Silence of the lamb chops
Finally, some great new restaurants that won’t damage your hearing
RESTAURANT waiters aren’t yet trying to sell us earplugs along with $15 bottles of water. But if they ever do, I’d take them at any price.
New, “important” restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn are too darn loud.
My decibel meter recently clocked readings of up to 90 — equivalent to a motorcycle roaring by — at ABCV, Loring Place, Gloria, Maison Pickle and Pig Bleecker.
But there’s hope. Here are four new places that aren’t stodgy by any stretch, but where neither I, nor my companions, had to shout to be heard.
FUSCO
43 E. 20th St.; 212-777-5314
Chef-owner Scott Conant wisely turned down the volume at Fusco, his first new freestanding NYC restaurant in 10 years. Unlike at ear-splitting Scar- petta, where he’s no longer involved, there are white tablecloths, upholstered booths and wall cushions. Background music’s so muted I hardly knew it was there (nor can I remember what was playing). We can finally enjoy Conant’s signature spaghetti al pomodoro ragù and lobster gnudi without the cacophony.
KING
18 King St.; 917-825-1618
With brick walls and closely packed tables, this West Village bistro could get noisy, but, thankfully, it only attracts a mellow crowd — mostly couples and small parties of close friends — not mood-shattering, same-sex eightsomes. You don’t strain to hear the waitstaff describe the ever-changing, eclectic menu — which nods to French, Italian and British styles — that chefs Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer cook each night. One recent standout: wild halibut grilled with vegetables and marinated anchovies.
NOBU DOWNTOWN
195 Broadway (at Fulton Street); 212-219-0500
The new two-level edition of one of the city’s most influential venues surprisingly made our “quiet” cut. Unlike the original Nobu or Nobu FiftySeven uptown, conversing’s easy in the 160-seat main dining room, even when the house is packed, as it’s been on all my night visits. At last, you can enjoy Nobu classics like black cod with miso and “Nobu now” choices like umami Chilean sea bass in something like Peruvian-Japanese serenity.
BEVY
153 W. 57th St. (Park Hyatt hotel); 212-897-2188
You expect an oldschool, high-end hotel restaurant to be cushy, comfortable — and eardrum-friendly. Yet Bevy’s far from somber. Real New Yorkers, not only tourists, generate a warm buzz over chef Chad Brauze’s arresting American menu, which includes dishes such as einkorn risotto with morel cream, mint and fava beans, and poached monkfish tail with basil, green olives and yellow peppers.