New York - May 19, 2003

Snack Attack

Snackbar Opens

The game: ordering dinner.

The stakes: high. The menu’s a minefield. The halibut comes with haricots and you want the creamed spinach. But that’s served with the filet, which comes with potatoes, the root of all evil. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. The waiter’s eyes are rolling.

Skip the purgatory of food indecision at Snackbar, where everything is negotiable. You can order protein without the carbs, carbs without the protein, three side dishes, or none at all. Chef Nick Tischler (of Aureole and Bouley) and owner Krim Boughalem (of Bouley and his own Boughalem) offer plenty of choices: savory waffle bites filled with creme fraiche, fennel, and flying-fish roe; cherrystone clams casino; hand-cut root-veggie frites…

Famished? Try the grill tasting — fish and a prime NY strip with a choice of eleven sauces. (Whatever a picky heart desires.) Design your dinner, then await your masterpiece while admiring the mirrored, bamboo-layered walls and white leather banquettes.

Game over. You win.

Snackbar, 111 West 17th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues (212-627-3700).