Town

[Charles Smith]

My wife took me to Town for my birthday this past Saturday and we had a wonderful dinner, with exceptional wine service-

We started by splitting the poached salmon tartare and the chilled pea soup. The soup had some muddied flavors, and was a little dissappointing, but the salmon was excellent- served with avocado and tomato- the texture was perfect, as was the seasoning- one of the best apps I've had in a while.

For mains I had the veal tongue and my wife got the striped bass- each were outstanding- the tongue was rolled, stuffed, boiled and then roasted- delicious with some Basque seasonings. The Bass was roasted perfectly- another winner.

Dessert was a trio of raspberry sorbet, vanilla frozen yogurt and chocalate icecream on one plate and sourdough chocolate cake on the other- the "colds" all had very precise flavors and the cake was good, although I have no idea what the sourdough did for it.

As for the wine, we started with a great half bottle of Condrieu Les Chaillets 2000 from Cuilleron that went very well with our starters- The mains were a tough match, so we went for a half bottle of a '97 Tuscan, but they had sold out. I went looking for a pinot or another italian bottle and asked about a $70 and an $80 bottle- the sommellier spent a good amount of time with me suggesting a '97 $50 Barbera d'Alba (great vintage for Barberas) and then got very excited about recommending a '99 Valpolicella Ripassa from Zenato. I wasn't convinced that the ripassa would work, so she said we could try it, and switch to the Barbera if it didn't work! BTW, this wine was $38, about average markup, but we had gone from $80 to $38 in a matter of minutes and the wine was excellent- very pinot-like with some strawberry and cola notes- delicious with both entrees and served in Reidel Sommeliers.

The regular service was a little strange, but fine-

overall, a great meal.

Cheers,

Charles

[johnjohn]

I also ate at Town recently (as well as did a stage in the kitchen) and thought it was a great meal. I had the pea soup and thought it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. The potato puree that came with the short ribs and rib eye was awesome. I think it is one of the top restaurants in NYC (At least that I have eaten at).

John

[Charles Smith]

Hi Liza-

Thanks!

The service wasn't bad, nor was it exceptional- where we were sitting made it feel like the waiters were sneaking up on me from behind and they didn't have a lot of space around me to work, so it seemed like they were invading my space- we were seated at the apex of a curved wall, with my wife facing the room, so I could see nothing but her without turning my head-

I did have plenty of space- the only issue was for the servers-

hope that explains it-

Cheers,

Charles

[bpearis]

A year and a half ago Town was the talk of the, uh, city. But now you don't hear about it much at all and I can't remember when the last time I read about it on this site. I never went during the hype and then sorta forgot about it. Is this what everyone else did too?

[herbacidal]

really,

i'm from philly and i was considering going for restaurant week there.

didn't really hafta look at the menu to want to go, although it did look ok.

the interior just looks gorgeous.

maybe i'll only go for drinks.

is it just the hype died down, or is it just bad now?

[bpearis]

i guess the lack of response answered my question.

[cabrales]

Zagat reports the following: "Now offers weekday $20 and $28 prix fixe lunches, with the latter comprised of signature dishes."

[Pan]

I was looking at restaurants in that vicinity lately. I considered Town but decided it wouldn't be reasonable to spend so much money without knowing it would have been likely that we'd get a great meal there. As you can see, when I searched this forum, I found a thread that hadn't been posted to since 2003, with no reports since 2002. Have any of you been to Town relatively recently? If so, how was it?

For the record (courtesy of superpages.com):

Town Restaurant

13-15 West 56, New York, NY 10001

(212) 582-4445

The website listed for Town on menupages.com is www.townrestaurant.com, and on superpages.com, www.townnyc.com. Neither website is active.

[jeanki]

I went about a year ago and really enjoyed it. I thought it was overall worth the price ($72 prix fixe back then). The room is lovely; a tall space that still feels relaxed and warm and done in modern metallics. The service was also relaxed yet polished. The food was very skillfully done with precisely managed flavors. There was a phenomenal scallop appetizer with two different sublime sauces (at that time it was a yuzu based one and a chili aioli based one), and a perfectly cooked halibut with fennel. The chocolate beignet dessert was great too. Portions are on the small side; it's more of a finicky tasting type preparation than hearty and filling. I thought it was a quintessential New York modern American dining experience, but beware if you have a huge appetite.

[Sneakeater]

I probably last went about a year and a half ago. My thoughts are almost exactly the same as jeanki's. I'd recommend it.

[ASM NY]

I was there a month or so ago. My general impression echoes the two earlier posts. I found the food to be well executed. Some of it was hit/miss. The scallops were overcooked, but the duck and the snail risotto were fantastic. The chocolate beignet dessert was excellent.

The portions were definetly small and while the bill was along the lines of a Veritas meal (ie. not outrageously expensive). We did leave hungry. Worth a visit though.