CATA, my new favorite Spanish restaurant in lower Manhattan, is a delightful find. Easy on a summer evening, this is a tapas spot with all the delicious bites you would expect from the country of origin: slices of iberico, pan tostada with delicious fresh tomato salsa, grilled peppers with sea salt, prawns, chickpea fritters, grilled wagyu. It’s all wonderful, particularly when accompanied by one of the inventive gin and tonics from their long list of choices or a glass of pale Provencal rose. One of the stars of this family styled restaurant is the fact that the high table top is cut in to squares that slide along tracks, providing a modular set up that gives you your own table to dine at.
In Japan, Ootoya is a chain of restaurants that offers single female diners tables only downstairs or upstairs, but not on the main floor. Not so in their large and airy space on West 18th Street where, by 6PM, the majority of the tables are bagged by families with babies, single diners and couples — all Asian. The chef is very good (although my companion did not feel that his mackerel had been prepared properly) and the menu diverse and extensive. And inexpensive. Try a mini don of salmon and salmon roe over sushi rice accompanied by miso soup, custard and picked vegetables, all for $12. Can’t be beat.
http://www.ootoya.us/index.html
Metta, Norberto Piattoni's Fort Green neighborhood restaurant[/caption]
Francis Mallmann, the revered Argentinian chef made famous by his many restaurants around the world, a couple of books on his cooking style and a hit television series, Chef's Table, has ensured his legacy with a diaspora of chef proteges, two of whom have rolled up in New York. Norberto, better known to his friends as Negro, recently opened Metta, a neighborhood restaurant located on a quiet corner two blocks from the Fort Greene farmers market in Brooklyn. It offers sustainably sourced, vegetable-forward dishes all cooked in a custom designed, open-fire kitchen, using South American asado techniques, utilizing all aspects of the fire (smoke, flame, ash and embers) to create layers of flavor in dishes. Packed with happy diners the night I went, it is relaxed, delicious, interesting and fun.
[caption id="attachment_8248" align="alignnone" width="500"]
Flora Bar, Ignacio Mattos' third opening in New York[/caption]
Ignacio Mattos was born in Uruguay and learned to cook in the kitchens of Mallman and Slow Food legend, Alice Waters. His two other restaurants in New York, Estela, with its bold, Mediterranean-inspired cooking, and Altro Paradiso, with its Italian cuisine, are favorites of mine. Now, Ignacio has come with his team to the Met Brauer on 76th and Madison, offering small bites as well as main dishes in a comfortable setting either indoors or on the open terrace. Service is superb, wines delicious and the food captivating. The space, in my opinion, could do with some tlc - easily accomplished. If you can serve food like that, a bit of flower planting and decorating should come easy.
"
["post_title"]=>
string(21) "The Mallmann Diaspora"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(21) "the-mallmann-diaspora"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2017-05-30 11:34:14"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2017-05-30 15:34:14"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(31) "http://lisalindblad.com/?p=8253"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
}