One moment, it was Le Tableau, a French-ish bistro with middle eastern touches, serving food I found fairly mediocre. Next thing you knew...
It was a construction site. And indeed, the whole look of the former conventional dining room, kitchen in the rear, has been erased. Most important, of course...
...there's a dining counter. Didn't I already mention, more than once, that dining counters are de rigeur for 2008 openings, not only downtown but maybe uptown too if Bar Boulud is anything to go by.
Anyway, architect Adam Kushner has thrust a long, communal, mainly double-sided bar from almost the doorway right into the back of the building, where it eventually becomes part of the very open kitchen. Quite aside from the rest of the refurb, which is kind of dub housing ruff 'n' ready (think stripped walls and diner tables), this counter changes the shape and dynamic of the room dramatically.
It's where you're most likely to sit, and where you're most likely to be served by a smiling woman (Jessica?) whose work description seems to include not only looking after counter diners, but running the cash register, bar-tending for the table staff, and generally expediting the entire operation. The structure of service is thereby somewhat strained, but my goodness you have to root for the girl.
The three-manned kitchen visibly operates at full-stretch too, sweat and hands flying, although the restaurant wasn't quite full when I attended. (If you want to walk in and sit without a wait, go before nine; tables can be reserved).
In addition to boasting the all-important dining counter, Seymour Burton strives to re-create the rock 'n' roll, improvisatory, your-friends-cooking feel which the Momofukus have (like, totally) nailed. For some time, it was open despite a very unfinished feel to the dining room. The only menu is chalked wildly across the wall. Even the name kind of boldly says "Whatever" (until you learn it derives from the partners' fathers).
(In fact, as to the name, anyone who followed the Showtime series Family Business will surely understand my unfortunate habit of referring to the place as Seymour Butts).
And indeed, the menu reads like a bunch of ideas downtown home cooks of a foodie bent might throw around while arranging a dinner party: casual, anything goes, '08. Indeed, I'm not being arrogant when I say I could cook most of the things on the menu myself - although not as fast or for so many guests.
What do you like to eat? Duck liver on toast? A few oysters? A burger? Bean soup? Mussels with pasta? No problem.
I kind of recognised these sausages.
That's how I like to make them. Seasoned ground pork, and who needs all the bother stuffing it into casings? Make patties and fry 'em up. A fine accompaniment to three different oysters (no, I don't know - I think one was a kumamoto). Crunchy toast. That's a white bean purée with the bread, too.
The wine list isn't showing off at all. About a dozen, all by the glass or bottle, the latter mostly in the $30/$50 range. The popular reds are quaffable - Bandol, Malbec. A few sparklers, and a short list of the usual, decent small production beers - 3 Philosophers, Pork Slap, and specimens from the Ommegang Belgian brewery in Cooperstown.
Now, Peter Meehan of the Times, ludicrously forced to stuff Seymour Burton into the obsolete $25 and Under category, trumpeted the hamburger (which at $12, even with fries, wouldn't have unduly stretched his budget). I mean to go back and eat it, but I disapprove burgers as the main course of a dinner. Instead, I decided to test the young goat with posole.
Let's emphasize the word "young" there - Andrea Strong calls it just goat posole. But this is what I grew up calling kid; the difference between a kid and a grown goat is as significant as the difference between veal and beef. Kid meat is pale, delicate, mildly flavored. There are some terrific renditions of chivo guisado in town - dark, rich, with chewy-fatty meat.
This is a different story. Light, subtle - almost bland - with silky meat, and puffy hominy kernels. I say almost, bland, because the trick is to pump each mouthful up with the supplied condiments: chopped cilantro and onion, lime, and a nice sazon, which is the best word which occurs to me for the cilantro relish.
And behind those essential trimmings, you'll see a big hit of the evening, a mountainous side of fries. Really very good fries, long and crispy, with a thoughtful aioli for dipping. Well, I missed the hamburger, I had to have some fun.
A comparison which is in order is with Back Forty, but the food there has greater ambition. This is the kind of place I'm likely to return to at off-peak times, maybe with family for casual feeding. And as long as there are hungry young people in the streets after dark, that counter will remain slammed; what's more, expect more places like this to open in 2008.
You can see that big old blackboard right here.
