Dona

[chefboy24]

donatellas new restaurant. opening this month. former bellini space. mike psilakis chef.

anyone heard anything?

[chefboy24]

oh come on no one knows anything?

[rich]

oh come on no one knows anything?

←

I used to know things, but not anymore.

[chefboy24]

oh come on no one knows anything?

←

I used to know things, but not anymore.

←

well. had a wonderful dinner at dona last night.

let me just say this used to be the bellini space, on 52nd & 3rd. it was renovated recently and its gorgeous. everything is yellow, the banquets, the flowers (and there are many), the chairs. gorgeous dining room & bar.

onto the menu:

the chef is michael psilakis from onera. made famous from his sweetbread tasting menu over there. he's got 2 stars at onera and will probably get 3 at dona.

this menu was all about italy & greece. 4 course tasting menu similar to l'impero. uncooked/cooked/pasta/meat or fish. for $58. folks this is a steal!

i started with a "crudo" plate of kumamoto oysters & sea urchin. fresh fresh fresh!

my date had the tartare plate....actually had some raw marlin on one dish with yellowtail on another. delicious.

moved on to apetizers. i had scallops & sweetbreads. delicious! this is what sweetbread is all about. there were some candied kumquats, bacon, a syrup. this dish was heaven. my date had the sardines which came with alittle salad & vinaigrette. very nice as well but not as good as the scallop & sweetbread.

pasta was amazing. i had the gnudi with truffle butter. pleasure filled bombs of happiness. my date had the butternut squash tortelli. very unusual, surprising. tasted like baking spices & apple pie. delicious.

for entree i had the cod, meaty & firm. came with some asparagus & a mushroom broth. my date had the dorade which she loved.

the wine was fantastic. the sommelier is a woman and she knew her stuff. we had wine paired with each course & can't remember all of them except one....a rioja blanco called allende. delicious! peachy cinnamon oak elegancy i didn't know was possible from white rioja.

didn't have any desserts .i was stuffed and it was late.

my only problem was that there was no music in the dining room. oh, also, the clientelle. the most fake tan plastic surgery upper east side 55+ year old beasts. gross. i'm talking bleach blond hair puffs & tan leather skin & channel everything. not that i really cared, i had a nice corner banquette. but this seems to be a foodie menu, not a steamed vegetable & plain fish place. hopefully the foodies will come. maybe what i saw was the davidburke & donatella crowd. ?? not sure.

service was flawless. really knowledgeable waitstaff, smooth, choreographed. beautiful china & stemware.

i dont know if that prix fixe will last. because that is a steal.

Edited April 2, 2006 by chefboy24 (log)

[chefboy24]

http://dinersjournl.blogs.nytimes.com/index.php

bruni diners journal.

maybe 3 stars are comin! i enjoyed my meal there for sure. easily on the same level as country or blt fish or l'impero

Edited April 19, 2006 by chefboy24 (log)

[docsconz]

My wife and I met John Talbott last year in Paris. We had a wonderful time together, but unfortunately missed his wife. At the time we discovereed that John and I were alumni of the same Medical School and our wives, both nurses were alumnae of the same College. Needless to say, when we found out that they would be in NYC at a time that was doable for us to make a quick visit, we jumped on the chance to get together with them to dine. A friend of John's had strongly suggested Dona, a relatively new Mid-town East restaurant that has received surprisingly little play here on eGullet even after Frank Bruni awarded it two stars last June.

The space is comfortably elegant. We were seated in a corner banquette with a good view of the room. Nibbling on some bread sticks we ordered cocktails (an "updated Bellini" for me - Cava with lavender infused peach syrup) and perused the menu. It seems that they may have redone the organization menu a little bit from the way it is presented on menupages.com. I did not see or notice distinctions between traditional and modern and wound up with some of both. The menu was organized in three parts: appetizers, mains and "seasonal", which were essentially the specials of the day. In addition they offered a tasting menu.

I started with the scallop appetizer: diver scallop, saffron gelee, pickled celery & taylor bay scallop, marcona almond espresso. This dish was very tasty as the accompaniments married well with the raw scallops. I particularly enjoyed the taylor bay scallops with the marcona almond espresso, the sauce of which tasted very much like uni to me.

Next I had the Duck & Chestnut Mezzaluma that consisted of duck confit, duck jus, queso di cabra and fresh sauteed mushrooms. This was quite tasty and quite rich.

For my main course I had a dish that apparently was from the "traditional" side. This was grilled Branzino with artichoke confit & fingerling potatoes, artichoke broth lemon & extra virgin olive oil. Though still quite good, this was my least favorite of the dishes I had.

My wife had the Paella soup, which she enjoyed very much and a seared tuna dish that was less successful as it was a bit on the dry side.

We split two bottles of Spanish reds. One was a monastrell and garnacha based wine from Jumilla. The other was a cab blend from the Emporda in Catalunya. Unfortunately, I do not recall the specific producers, but they were both quite nice and good values. I agree with Chefboy's assessment of the sommalier as being very sharp.

I will leave it to John to describe his and his wife's meal.

The service was good without any significant gaffes. Donatella repeatedly visited the table next to ours, but was not really "working" the room. I did not see Chef Psilakis at all and do not know if he was even in the house.

Overall, my wife and I had a wonderful time. Though most of the credit for that belongs to the company we kept, the food and restaurant deserve at least some credit for that as well. While I can certainly recommend this restaurant and would return, I did not find it so compelling that it command my attention over other restaurants that I have yet to dine at or some of my current favorites. I think Bruni's assessment of this restaurant was accurate.

[Daniel]

I am so happy the place is still doing well. I have had the pleasure of meeting Chef on several occasions at his old spot, Onera. There he was super attentive and would cook as well as stand in the dining room folding napkins and refilling waters.. He has a super work ethic and such talent and imagination, I hope he is doing well..

[iheartoffal]

Don't miss the desserts here. Bill Corbett (formerly of WD-50) recently took over the pastry kitchen, and--from what I gather--he's doing some remarkable things.

[oakapple]

I am so happy the place is still doing well. I have had the pleasure of meeting Chef on several occasions at his old spot, Onera.

←

Psilakis is still listed as chef/owner at Onera. Is he splitting time between the two?

[oakapple]

From Grub Street comes the astonishing news that Dona has lost its lease, and is closing this Saturday. Donatella Arpaia says that she hopes to find another location and re-open, but she has no time frame.

[docsconz]

From Grub Street comes the astonishing news that Dona has lost its lease, and is closing this Saturday. Donatella Arpaia says that she hopes to find another location and re-open, but she has no time frame.

←

Wow, that is astonishing news! Given that they are apparently already working on another restaurant, haute Greek in style, I wonder if they will ever bother returning to this project?

[Fat Guy]

The press release the restaurant sent around today said:

January 2, 2007 (New York, NY) – Donatella Arpaia, New York’s famed restaurateur behind davidburke & donatella and Dona restaurants, has announced that Dona will be closing its doors after service on Saturday January 6th due to real estate circumstances. The building in which Dona is housed is being sold to a developer.

Arpaia and her partner, Chef Michael Psilakis, are currently searching for a new location in which to place the Dona concept. Dona, which opened in March 2006, has enjoyed much success in its first year. The restaurant received a glowing two star review from The New York Times, it was named one of Esquire's Best New Restaurants in 2006, and Bon Appetit magazine named its Gnudi Dish of the Year

“It’s very emotional for me to have to leave this space,” says Arpaia. “This is where I started my career as a restaurateur nine years ago with Bellini, and then spent so much time reinventing the room to create Dona. We are working hard to find a new location where we can continue serving our First Generation Cuisine.”