Blame it on Restaurant Week, but on a recent Wednesday night Olana, the nearly year-old restaurant just north of Madison Square Park, was hopping. For a neighborhood that seems to be giving itself a makeover (so long, dull gray area on taxi cab maps!) in order to accommodate the inhabitants of recently arrived upscale apartment buildings, Olana seems to act as a safe-bet canteen, without the price tag or pretense of nearby 11 Madison Park or the super-sized glitz of Prana, the 2-month old, airplane-hanger-sized Indian-fusion palace across the street.
Olana has the ambience shared by many restaurants with entrees running between $20-$30; servers in ties glide through the blood-red room delivering plates, water glasses are never allowed to go empty and, this night, the crowd was made up of the usual assortment of characters one expects to see out these days. Skinny-Girl-Typing-on-Her-BlackBerry was happy to order another bright red cocktail for her gaggle and look, across from her, Middle-Aged-Pashmina-Enthusiast sharing a bottle of wine with Doughy Banker! The only things that keeps Olana from appearing to have come pre-assembled from the Nice Restaurant Store are the out-of-place art works that mar the walls with cheesy Impressionist zeal.
The slightly polished atmosphere leaves you to enjoy a no-frills meal. Ours began with an appetizer of veal and pork meatballs ($14) soaking in a rosemary bchamel, along with pistachio and herb-roasted ricotta cheese. Predictably rich, they were manageable at three or four bites—and tasty enough to get us excited for the rest of the meal.
The restaurant's extensive wine list and cocktail menu did their parts in warming us on a chilly evening.The bars mixologists specialize in sweet concoctions to keep gal pals happy, like the Blood Orange Dust ($13), a beverage of Hendricks gin, muddled fresh blood oranges, Cointreau and white Lillet and juniper dust.The fussy cocktail reminded us too much of spiked Hawaiian Punch, so we suggest sticking to standbys, like the Manhattan or a bottle of reasonably priced Cabernet ($12-$23).
Before the entrees, we opted to taste an item from Olana's pasta menu.The Mint Tacconi ($15/$24) resembled free-form ravioli with mint, ground lamb, roasted peppers, watercress and eggplant, and was satisfying, if not too exciting. Although the kitchen seemed proud of the assemblage and it could make for a lovely dish, the noodles were tossed haphazardly with the ingredients, making it feel too much like something we could do at home and not worth the price.
Although there's a heavy Italian influence, it's difficult to pin down the eclectic menu to any regional focus.The main dishes feel like comfortable standbys, and were all expertly conceived and executed. The slow-roasted Berkshire pork tenderloin ($29) was a little too safe with its pairing of cipollini onions and Brussels sprouts. Instead we found ourselves digging into the duck breast ($32), perfectly paired with a maple-whiskey braised endive and parsley pure. The heavy taste of the bird was countered by the lively veggies, and the dish, which could have landed in a stomach like a brick, was solid and enjoyable without being too heavy. The duck and shallot crocchete side seemed unnecessary, however, and killed the dish's zing. We agreed to a side of crispy onion rings ($8) recommended by our server, although it did feel a little schizo with the rest of the fine dining fare. While they were excellent, salty and some of the best we've sampled in quite some time, we're not quite sure what they were doing on the mature adult menu.
But all of this confusion was whisked away when we got to the dessert course. Finding ourselves unable to choose between the multiple options on the menu, we tried a few. The baked Alaska was a standout, with a palate-cleansing layer of sorbet and creamy crown of burnt marshmallow, and spoke to pastry chef Katie Rosenhouses vision that the oft forgotten dessert was done so well. Likewise the Peanut Butter Blackout Cake succeeded mainly due to the addition of cayenne peanuts along with bruléed bananas and smoked cinnamon ice cream. Also not to be overlooked, a piece of carrot cake that could never fail.
After a meal like ours, it would be difficult to do anything other than roll out of a restaurant. Having overindulged, we walked sluggishly out into the chilly night and saw just the kind of folks who Olana aims to serve. Not just office workers stuck late in their East 20s cubicles, there were families, couples on dates and people walking their dogs these were unexpected signs of life. And while not all of these people might want to sample as many plates as we did at Olana, it must be comforting for them to have a trustworthy local spot, nicer than the neighboring coffee shop but easy enough to drop into for a drink and bite at the bar. After all, if you're to have strength enough to make the neighborhood over, you're going to need plenty to eat.
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Olana
72 Madison Ave. (betw. E. 27th St & E. 28th Sts.) 212-725-4900
