advance, call and ask Mazzei to make you a
grande bollito misto—an array of chicken,
beef, pork, veal and tongue slowly boiled
to extract flavor then sliced tableside in
large slabs and served with pungent-sweet
mostarda di cremona.
La Panetiére, 530 Milton Rd., Rye;
914-967-8140; lapanetiere.com.
Think of the ideal French country
auberge in Provence, then plop it down in
the manicured suburban affluence of Rye,
and you have a good idea of the charms
of La Panetiére, which owner Jacques
Loupiac has maintained with Gallic grace
for more than 20 years. Set on a flowery
hill and decorated with evocative French
folkloric motifs, La Panetiére (which
means “bread cupboard”) is unpretentious but very serious about its cuisine,
as prepared by chef Jean-Marc Cabirol,
who balances classics and new forms of
French cooking. Thus, you may sit down
to asparagus in a Parmesan tuile with
poached eggs and a mousseline sauce,
then black bass with hollandaise, and finish with pastry chef Didier Berlioz’s gratin
of raspberries with Grand Marnier sauce.
Or, you might be more moderne, with
sweetbreads on a spinach fondue with
fried angel hair pasta and sauce Niçoise
and indulge in a duo of chocolate desserts.
All are bolstered by one of the finest wine
lists in America.
Telepan, 72 W. 69th St., New York City;
212-580-4300; telepan-ny.com.
It’s been a few years now since New
Yorkers lamented a lack of good restaurants on the Upper West Side, and
Telepan just adds fire to the notion that
some of the best now sit just above Lincoln Center. Telepan, named after chef-partner Bill Telepan, is cobbled together
from two townhouses, with an L-shaped
dining room and huge, colorful paintings
of food and agriculture. A smaller room
to the right of the bar has a somewhat
more casual cast. Telepan himself is
cooking at full throttle, adventurous and
global in his reach. His house-smoked
brook trout tartare with buckwheat-potato blini and black radish sour cream is
a tiny masterpiece. “Lobster bolognese”
comes in a savory broth of garlic, tomato,
herbs and shallots over spaghetti, and
pork cooked for hours until soft and lush
fills pacchetti pasta, served with a rich
sauce of ricotta and basil. Monkfish paprikas (Telepan has Hungarian blood) is
served with cabbage stuffed with barley
and kielbasa, and accompanied by kohlrabi, a triumph of hearty modern ethnic
cookery. So, don’t trust anyone who tells
you there are no great restaurants on the
Upper West Side.
