October 30, 2007

Jonesing for Smith’s

Smith’s Restaurant Opens

To think you’ve been wasting so much time keeping up with the Joneses.

When all along it was Smith’s you should have been after.

Smith’s restaurant looks like it stepped out of another time, an era of secret assignations carried out in voluptuous Orient Express dining cars and hushed rendezvous in velvet-walled back rooms.

But there it is, cozy, new, and bringing much-needed swank to Macdougal Street. Two small dining rooms covered in antique mirrors lead to a hidden back bar, and the American menu is just as welcoming: artichoke pasta with black truffles, grilled lobster with butternut squash puree, Brussels sprouts with almonds, and a mean chocolate brioche.

Chef Pablo Romero is a Bouley and Citarella alum. The owners are Danny Abrams (co-founder of The Red Cat, The Harrison) and Cindy Smith (Raoul’s, Spartina).

Now that’s some enviable lineage.

Smith’s, 79 Macdougal Street, between Bleecker and Houston Streets (212-260-0100).