New York - December 11, 2000

Aleutia Opens

Aleutia Restaurant

For those of you who care for a little geography lesson… Today we bring you the Aleutian islands?the 1,300-mile archipelago that ties Asia and America across the Bering Sea.

Okay, not really. You’ll have to settle for Park Avenue South. (Wear some earmuffs if you want an authentic experience.) Today, amid the phalanx of quasi-chic spots that dot the area, Aleutia opens.

This is not your average after-work watering hole. The multidisciplinary affair combines the talents of chef Gavin Citron (of Aja and Celadon) and Gary Steffani (ask him how Bowie took his liquor when in Berlin). It’s a sleek space with metallic-gray booths, tiny cocktail tables (to test your balancing skills), and a menu unlike you’ve seen elsewhere: crispy rainbow trout with purple potatoes and Thai chile dressing, smoked venison carpaccio with grilled Mission figs and truffles. Room for more? Top it off with a stack of truffled buttermilk flapjacks with roasted figs and goat cheese.

Do all Eskimos eat like this?

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