The Stanton Social - Tapas and Small Plates

[SobaAddict70]

Take his onion soup dumplings, which epitomize the way he cobbles together unrelated traditions - in this case, French and Chinese - and tweaks staples, changing their contours or contexts.

Each of these dumplings has a hot liquid center, a Gruyère-drizzled exterior and is meant to be hoisted with a toothpick and consumed in one big, flavor-detonating bite. The subsequent explosion is wonderful.

Soy-lacquered chicken and the beef Wellington were dry. Ravioli filled with braised short rib were clumpy.

The Stanton Social (Frank Bruni)

Related discussion regarding Mr. Bruni's style of reviewing and the NY Times star system can be found here.

Soba

[jogoode]

This is not my kind of restaurant, but I went last weekend for a friend's birthday. We had a ton of stuff, including the French onion soup dumplings. Fine idea, except that they were heavy and uninteresting. The perogies were delicious, crunchy all over. Were they deep fried? The subtle truffle flavor in the creme fraiche on the side was not at all gratuitous. The tiny lobster rolls, on itty-bitty brioche buns, were tasty, though there were too many vegetable chunks mixed in the with the lobster.

I appreciate the appeal of sharing many appetizers, but it's a shame that such dramatically different dishes can share a table. After a decent pizza with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, red snapper tacos, hard-shell tacos filled with mushy snapper and sweet mango salsa (wasn't there some tacit agreement in the late 90s to halt all production of mango salsa in restaurants trying to serve good food?) just seems wrong. And speaking of dissonant, when I realized that sharing even twenty little plates among eight people would leave me very hungry, I ordered short rib ravioli with tzatiki and horseradish beets. My fault: I should've known.

[larousse]

Stanton Social: * ?

One star for the Stanton? Its more like a bar with tables that serves snacks. All-be-it decent snacks but I always thought the NYT criteriea for a 'starred' restaurant would exclude places like that. Especially with Bruni. He probably took a star away from Cafe Gray because he couldn't see the park and the crystal like walls reminded him of a seventies hotel or something (and they charged him for a compted drink). What would the Michelin Man think? Maybe one star really only means it was "Good" as it says in the paper but is that really all the stars mean? My dining experience last xmas at Charlie Mom was good but does that mean it was one star or it would if it had a nice view of the perk or a swanky lounge area with mini buger plates on the L Side?

[larousse]

By the way tell me about the short rib, jojobe goode.

[Shaina]

Just went to the Stanton Social for dinner with some friends.

We had:

Goat Cheese Pierogies with truffled creme fraiche and caramelized onions;

duck empanadas w blood orange dipping sauce

kobe philly cheesesteaks w/ truffled fondue

lobster rolls

chilean sea bass satay

snapper tacos

french onion soup dumplings

edamame

chicken and waffles

foie gras pb&j

herb dusted frites

DESSERT:

s'mores cake

goat cheese crepes w thyme, honey, and candied walnuts

strawberry shortcake sundae

french donuts

Everything was excellent, even though the sundae was nothing spectacular and the crepes were a little dry. The pierogies were awesome, and I wished that I could have taken home the leftover truffled creme fraiche. The empenadas, satays, dumplings, and chicken&waffles were my favorite dishes, and because it was my birthday, I got a mini pink cupcake with a candle in it. How cute! I also thought that the foie was interesting, but the foie itself did not have a pronounced enough flavor. Overall, this restaurant was great, and I would suggest it for a fun social gathering. : )

Anyone else?

[Nathan]

it's a fun bar/party/pickup space, kind of uptown on the LES, and the food is probably better than it needs to be (the French onion soup dumplings and the sliders are all nifty).

the AvroK decor is cool. but a serious restaurant it's not.

Edited June 3, 2008 by Nathan (log)