Aye aye to seafood at Navy
Chef Camille Becerra is persistently and deliciously inventive at her new seafood bistro Navy.
Becerra is occasionally too clever for her own good, but more often than not, she intuits just the right combinations to unlock the promise of her terrific oceanic ingredients.
Becerra’s Black Bass Crudo ($15) features rhubarb, pine nuts and apricot oil, which provide an inspired counterpoint to the creamy sashimi. Her plump, juicy mussels ($15) are a chaotic — but darn tasty — melange of bivalves, charred cornmeal sourdough toast and tangy, herby caper mayo.
The well-balanced hits keep coming: Decadent, duck fatpoached chunks of mahi-mahi ($25) are expertly lightened with clean, grassy seaweed and crunchy sea beans. Earthy, satisfying crisp gnocchi ($21) frolic with sautéed wild mushroom, fingerlings and wilted ramps.
The show-stopper is Becerra’s flaky, fragrant Trout Encroute ($28) with a lemony sorrel sauce. The fish nestles under a diamondscored quilt of pastry so perfect, it looks as if it was made by one of Martha Stewart’s food stylists. You feel guilty shattering its photogenic crust — but take a bite and you’ll feel much better.
There are a couple of misses: The steak tartare ($17) is overumami’d with duck cracklin’
and poached egg — yet still managed to taste antiseptic. Desserts were hit or miss: Navy’s cinnamon-infused flan is flawless and sophisticated. But the chocolate mousse was a mess of sweet cream and gritty chocolate.
Elbow room is a precious commodity at sea, and, in keeping with the theme, at Navy. The space is so tight that the well-meaning staff sometimes goes occasionally adrift. But that shouldn’t stop anyone from booking passage on Camille Becerra’s pleasure cruise.
Twitter: @ssagner ssagner@nydailynews.com