Degustation

Kathleen Squires

Citysearch

The Scene
A 16-seat wood bar surrounded by stone walls and floors make up the extraordinarily intimate setting of this tasting room, formerly a Japanese grill and Korean kalbi bar. Unsurprisingly, the spot fills up fast, primarily with couples and practiced palates looking for a casually special night out.

The Food
Spain and France are the centerpiece, as is young, inventive chef Wesley Genovart, who holds court behind the bar while dazzling diners with inspired creations like magically light croquetas, perfectly crisp on the outside, and oozing with a soft potato, apple and serrano chile center. In his accomplished hands, surf and turf is ingeniously reinvented with short-rib stuffed squid; an ordinary roast beef sandwich becomes remarkable with sashimi-like rib-eye piled on toast and sprinkled with green herbs; and even simple grilled strawberries are transformed with ginger and eucalyptus. Astonishingly reasonable prices warrant that the third time should be the charm for this spot.