A Gourmand's Life

The new Ace Hotel is a welcome addition to the nondescript stretch of Broadway that has been renamed NOMA in a wishful attempt to lend it some much needed social panache. In addition to the first storefront location of the wonderful Stumptown Roasters, The Ace now features The Breslin Bar and Dining Room, the eagerly anticipated new project of restaurateur Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig.


The front bar room has a late 1800’s weathered hunting lodge look, and the small back dining room carries over the motif, with fewer knickknacks and an open kitchen at the rear. In keeping with the fashion of the times, the noise level is high; tables are elbow to elbow and are virtually guaranteed to wobble. The décor isn’t unpleasant really, and the room isn’t terribly uncomfortable, but the overall effect is forced, like a Hollywood set decorator was called in fill a stage set with props.

Friedman, apparently the only restaurateur unable to figure out how to make money while taking reservations, has resorted to a no reservations policy at the Breslin, similar to the one imposed at The Spotted Pig, which has severely curtailed my visits there. But The Breslin is a short stroll up Broadway from my office, allowing me to arrive before the throng of hipster Visogoths have time to descend.

Rarely have good and bad been juxtaposed as closely as they are on The Breslin menu. My most recent lunch began with house made Pork Scratchings, a West Midlands term for pork rinds. They are a delightful bar snack but I found their arrival in a plastic bag a bit disconcerting, despite the prominent display of their date of birth.



The Onion and Bone Marrow Soup, which owes more than a debt of gratitude to Fergus Henderson, is intense, with a full-bodied broth floating a hunk of Parmesan toast that has been sautéed in rendered bone marrow. Other then a rich lip-coating effect, this doesn’t really register as much more then a very good French onion soup, without the gratineed cheese, but that is more than enough.


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The must have dish here is the Chargrilled Lamb Burger, which packs a walloping lamb flavor that chef Bloomfield wisely tops with only a bit of red onion and some Feta and serves with a simple cumin mayonnaise on the side. The burger is accompanied by the soon to be legendary Thrice Cooked Chips, also available as a side. These turn out to be steak fries, by far the best I have ever had. This is a cut of fry that only chain steakhouses even try to make any more, as they are notoriously difficult to crisp up. These are obviously a labor of love, and they round out one of the most outstanding dishes I have had in quite awhile.


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Another terrific dish is the Chargrilled Tongue Sandwich, served with a cup of lentil soup that incorporates some spinach and a healthy does of herb oil. It is an unassuming, grey little thing but the tongue has been perfectly cooked before a last turn on the grill.

Lest the above suggest that my experiences here have been nothing but superb, I present Pan Fried Sea Bass with Treviso, Potatoes and Anchovy Dressing, an unparallelled disaster of both concept and execution that made me suddenly grateful for having never made it to The John Dory.



What is more disturbing then the drab presentation is that the thick portion of this fillet was virtually raw in the center, not exactly what you are looking for in sea bass. Worse still was the oversalting, a pattern in Bloomfield's career and clearly her weakness as a chef. The skin side of this fillet was rendered virtually inedible by an overdose of salt, and that is before I tried to get through the anchovy dressing and the oversalted, over reduced treviso. Believe me, I have a strong tolerance for salt - and this dish was terribly oversalted. On a previous visit, the chips I just showered with praise were equally showered with salt, causing them to wilt within a minute or two of their arrival. At The Spotted Pig I have found the burger and grilled cheese to be woefully oversalted. Even the best dishes here straddle the line.

April Bloomfield is clearly very talented and I tend to side with her style of meat-centric, bold, aggressive cooking. But there is no evidence of subtlety, refinement or balance in her food. She goes for the jugular with every dish, making both her successes and failures large ones. The Breslin Bar and Dining Room has a long way to go in terms of kitchen organization and execution, but so far its high notes will keep me coming back for more, with my fingers crossed, hoping for the best.