Lunetta – (Sliver of a) Moon Over B’way

Lunetta
920 Broadway (Southeast Corner of 21st)
(212) 533-3663

Following the trajectory of many yuppy social climbers, but not many restaurants, Lunetta’s trail leads from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The first Lunetta is located in Brooklyn on Smith Street. In November 2007, the second Lunetta opened on Broadway in the Flatiron District to some shaky reviews in the New York Times Diner’s Journal, likely a bit of a shock considering the popularity of the original Brooklyn branch. It’s been about three and a half months since it’s opened and it seems to me this restaurant is slowly, but surely getting its bearings and nestling in comfortably in its new home on a trendy corner on Broadway.

I went on a Wednesday with my girlfriends, Pri and Kaitlin. The restaurant was relatively empty when I first arrived at 7pm, but by the time we left at around 9pm, it seemed like almost every table was occupied.

Upon entering Lunetta, you’ll first notice the elegant, yet eclectic decor. Presided over by richly green plants and leaf patterned wallpaper, marble tabletops and leather banquettes sit underneath clusters of 1970s-esque globular hanging lamps. The space, in short, is perplexingly divine.

The bruschetta, in its own separate section, seems to be a specialty of the house. On this occasion we tried three: the tuna, the chopped liver, and the ricotta with hazelnuts. The tuna was firm, yet flaky with a hint of acidity from the tomatoes and olives. Kaitlin acutely observed that the tuna would have benefited from more olives for added punch.

The ricotta was smooth, citrusy from lemon zest, and crunchy from the hazelnuts. I thought that overall it was a creative dish, but needed more contrasts in flavor to liven it, perhaps with the addition of bright herbs or a sprinkle of lemon juice. It was Pri’s favorite by far. She marveled at its simultaneously sweet and savory flavors.

For Kaitlin and me, it was all about the chopped liver. I’ve never been a huge chopped liver fan, turned off by it in high school when my mom brought home some from the Second Avenue Deli (at that time actually on 2nd Ave). She urged me to try it and like a good little girl I did, immediately made a face, and declared, “it tastes like feet.” Since then I’ve tended to avoid it, but my experience with chopped liver crostini in Florence was fairly pleasant so I gave this bruschetta a try. It was sublimely delicious. Its deep, rich, darkly complex flavor finished with a hint of smokiness. The texture was dense with a seemingly contradictory whipped airiness. Kaitlin and I fought over the last lump.

The fried artichoke appetizer satisfied that little part (in my case, not so little) inside all of us that craves salty, crispy, fried things, but it wasn’t exactly what I had expected. The way it was described made it sound like there would be crunchy whole artichoke leaves, but instead it was shards (some kind of sharp) of artichoke and fried herbs dressed with a splash of citrus. A tip: don’t eat the herbs, I think they were sage. They were too bitter and pungent and I think its purpose was to flavor the dish with its aroma rather than be consumed. The mound was fun to pick at, but at $12 I thought it a tad overpriced.

The fennel beet salad was spiced with ground cumin which was unexpected, albeit this time in a very pleasant way. The scallions were a lovely finishing touch. I’m not sure I would order this again, even though I like beets. It didn’t wow me and normally I like beet salads with some kind of cheese (blue or goat, typically). If you love beets, however, go ahead and order it, you won’t be disappointed.

For my main course, I had the meatballs, served over housemade tagliatelle (slightly flatter and wider than fettucine) for an extra $5. It was inexplicable to me that they would serve meatballs in tomato sauce with absolutely no starch as a main course. The meatballs were noteworthy with a pronounced creaminess and heft, minus any leaden density. The tomato sauce paired very well with the meatball, but the bites where I had the sauce on its own on the pasta were a wee bit bland. Maybe if there had been some Parmigiano cheese? All in all, a dish I would gladly order again.

Pri’s tagliatelle with braised short ribs was described by the manager as bolognese and while I’ve had true, authentic bolognese (only a hint of tomato and more of a meaty, slightly creamy sauce), I’m glad they changed the name on the menu from bolognese to ragout. The sauce was thin and the meat lay in shredded chunks. It was also a tad under salted, but Kaitlin preferred Pri’s pasta to mine, so to each his/her own with that.

Kaitlin had the Wednesday night special of snapper en cartocchio, basically snapper steamed in a paper package or “en papillot” to you Francophiles.

The snapper sat on a bed of vegetables and was supposed to be drizzled with a truffle vinaigrette or truffle oil of some sort; however, the two bites I took (from two different sides of the fish), while light and tasty, provided no hint of truffle and truffle’s a pretty tough flavor to mask, so that was a little disappointing.

One other snag was that when Kaitlin got to the middle of the large piece of fish she discovered it hadn’t been cooked all the way through. The waiter gladly took it back into the kitchen to finish cooking it, but that type of hiccup can be disruptive to a meal. The fish came back about 10 minutes later and by then Pri and I were pretty much done with our dishes. I was told that the snapper had first been offered as a part of a special Valentine’s Day prix fixe menu and had been so popular Chef Shepard decided to include it weekly, so maybe they’re still working out the kinks on cooking times and temperatures. It was a shame too; conceptually, it is a wonderful dish.

By this point I was stuffed beyond stuffed. We ordered dessert anyway and as I was only planning on taking one bite I let Pri and Kaitlin choose. They ordered the citrus crostada, which definitely would not have been my first or second choice because, in general, I don’t enjoy citrus-based desserts. Well, thank god I let them choose whatever they wanted. The dessert completely took me by surprise. The tartness and sweetness of the grapefruit and orange, somehow, miraculously remained mellow against the buttery, doughy, sugary crust (which, from its appearance, seemed like it was going to be brittle and crunchy, but wasn’t at all). All of it was drizzled with a thin vanilla cream sauce that rounded all the flavors and textures out. The crostada, apparently, changes seasonally (a month or so ago it was an apple crostada), so get this while you can.

My overall impression of Lunetta was of a toddler advancing from a crawl to walking strides. It may wobble on occasion, even fall down, but you see the progress and the potential for where it is headed. You know it’ll get there eventually and you breath a sigh of contentment and anticipation at what you see in its future.

Dinner for Three:

• Tuna Bruschetta – $3.50
• Ricotta Bruschetta – $3.50
• Chopped Liver Bruschetta – $3.50
• Fried Artichokes – $12
• Fennel Beet Salad – $10
• Meatballs (over Tagliatelle) – $15 (+ $5)
• Tagliatelle with Braised Pork and Short Rib Ragout – $17
• Snapper en Cartocchio – $26
• Citrus Crostada – $9
• Bottle of Falanghina – $36
• Total (excluding tax and tip) – $140.50