Detail Oriented

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The New York Sun

Cookshop caters to a growing tier of food fetishists for whom no amount of detail and pedigree is enough. The copiously descriptive menu just invites curiosity.”Is the buffalo mozzarella locally curded? Is it raw milk?” come the questions. “Is the Berkshire pork grain-fed?” At the back of the restaurant, a chalkboard lists “Our Favorite Farms,” the local sources of the restaurant’s terrific ingredients.

Be it shade-grown, small-batch, or line-caught, the pork chop ($23) could not be better.Made from well-marbled Berkshire (aka kurobuta) swine, the meat is darker, sweeter, and much moister than your average pork. Mustard and cider provide classic, keen flavor complements; cider-braised cabbage and a coarse, sweetly spiced housemade sausage of the same pork make the dish a meal.

Cookshop is chef Marc Meyer’s follow-up to his success at Five Points. It’s an elaboration on the other restaurant’s hearty, American, market-based approach, but even heartier and more market-based.The restaurant squarely emphasizes food, sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the experience. Giving the newly built urban storefront a suitably cozy feel apparently required more finesse than the designer could spare: The seats are miserably stiff and angular, the volume deafening, and an unappealing smattering of farmhouse kitsch only adds a sheen of phoniness to the awkward, sterile space. The beautifully functional open kitchen is hidden around a bend in the back – if the gyratory glories of its custom-built rotisserie were visible from the main room, no further attempts at decoration would be necessary.

But the attention to buying good local ingredients and treating them right pays off, with some extraordinarily savory chops, roast fish, and other rustic American fare. Flavor is heaped on at every opportunity. Nothing is boiled or steamed when it can be marinated, smoked, and seared, and in fact the sections of the menu are named for flavor-maximizing stations of the kitchen: Saute, Grill, Wood Oven, and Rotisserie. Simple quality often substitutes here for creative fire, as the ingredients speak for themselves or combine in time-tested harmonies.Whole four-inch baby trouts ($5) are crumbed and wood-roasted; their rich flesh, permeated with smoke, makes an appealing mouthful. Bluefish ($9) gets a sweetly spicy marinade and then a light smoking, resulting in a dense, complex-tasting piece of fish. Frying duck livers ($8) in a flour coating gives them a tender Southern flair, abetted by a bed of ultra creamy grits. Quick cooking minimizes their livery earthy flavor – a plus to some, if not to me. The smoker is brought into play again for a few thin slices of pork tenderloin ($6) seasonally paired with persimmon – like the troutlings, this is in a separate section of the menu called “Snacks,” along with a spicy deviled egg ($5 for one) whose rich devilment is enhanced by caviar.

Mr. Meyer’s strategy of letting dishes thrive or fail chiefly on the merits of their ingredients falls short on occasion: when the grits were severely undercooked, for example, crunchily showing the derivation of their name. The tempura-esque fried vegetables ($8) want flavor, and gain it from neither their bland batter nor their yogurt dip.Two beer-braised short ribs ($22) have intense beefy flavor and remarkable texture, but getting to it requires trimming off (or eating) about a fist-sized volume of fat.

A tender lamb chop ($24) pulls the same trick as the pork chop. It’s accompanied by a mini-burger of its own terrific meat (pasture-raised, if you were wondering), so one can compare it seasoned and unseasoned. Porgy ($23), a deep-bodied, firm-fleshed fish, glows with simple treatment: It’s packed with lemon slices and thyme sprigs and roasted whole, its skin crisp and smoky from the wood oven and its flesh toothsome.

Desserts (all $8) offer pleasure but few surprises: A maple-tinged flan accompanied by spicy gingerbread hits high notes of American flavor, although its gummy texture leaves something to be desired. Brioche bread pudding with big chunks of caramelized apple tastes like a classic, rich and autumnal. Even the cocktails ($10) partake in the local ingredients craze: A blend of rum and lime is mellowed with maple syrup, and the apple martini is made with fresh apples.

An array of interesting American beers (all $5), including Smuttynose’s dry pumpkin ale and Allagash’s coriander-tinged white ale, complement the hearty dishes and provide a reasonable alternative to the 120-bottle cellar. Wine choices are largely off the beaten track, with surprisingly few domestic choices for such a homespun restaurant. Highlights include a sultry falanghina from Fattoria La Rivolta ($9/glass,$13/quartino) and a ripe, delicious old-vines garnacha ($7/$10) from Bodegas Nekeas.

True to its name, and with a justifiable pride in its fine ingredients, Cookshop demonstrates that good shopping is at least as important as good cooking.The environment detracts more than a little, but ultimately, mostly, the food wins out.

Cookshop, 156 Tenth Ave. at 20th Street, 212-924-4440.


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