The Knife didn't get to Comme Ca on its opening weekend, but Variety comrade Danielle Grimes did. The verdict? A fair amount of glitchery, although nothing that can't be fixed or ascribed to opening jitters. That said, it sounds like the initially rapturous reactions (The Knife's included) might be just a wee overstated, if only for the moment. Take it away, valiant guest blogger...
So it's Saturday night and it's appropriate that I'm winding my way to Comme Ca with four friends who are chattering away in French. We're quite aware it's only the second night the restaurant has been open, but we've had a glass of Champagne and we're feeling optimistic.
Let me state this about my party of five: We know our way around the butcher block, but we are not PLBs by any stretch. Pretend we're your neighbors whose taste you respect very much.
What we liked very much Oysters on the half shell served with traditional vinegar and shallots; sweetbreads; crab salad with celery root remoulade; skate; the wine list; the cheese plate (chevre garnished with a little sundried tomato, blue drizzled with a little honey and something drippy and wonderful on a little spoon that we politely did not shove into our mouths though we wanted very much to do just that); the bar; the white banquettes.
We wanted to like very much Sole (overcooked); beet salad (tasty but undercooked); oversalted oxtail that accompanied the bone marrow and toasts; pork belly with beluga lentils (Let it be stated that we will take our pork in any form, including belly. But what we were served was, well, the size of our heads and needed something a little more acidic to accompany it); tarte flambee (Fromage blanc, caramelized onions and lardons are quite possibly the best three things you could put on bread. In fact, we think it is what we would want for our last meal if life turned out that way. But crispy (kinda) flatbread isn't the best platform.).
We are still on the fence about Decor (part Craftsman, part Restoration Hardware); teensy kindergarten-sized tables and stools in the bar area; the pungent waft of cheese when you enter the restaurant (sidenote: It didn't really bother us so much because we do love our cheese, but you get our point); the wine cellar next to the gas fireplace. (Though we assume that there is some sort of supersonic barrier between the two.)
We are confident the following kinks will be fixed Service (waitstaff doesn't seem to know food that well and the demeanor was a bit too much, "Hello, I am your server"); the sommelier brought over a lovely bottle of red, but the table next to us ordered it; our predinner cocktails were served at a snail's pace; the plating was sloppy; no ice bucket for our white.
We absolutely, positively did not like Black Formica tables and plastic white chairs (they added a certain charmless chill to the rooms); waiters' short-sleeved, checked shirts with ties (slightly geeky, slightly Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson," though in theory we're against neither, especially Gosling); the deafening sound levels
Will we give it another try? Absolument! Just in another month or two.
Thanks, Danielle!
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