Crain's New York Business
French Standard for New Century
In TriBeCa, Nieporent's Corton Excels with Clean, Precise, Intense Flavors; Affordable Dishes.
by Bob Lape
****
November 8, 2008
CORTON
239 West Broadway (between Walker and White streets)
(212) 219-2777
www.cortonnyc.com
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CUISINE Modern French
WINES 925 wines, 16 by the glass
DRESS No code
NOISE LEVEL Conversational
PRICE RANGE Three-course prix fixe, $76; tasting menu, $110
WINE MARKUP 25%-180%
CREDIT CARDS All major
RESERVATIONS Recommended
HOURS Dinner, Mon.-Thurs., 5:30-10:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.
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* * * *= Outstanding
* * *= Excellent
* *= Very good
*= Good
Corton, Drew Nieporent's superb new restaurant named for Burgundy's largest area of Grand Cru wines, is really all about great food and service. It's no surprise that the man whose Montrachet sparked TriBeCa's renaissance 23 years ago creates with even greater style and finesse for the 21st century.
Mr. Nieporent's partner in this suave, romantic venture blooming in a drastically reworked footprint of Montrachet is Chef Paul Liebrandt. An amazingly innovative culinarian, Chef Liebrandt trained with top toques in Paris, London and New York before earning three stars at Atlas and Gilt.
Corton is a chef's dream, a 65-seat dining room with five more at the bar. Owner Nieporent chortles that this softly lit, comfortable space has no bad tables. Former David Rockwell colleague Stephanie Goto's design is of luxuriously deployed chairs and banquettes. Tables are set in Bernardaud china and Christofle silver. White walls are embossed with vines and leaves, echoed in five displays of colorful fall foliage around the room.
Chef Liebrandt and his brigade of 10 work contemporary magic in a kitchen he designed. It is flame-free with immersion baths for slow-cooked sous vide dishes, some finished on a plancha before serving. Flavors are clean, precise and intense.
They are also affordable. Cooking at this accomplished level costs much more at any of the very few other restaurants in town capable of such soaring sustenance.
Mr. Liebrandt's is a painterly approach, and each dish has as much visual sparkle as surprise and flavor harmony. He has never been better, and that's saying a lot.
First-course options might be a rich red Kuri squash velouté poured over a porcini ragu and dappled with truffle oil and crisped porcinis; or a daily-changing dish called From the Garden, a marvelous mélange of fresh baby vegetables and fruit, some sautéed, some cooked sous vide, all wonderful. Counterpoint to lush foie gras are blood orange segments and a hibiscus-beet gelée. Uni crème, radish and Marcona almonds set off scallops.
There are always extras at Nieporent/ Liebrandt meals. It might be an oyster glazed with hazelnut oil and grapefruit confit, and sprinkled with toasted buckwheat. Or smoked pasta with white truffles from Burgundy, an unassertive variety. Or butter laced with seaweed.
Exciting entrées: succulent, mild Scottish partridge with red cabbage and quince, and a separate small pan of almost confit-like leg. Delicate turbot has a spiced almond crust, an accent of black garlic, and a side of tender little gnocchi tossed with Serrano ham.
A memorable dish for two is a superb slow-cooked, French-raised, Label Rouge chicken paired with autumn fruit compote, artichoke barigoule and brown bread jus. Razor clam chowder is part of the savory show with wild striped bass; a squab preparation includes smoked bacon and chestnut cream.
Corton desserts by Robert Truitt (Morimoto, Philadelphia) are not overly sweet. They may start with quince sorbet covered in lime foam, shaved lime dust, shiso leaf and diced apple. Chocolate and hazelnut tastes abound in the gianduja palette with coconut sorbet and yuzu paste. Mr. Truitt's petits fours, often exotically flavored macaroons and other candies, are a fun finale to a four-star experience.
With Mr. Nieporent himself waiting tables, the cosseting level is high. I love the fact that any member of the waitstaff can parse every dish.
Sommelier Elizabeth Harcourt can do the same for the awesome wine possibilities. The reserve list is 740. Guests may study it at leisure on the Web site and order any bottle 24 hours ahead of time. There are some extraordinary buys on high-end bottles, and very fair prices on them all.
I don't know about timing, but the Drew-and-Paul show represents extraordinary quality and value in modern dining.