experience was problematic, since we did not get to see the whole, beautiful fish before they filleted it. Then there was the case of the missing avocado. After remarking that it tasted “like spa food,” because the fish was so mild and naked, J. Marciano realized they’d neglected to add the avocado intended to be part of the dish. When the missing avocado was delivered, the fatty butteriness really did change up the whole equation, but unfortunately we’d already eaten half the fish by then. Everything surrounding the fish – bruschetta with an olive puree, perfectly cooked vegetables dressed in basil vinaigrette – were intensely flavorful and excellent.
For dessert, a pear cake with red wine sorbet was one of the best things we ate all night one night – the light texture, dense fruit flavor of the mildly sweet cake played off the tartness of the wine sorbet – a real winner.
For the most part, the food at Almond is decent, not fantastic. And yet – and yet! – I have recommended Almond to several people and returned here to dine again. Why? Because like the best Hamptons locale, it’s comfortable but glamorous. The menu is varied, the theme is consistent, and you don’t have to sell your first born to get a table here, even for five or six people. Unlike Borough, which was all over the place, this restaurant has real direction and substance – and will probably be at 12 East 22nd Street for a long time to come.
Almond
12 East 22nd Street, between Fifth Avenue and Broadway
New York, NY
212-228-7557
almondnyc.com
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bellastraniera
a.k.a. Marcy Swingle - obsessed with food and fashion.
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