CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS

Chanterelle, a belle at 20
Inspired food, wine and hospitality; but kitchen goes its own way at times

By Bob Lape
Published on February 14, 2000

Surely, one of new york’s great love stories is Chanterelle at age 20.

Whether it’s the harmony between owners David and Karen Waltuck or the confluence of food, wine, ambience and service, Chanterelle glows. It may also hold the fountain of youth because no one seems to age.

The Waltucks are a perfect match. Chef David’s kitchen reflects his quiet passion for and dedication to obtaining the finest, freshest ingredients and then harnessing flawless technique to attain flavor-intensive dishes of good taste and finesse. It is not a long menu, but the execution is something to behold and savor.

Karen Waltuck’s gracious charisma is undimmed by two decades of catering to a growing and discriminating global clientele.

Guests enter a pleasant foyer and gallery adorned with small artworks by names such as Nevelson, Haring, Mapplethorpe and Twombly. Donald Evans’ faux postage stamps are ideal for the mini-exhibition.

Two women provide a smiling welcome, placing coats in a handsome armoire. Move on to a high-ceilinged dining room with tall, elegantly curtained windows. Walls are in the same soft pastel as the original, smaller downtown Chanterelle of 1979. Lighting is soft and romantic. Dramatic flower displays dilute the austerity of the space, while stately chairs look better than they sit.

Dinner may begin with nibbles of smoked sturgeon with horseradish-beet relish, and bite-sized, deep-fried Maine clams with herbed remoulade.

When a dish adds $20 to a $75 prix fixe, it must be great. Just so is the appetizer of delicate potato ravioli with world-class two-truffle sauce. Sans supplement but equally memorable is Chanterelle’s signature grilled seafood sausage bursting with lobster chunks and an intense, balanced, wild mushroom consomme. Luscious oysters are drizzled in a lightly curried cauliflower-and-cilantro cream.

The eight entrees feature intriguing seafood ideas: grilled salmon with garlic confit, sea scallops with duck fat and basil, poached cod with caviar and cabbage, and striped bass with pigs’ feet and vegetable ragout. Most are felicitous, although caviar overrides the mild cod, and the kitchen ignored a guest’s mandate to cook salmon through.

“Where’s the beef?” is a fair question. The remaining options are rack of lamb in cumin-salt crust, duck breast with fresh chilies, sweetbread with caramelized leeks and orange, and roast saddle of Scottish venison with cepes and red wine reduction. Again, the kitchen went its own way with venison cookery despite specific instructions.

The cheese course (add $15) is a worthy third round, and my instructions for dessert are: Try everything! The superb quintet of light and lovely sweets is followed by repeat volleys of exceptional petit fours.

First and last courses are so extraordinary here that I want the entrees to live up to them so I can experience the same nirvana as have many other folks.

Meantime, attention must be paid to warm rolls that quickly cool to hopeless hardness, and to waitstaffers that, while informally dressed, are formal bordering on stiff at times. Often marvelously attentive, the troops can also overlook oyster shells on a side plate for several courses.

Sommelier/wine educator Roger Dagorn is a big asset. Perhaps New York’s top grape nut (he trains other sommeliers), M. Dagorn brings accessible know-how to your table with a list top-heavy on the French. He is, however, willing to go glass by glass, course by course, in any direction you wish. Test him and learn a lot. His wine-tasting matchup with dinner is $50. Chanterelle’s complete beverage roster is a paragon.

Chanterelle
2 Harrison St. (212) 966-6960
Cuisine: American
Wines: 525 choices, 26 by the glass
Dress: No code
Noise Level: Serene
Price Range: $75 prix fixe, six-course tasting, $89
Wine Markup: 100%-250%
Reservations: Essential
Credit Cards: All major
Hours: Lunch, Tues.-Sat., Noon-2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Mon.-Sat., 5:30-11 p.m.
Copyright 2002, Crain Communications, Inc