Bobo

[Nathan]

Ate here on Saturday night.

It's in a multi-level townhouse. Bar and a few tables on the ground floor. Beautiful second floor (the decor in general is very appealing).

The diners were almost entirely composed of couples and groups of young women...mixture of locals, uptowners and a few gaggles of B&T women.

Cocktail program showed some thought and care. Actually used orgeat in the Mai Tai..etc. Drinks tended toward sweet although my Manhattan (perfect) was well-made.

They were out of a number of dishes we wanted to order. A fritto misto sampling was was simple but well-made. my almond pappardelle app with porcinis suffered from a surfeit of button mushrooms and a lack of porcinis.

Bouillabaise was decent but won't scare Balthazar's any. a companion's suckling pig, however, was pretty good.

prices are lower than you would expect.

very date-place atmospherics.

[Noodlebot]

Tried it Saturday night too and was not impressed. Lost my reservation (called Monday, confirmed Friday morning). Out of a few dishes (as Nathan described). Had the fritto misto, which was fine except that the advertised squid was missing from the dish (we were never warned). Dish consisted of 2 shrimp and about 7-8 small pieces of zucchini and eggplant. The fish dishes we ordered (tuna and striped bass) were not well seasoned and fishy--I've never experienced this with tuna. Then wrong dessert was brought--ordered tarte tatin and was brought tiramisu. Tiramisu was basically just cream w/maybe one or 2 tiny shards of lady finger. Also, the passing servers kept bumping my fiance's chair w/varying degrees of firmness. Never seemed to apologize or notice.

This is a new restaurant, and I'm sure they're still "working out the kinks" but based on the clientele, who seemed more focused on looking good than food quality, I'm not expecting much better in the future.

[raji]

So I guess no real comparison to MAS, which sounds like a similar setup at a much higher level

[Noodlebot]

So I guess no real comparison to MAS, which sounds like a similar setup at a much higher level

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Bobo is MUCH more of a scene--at least on weekends.

[Nathan]

So I guess no real comparison to MAS, which sounds like a similar setup at a much higher level

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Mas is a lot better but also quite a bit more expensive.

Bobo is only a week old.

[ulterior epicure]

Momo, Jo Jo, Bobo... is there a Ho Ho?

[Nathan]

well Babbo isn't far away...

[Nathan]

http://resy.eater.com/

heh...we were walk-ins on Saturday night.

[ulterior epicure]

http://resy.eater.com/

heh...we were walk-ins on Saturday night.

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[Alchemist]

On W. 10th Between 7th Ave South and W. 4th is a wonderfully opulant new restaurant. I have only had cocktails there, which were fantastic. The cocktail menu was desighned by Yana from Freemans. I can't wait to sit at the bar and eat.

Anybody else been there?

[Marky Marc]

LOL @ Bobo

[Nathan]

you know, I have yet to try the new menu since the original chef left for Bagatelle....but damn this is a pretty restaurant.

cocktails really are serious. jiggers are used. Q tonic and celery in the Garden Tonic. Hemingway Daq was a little too sweet (I'd say their recipe uses too much Luxardo) but it is a legitimate cocktail program.

[Nathan]

ok..the food is much improved.

had a jamon serrano salad (what's not to like?) followed by mahi with clams and asparagus in a tasty broth.

it was kind of "Hearth-lite"....somewhat overpriced for what it is...not great but inoffensive....but you're paying for the gorgeous space.

the cocktail program is simply excellent.

I much prefer this to Commerce (the most analogous restaurant I can think of)

[Nathan]

last night I finally met the guy (Navann sp.?) behind the cocktail program here...he used to work at Pegu (figures) and is quite knowledgeable. you can go off-menu with him...so chalk it up as an alternative to Little Branch...

[notahumanissue]

last night I finally met the guy (Navann sp.?) behind the cocktail program here...he used to work at Pegu (figures) and is quite knowledgeable.  you can go off-menu with him...so chalk it up as an alternative to Little Branch...

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His name is Naren Young.

[Nathan]

ah kool, yeah he knows his stuff.

Edit: sitting at the bar at Pdt and don tells me I am an idiot for not knowing who naren is.

Edited July 14, 2008 by Nathan (log)

[Nathan]

Naren premieres a new cocktail menu on Friday....mix of classics and his own creations.

Bobo was also mentioned in the Times today as having a variety of off-menu non-alcoholic drinks of distinction (I didn't know about this).

