In the Magazine

Adam Platt on Tremont and Salinas; Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld on the City’s Latest Openings

Tremont.
Tremont. Photo: Danny Kim

In this week’s New York, Adam Platt visits Tremont and Salinas. At the former, he finds “one of those small, slightly self-conscious West Village restaurants that, on first inspection, look almost too polished and twee for their own good.” However, the food is a pleasant surprise: “bountiful, rib-sticking bowl of eggy, house-rolled pappardelle noodles spooned with a dense, well-simmered ­ragout”; “popping-fresh grilled baby squid that tasted like they had just been hauled from the chilly waters off Montauk (they had), and a bowl of soft hand-molded dumplings made, in the Roman style, from semolina and served in a restorative mushroom broth finished with fresh parsley and flakes of Parmesan.” This “country-style largesse” in the cooking helps earn the spot one star. Platt also drops in to Luis Bollo’s new tapas restaurant, Salinas, where unlike at the chef’s last NYC endeavor, Meigas, “the menu this time around is devoid of tricky, El Bulli-style emulsions and foams.” Rather, a number of “classic dishes are worth the price of admission,” including “garlicky, head-on langostinos al ajillo,” roast suckling pig, and “torrija caramelizada, a slab of country bread soaked like French toast in eggs and milk, then seized in a sturdy warm brûlée crust”; this restaurant earns a one-spot, too.

Meanwhile, Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld have been busying themselves with the city’s openings, including “locavore Asian” restaurant Wong, “mad scientist” chocolate shop Xocolatti; Jason Denton’s (’ino) Indie Food & Wine restaurant and concession at the new Lincoln Center cinemas; and Pane Panelle, a Sicilian sandwich window inside Tribeca’sStuzzicheria. And for something lighter, the Robs have a recipe from Japanese restaurant Takashi for sweet-potato leaves in a sesame-garlic dressing.

Adam Platt on Tremont and Salinas; Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld on the