Is any press good press? You have to wonder as Chef Jason Neroni was accused by a former boss of stealing (charges were dropped), and then called-out when he solicited votes for a James Beard Award. This all seemed to help his new restaurant of employment, 10 Downing 10 Downing Street, New York, NY 10014, get attention from New York Magazine, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.
Those reviews were all written in March and the menu has since changed, leaving us to choose on our own, with the exception of the charcuterie platter. Unfortunately, this recommended sharing plate failed in our eyes. Bianca, Lon, and I all found fault with a too sweet serrano, a weakly flavored duck prosciutto, and a rubbery pork something. The pate was squishy in that canned tuna fish kind of way, leaving us with only good impressions of the lamb proscuitto, flavorful and a beautiful red, worthy of roses.
The plate was delivered without explanation and when I asked, the server guessed and then gave up, signaled by some switching and then just mumbling until he ran away. We also noticed later that we were not given the basket of bread all the other tables had. Lon asked for it, which rewarded us with focaccia showing off big holes, and nice buttery breadsticks. Don’t fill up on the sugary cornbread.
They don’t have a license for hard liquors but Bianca and I enjoyed whites by the glass, and Lon had an amazing Gewurztraminer Juice. We were so thrilled to see an interesting non-alcoholic menu, and we made note to buy a case of this grape juice (looks like wine in the glass) from Navarro. The perfume is like candy, but it’s not overly sweet.
The Spot Prawn Risotto was fabulous, a subtle seafood flavor throughout, sweetened with some pumpkin, creamy and soothing. The prawns were crunchy and juicy. You have to eat the heads, legs, and all to get the full rewards of such a fresh and well prepared dish.
The Marrow Bones were rich, coating the tongue like a warm cloak for winter.
The whole menu was enticing, with such great variations in accompaniments to each protein. I was swayed to the Veal Breast and Sweetbreads because of the lentils and chanterelles, which did not disappoint. They were buttery and al dente, enriching the veal breast, which was nice but took second seat. They were juicy but parts were chewy; the sweetbreads were perfectly soft.
Bianca ordered the Strip Loin, possibly the best we’ve had in a long time. A perfect cube of medium-rare, juicy grass-fed meat. It convinced me that Neroni is careful about sourcing.
Lon had the skate, which looked like a perfect fan right on top of firm but tender brussels sprouts, an al dente texture that has escaped brussels sprouts until now.
The side of Shoestring Fries with Truffle Salt were rather limp, under-seasoned on top, but turned into salt over-kill when you got half-way down.
When it was time for dessert, our waitress recommended the cinnamon doughnuts but they were too dense and dry inside.
At roughly $70 per person (including tax and tip), I was happy with the food, very satisfying New American Bistro, but the service was not on par, ill-informed and lost. This one will probably slip into the forgotten pile.
Filed under American and New American, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Oh! Everything looks delicious…great pictures as well 🙂
The gewurztraminer juice sounds very interesting! its one of my favorite wines!
its really sad that they have such good food and yet such poor service. The strip loin looked amazing as did the marrow. Felt like scooping it our right here.
But folks have to get their entire right. Service is such an important part of eating out. With so much competition one doesn’t tend to get a second chance