[freshherbs]

was there on friday. wife had a couple Breakfast Margaritas--interesting but weirdly not cold enough. Maybe the marmalade in it prevented it from totally chilling (??)

i had a perfectly made negroni and a well-shaken ramos gin fizz.

we sat on the patio which was a nice place to have a drink but watched what appeared to be horrendous service for the several people eating back there. still feels like some kinks need to be worked out

[Nathan]

Apparently there are some renovations in store with the downstairs more of a bar and the upstairs emphasizing dining.

Patrick Connolly's new menu is more ambitious and higher priced. I snacked on the olive oil poached lamb. the lamb was correctly cooked but the dish was essentially a salad and didn't come together for me.

[Nathan]

nifty new bar menu. mixture of items: fried cornichorns, ceviches, tasty ribs, marrow gribiche and a good burger.

[sickchangeup]

On the heels of this assertion:

http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/b...08/10/post.html

and living approximately 1.5 blocks away, I had to check it out. I've had my fair share of burgers, even made a recent (yet relatively brief) contribution to the "best of" burger thread that quite frankly I could expand a great deal on!

The short version: This isn't NY's best burger. But it's got elements that make it a contender, it adds something to the conversation without a doubt, and with a tweak or two...

The burger as described by Knowlton:

"[Chef Patrick] Connolly takes D'Artagnan ground beef (80/20 ratio of lean to fat) mixes it with salt and pepper, minced shallots, and a bit of olive oil. The burger is first seared on the griddle and then finished in the oven. To the bottom half of a Balthazar bun, he layers leeks pickled in Champagne vinegar and simple syrup. Gruyere cheese is melted on the burger and fried leeks are piled on top."

A photo of it appears on the gourmet site, so I won't reproduce it here.

Before I describe what I didn't like about the burger, I'll share this: I'll take these pickled leeks over any other pickle I've ever had in a burger, and I'll take the fried leeks over any fried onion hay/strings as well. That's the best part, and since it's the most creative (i.e. the rest can be tweaked without changing the burger), this gives the "bobu" a ton of potential.

As for what I didn't like, it was mostly the bread and the meat - but not for how they tasted. As soon as I read that the burger was finished in the oven, I was skeptical. In theory you gain a juicier burger, while sacrificing some crust. In practice you almost always get an overcooked burger. And sure enough, my "medium rare" arrived "medium well" or even "well" - a few spots of light pink, but otherwise brown. The best part of ordering medium rare burgers is that by the time your crust is ready on both sides, your burger is ready as well. If you insist on sliding it into the oven it's like a bed sheet that's not long enough - either your toes or upper body are gonna go cold, or in this case you'll either lose char or proper temperature. My medium well burger left me unable to comment properly on the taste of the meat.

As for the bun, I'm guessing it's a nice thing that you can walk across the street and pick up a 6 pack of Balthazar buns from Gourmet Garage whenever you need 'em. But there is just waaay too much bread, and neither a relatively mild tasting gruyere nor an overcooked patty had a chance with all that bread. The bread tastes good, I just wish there was less of it - if you perfectly arrange your patty in the center of your bread, you still have a good 1/3rd of an inch of bread surrounding the patty.

So I think next time (and there will definitely be a next time!) I'll send it back if it's not medium rare, and I'll trim away some bread.

As for the rest of the menu, and the restaurant - it was quite nice. The lunch menu was very creative, the bar drinks menu looked positively impressive (although we stuck with coffee), and they encouraged us to go upstairs to look around. Quite nice.

We ordered a side of "marrow dauphines", which was awesome. Apparently they mixed marrow into a cheeto shaped potato dauphines (only two were left by the time we thought to take a photo):

The amount of flavor was incredible, I kept trying to figure out how this little puffy thing packed such a punch. The dipping sauce was also quite interesting, a testament that we used it at all - so flavorful were the dauphines.

My wife had the omelet (cheddar and herbs) which came with fries, which were also very good and had some form of light batter on them. This was by no means a light lunch, but between the tasty grease and the excellent hair of the dog options, this place has to find some success in the village no? The coffee was very nice, and service was attentive despite an almost empty restaurant.

In the end, the creativity definitely left me wanting to return for dinner and drinks, which I'll do someday soon I'm sure.

[sickchangeup]

Apparently there are some renovations in store with the downstairs more of a bar and the upstairs emphasizing dining.

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I don't know what it looked like before renovations, but right now the downstairs is definitely more of a bar, and the upstairs definitely emphasizes dining :-)