Elio's . A Tresaure

[robert brown]

In a city whose dining has been taken over by small plates, high chairs, and spoon feeding, it's good to know that unsung but rock-solid restaurants like Elio's provide a refuge, if not an oasis, from the increasingly dilutive experience of dining out in New York. Once an often-visitor who then strayed, I heeded a suggestion from my wife's daughter that reminded us that it might be time, after six or seven years, to return once more. I give thanks that nothing has changed. Elio's is still packed and noisy and the cooking is as always. What has changed, however, is my appreciation of a very good restaurant that all it needs to do is not to tamper with success, keep doing what it always has, and turn out fresh-tasting, highly-consistent and dependable food year after year, of which Elio's must have close to 30.

If you're of the type who has to make some kind of a mark on a place and kid yourself into fooling that some maitre d'hotel or chef-restaurateur thinks you're the incarnation of Cournonsky or Lucien Tendret, then go elsewhere. Elio's is well-oiled, machine-like in its service and is noteworthy for the relative speed that it gets the food to your table. I have no idea who the head chef is, if there is one, or who Elio is, though I think a deceased editor at Random House named Fox and his wife are the money in it and that Mrs. Fox is there most of the time. True, its clientele has been going there for decades, and it shows in the color and coloring of their hair. The menu is big enough, and there are a half-dozen or so specials every night, that you could easily visit once or twice a week. For someone like me who gets to dine in Italy fairly often, Elio's is a decent substitute between excursions. I'm a sucker for the seafood salad, and tonight I also had a perfect grilled calf's liver with onions. It's probably best to go after the room quiets down and the noise level is no longer irksome. Of course if you like your restaurants noisy, then that's another reason to go at the peak dining hour. Let's hope, then, that nothing about Elio's changes.

[weinoo]

Interested parties...Elio's is at # 1621 2nd Ave, (At 84th St).