02.23.08

Review of Allen & Delancey, Saturday January 2008

Posted in American, Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 9 to 10 at 17:44 by Dominique

115 Allen St. & Delancey St., 212-253-5400 (now closed, RIP)
Great for: high-end pub atmosphere, fantastic food, impressing a foodie date, beer lovers

I try to follow foodie news and chef gossip, so I was very excited to hear that Gordon Ramsay’s ex-number two, Neil Ferguson, had opened his own place. I’ve been to the London Hotel, which Mr. Ferguson helmed until his departure, and it was very good but not worth the stratospheric prices. I didn’t know what to expect – the Boyfriend and I pretty much came in with open minds.

We were impressed by the bread, to start with. The bacon and sage roll was salty goodness. We got really excited, expecting that our ordered food would also be exceptional, and we were not disappointed.  My scallops with celery root cream, braised cipollini onions and verjus were fantastic. I was sorely tempted to pick up the plate and lick it clean. The Boyfriend felt similarly about his leeks vinaigrette with truffled fingerling potatoes and prosciutto shavings. It was cold, yummy and salty. We wondered if we’d done anything particularly praiseworthy recently to deserve such blissfully good food. However, we were a little nervous that the entrées wouldn’t live up to the appetizers’ promise.

We needn’t have worried. I think pretty much all we could say was “Omigod” for a while. The Boyfriend’s fluke in cauliflower cream with parsley root and trompettes was great. We couldn’t find the trompettes, but I hate mushrooms so that wasn’t a problem. My lamb chop persillade with braised middle neck and potato purée was even better; so good I forgot to drink my cocktail. I don’t think I’ve ever had such tender lamb. It was like an orgy in my mouth.

Of course, after such delights we had to try dessert as well; purely for review purposes, you understand. We got the chocolate peanut butter tart with malted milk sorbet and whiskey vanilla shake and Gianduja chocolate terrine with milk chocolate sorbet and blood oranges. Generally neither of us like peanut butter combined with chocolate but our excellent waiter said it was a specialty of the house so we said what the hell. And what a specialty it was! We couldn’t help exclaiming “Mmmm!” between every bite. The terrine was equally fantastic, consisting of flourless chocolate cake, hazelnut millefeuille and Gianduja panna cotta.

Happily, they seem to put as much care into their cocktails as their food. We had to try the signature “Allen” and “Delancey” cocktails, of course. The former is Charbay green tea vodka, sake and jasmine citrus – good, very subtle and tea-y; the latter is prosecco, pomegranate and St. Germain elderflower liqueur, which is yummy and not too sweet. The Boyfriend next went for the Dogfish Head 90 minutes IPA Rehoboth, which is a dark beer of higher-than-normal proof. He said it was good. They also have a ton more beers – I never drink beer so you will have to discover how good the other ones are yourself.  The Gibson, a proper gin martini with Noilly Prat (the Rolls-Royce of vermouths, according to Wikipedia), was good but very strong and a little bit burning on the way down. On the rare occasions I’ve had gin martinis straight up, though, they burned too so I wouldn’t say that’s a defect of the martini here as much as of me.

I love the ambience of this place. You duck through a curtained doorway into what looks at first like a very upscale, small bar. There are handsome men shaking cocktails and lots of dark blond wood. Then, if you’re lucky enough to have a reservation, you look around for tables and realize there’s another room. You walk through a little hallway and then emerge into the dining room, where you finally find the hostess. It all feels so grown-up and sophisticated; the furniture looked a bit rustic to me, but in an English ducal estate we’ve-had-this-for-300-years kind of way. It’s cozy without being too casual.

We had lovely service from our waiter, who patiently put up with my dithering over the menu (I have to pretend to take a long time and need second looks, so as to type everything into my phone – it doesn’t help that the Boyfriend frequently doesn’t know what he wants until he’s ordering!) and the Boyfriend’s many questions about the beer.  He also steered us well in our food choices.  Our courses took a little longer than I would expect, but the restaurant is pretty new and I’m sure that will be ironed out soon.  I am really happy that this place is right by my new apartment and will have to stop myself from eating here too much, or I’ll be fat.

Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $210
Noise level: pockets of hubbub, but the tables are spaced far enough apart to not feel noisy
Chance of walking in: Low. Now closed.

Neil Ferguson left around the end of 2008, but the place is still packed.  They now do a Tuesday happy hour with half-off special cocktails.  The new drinks menu has ten complicated, very strong drinks that are all terrific (yup, I’ve had all of them.  In only two sittings.)  There are a few different dishes offered now and a 7-course tasting menu for $78 that looks really tempting.  On Tuesdays they also do a special bar menu that I can’t wait to try more of – the Cuban sandwich was the best I’ve ever had.  And the fries… they just seem to toss them off but they’re perfect.  If the place weren’t so expensive I’d definitely be here all the time.

They are now on chef #3, but the food is still fantastic. The special (very cheap) Tuesday bar food menu is gone. There is a new list of ten or so special cocktails, which are still half off on Tuesdays, and you can order most of the dining room menu. We tried the tagliolini with shrimp (lovely), “bologna” with cheese (fun and tasty), short ribs (heavenly) and skate (terrific). The cocktails were great too.

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