August

[ckkgourmet]

I had a good meal, about a year ago, at August, but I can't say that it was so good or unusual that I thought it worth going back. Perhaps you can recommend a few other dishes?

[harlanturk]

Anything Pork (milk braised was best), and can't miss with the Whole Roasted Fish (with a wonderful salmoriglio). Another simple and superlative pleasure is Berries en Papillote with Madeleines. The thing is, his menu is built by freshness, and his staff seasoned, that I am confident enough to say you can just ask your waiter, and they could provide with the best of suggestions, rather than push the lesser of dishes. August’s truths (in cooking and courtesy) precede them.

Tart Flambé and Blistered Peppers are a must though.

[ewindels]

Great experience at August this past Saturday night. An announced wait of twenty minutes was happily reduced to ten, which left me time to toss back a glass of cava and marvel at the coordination of the three tiny disparate kitchens.

Not much to say about the look of the place. Those with a dislike of tiny, noisy places should avoid the busier hours or the place altogether. Service was impressively smooth and unobtrusive for such a cramped space.

Loved everything we had, starting with the garnacha, which had a real upfront bite to it. The tarte flambee is perfect, as was a salad of shaved white asparagus and celeriac in a lightly zesty dressing. The meaty halibut was perfectly cooked, as was my bavette de boeuf. The frites I ordered could have been a little darker for my tastes, but were nonetheless crisp and delicious, particularly with the accompanying house-made mayonnaise. We finished off with perfect profiteroles. $75 a person with tax and tip. Highly recommended, especially on an unexpectedly blustery spring night.

[blilie]

I walked in around 7 on May 5th (a Friday) and was seated immediately in the garden area in the back. (Though by the time we left a bit after 9 the place was packed inside and out). My lamb salad was incredible -- for reasons I can't put my finger on. I think the quality of the meat may have been exceptional and it was certainly perfectly cooked. It was also perfectly seasoned. I wasn't as crazy about my friend's Matzoh Ball soup (which was $18) but the matzoh balls were stuffed with chicken liver, which I liked. We also ordered artichoke with anchovy mayonaise as an appetizer, and some sort of potato/ham/gruyere appetizer with-a-name-I-forget which was mostly cheese and therefore just rich and salty -- not overly so, but not all that subtle or interesting. Two apps, two main courses and a glass of wine came to $148. I liked the place a lot -- it reminded me a bit of Gascogne in Chelsea, but pleasantly updated -- not quite so old and musty-seeming.

[Noodlebot]

My boyfriend and I arrived at August at around 9:30 tonight expecting the worst since this restaurant does not accept reservations and was recently positively reviewed in the NYT, yet hoping for the best since it was the first summery holiday weekend and a lot of people presumably went away. Luckily, we were quoted a 20 minute wait, and that was about exactly as long as we waited in a nook across from the bar and oven area before we were seated in the greenhouse-like, glass-ceilinged black room.

August's bread basket deserves special mention--the delicious bread (nice crust, creamy center) was served warm with butter served at a spreadable temperature. It was hard not to fill up on this. My entree was the soft shell crab grenoblaise--2 soft shell crabs served over wilted greens. The crabs were nice, but the croutons/sauce they were topped by was unpleasantly vinegary. The vinegar theme continued with my boyfriend's lamb salad. The lamb was a delicious, obviously high-quality piece of meat served barely seared. Unfortunately, the lamb slices were arranged around some vinegar-soaked bread topped with a mound of vinegar-dressed salad.

I finished my meal with the toffee pudding--not a pudding, but a soft cake served in a pool of toffee syrup. I really loved this dessert.

While I wasn't blown away by some aspects of this meal, I appreciate August's high-quality ingredients and attention to preparation, and I'd like to return to try some other items that might not be as vinegar-based.

[jimk]

According to the Augustny.com, the restaurant's new exec chef (replacing Tony Liu) is Terrence Gallivan. His bio is "coming soon" to the web site but I'm told he comes from Fiamma. (Interestingly, Jody Williams's name still appears prominently on Morandi's home page).

Looking forward to seeing what Gallivan's all about once he's made the menu his own. I imagine the rustic pan-European concept would be appealing to a chef looking to run his own kitchen for (I assume) his first time.