New York - August 10, 2004

Cru's on Deck

Cru Restaurant

It’s been a season of sceney openings. Thanks, Vento and 5 Ninth, for the bright lights, big menus. So many ill-advised affairs. So many hungover Wednesdays.

And now for something completely different: Cru.

The recipe is irresistible — outstanding food, exceptional wines, perfect service, unobtrusively elegant decor.

The latest incarnation of the historically doomed lower Fifth Avenue space that was most recently Washington Park (much of the staff has stuck around), Cru literally gets a new lease on life under former Bouley Chef de Cuisine Shea Gallante. His cooking style is best described as modern European with clever twists: foie gras — called “Liver & Onions” on the menu — comes with spring-onion ice cream. Impossibly tender Maine softshell lobster is served with escarole and beans. White-polenta-and-olive-oil soup with burrata is topped with hazelnut, milk, and breadcrumbs.

As for the ambitious wine list, the numbers say it all: 50 by the glass ($150 for the priciest), 3,200 on the list, 65,000 in the cellar.

There’s nothing fussy about it.

And no morning-after regrets.

Cru, 24 Fifth Avenue, at 9th Street (212-529-1700).