Which is tougher?

1. Designing the interior of a new restaurant in the landmark Guggenheim Museum, to be named after its legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
2. Upgrade the concept of museum dining, with the aim to match the standards set by Danny Meyer at the MoMA.

With all due respect to Danny Meyer and The Modern restaurant, I’d have to pick the former. Lloyd is an American architectural icon, and the Guggenheim Museum is arguably his masterpiece.

To accomplish objective 1, the museum tapped the talents of Andre Kokoski, an up and coming architect who trained in the offices of I.M. Pei, Richard Meier and Peter Eisenman. Taking inspiration from the museum’s renown exterior shapes, he designed a gorgeous flowing space with unique materials and textures. The mostly white space, combined with the expressive colorful art piece of Liam Gillick, not only looks futuristic but at the same time upscale, not an easy accomplishment. It was awarded this year’s James Beard Foundation award only a few months into its existence.

What about objective 2? The restaurant brought in Rodolfo Contreras. This relative new comer has been working under many established chefs, but is savoring the opportunity to run his own kitchen. The menu is described as New American cuisine.

Restaurant design I can see from pictures, but a reservation was made so I can sample the cooking.

Arriving at the Guggenheim on a Sunday morning, the main entrance to the museum was surrounded by tourists, none of whom seem to be paying the restaurant any attention. The Wright is situated to the side of the building towards 88th street, with the wording “Museum Restaurant” over the doorway, a relic from the days when this was simply a place for tourists to fill their stomach.

The Wright's unassuming exterior

Pull open the glass door and peek in, you’ll know why this place won an award for design. What a stunning restaurant, a beautiful use of very limited space. Actually stunning is an understatement, this is art.

White on white

Award winning interior design

We sat down and prepared to order. The wait staff placed on our table 3 pieces of paper. The menu, the drink list, and a description of the art that surrounds the building, similar to those placards next to art pieces on museum walls. Where does the building structure end and the art begin? the lines are truly blurred.

Love this table under the swoop

If you came for the visual delight, then I think you’re well covered at this point. Now lets shift our attention back to the food.

The menu items are very straightforward, simple and not pretentious. We opted for two cocktails, two light appetizers, and two entrees that involves green leaves, the usual brunch fare.

The appetizers came together, but were worlds apart. The chilled soup was a gorgeous blend of colors and flavor, topped with a sorbet of pepper. Meanwhile the garden green salad was, well, as boring as a salad could possibly get.

Psychadelic soup

High end dining? Seriously?

The entree of lobster salad was excellent, filled with succulent pieces of lobster, and sprinkled with tart fruity gelee cubes. While I really enjoyed the dish, it made me slightly disappointed how the appetizer salad didn’t receive a similar level of effort.

Highlight of the day, amazing lobster salad

Chicken sandwich with more greens

The chicken sandwich reminded me of the pork sandwich at Maialino, but lacked the “wow” factor. It was still a good sandwich, but not as memorable as the other dishes we sampled on this Sunday.

To wrap this up, perhaps I’m scoring the restaurant higher than its food deserves. The decor (art) and modest prices makes it a worthy destination, and the destination is a wonderful location of museums and Central Park.

I think Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud. Danny Meyer, you (still) have nothing to worry about.

CS

Rating:  

The Wright (Make a Reservation)
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10128

August 5th, 2010 | Tags: 3Apples, Guggenheim, Museum Dining, The Wright, Upper East Side | Category: American | Leave a comment

OmsB stands for Omusubi, the Japanese word for rice balls. For the Japanese, it’s a portable meal, for Americans it’s probably more like a snack. This place is also designed for its Japanese clientele, it’s a tight squeeze, but given its portability you can easily take it to go and enjoy it somewhere more spacious.

A cafe sans caffeine.

By the time I got there, it was past usual lunch hour, so the selection to choose from was rather limited. There are some “sets” you can choose from, all will cost you a bit less than $10. Like the website says, they have non-traditional ones like shrimp popcorn, and more typical rice balls that just have tempura or salmon in them. If there’s one you’re dying to try, you can ask them to make one for you fresh! (Other flavors include Kalbi, seaweed, ground beef, fried shrimp, plum, omelet…)

Demolished.

I’ve included pictures of Set A (3 rice balls and a miso soup) that included the wasabi shrimp, chicken rice, and eel. All of them are pretty non-traditional…can’t really imagine momotaro bringing these around with him on his journey.

Properly satisfying for an Asian starch craving.

Never hurts to have a close-up.

If you want to fill up your tummy a little more, you can get a taiyaki or ice cream mochi, but none of that seems to be homemade so it won’t be anything overly spectacular. The best taiyaki I’ve had is still at the Japanese shopping center Mitsuwa, and that’s mostly only because they’re fresh and not reheated.

Something I did find out from their website is that Oms/b is a franchise. It doesn’t say where the other ones are, but let us know if you run into any of them. For now, I’ll content myself with the midtown location. They also cater, if you feel like having some rice balls at your next party. While you can easily make some of these at home, your creations will probably not match the aesthetics of the ones you’ll find at Oms/b.

Keep an eye out for this little hole in the wall.

Jessie

OmsB
156 East 45th St., NY,NY 10017

July 30th, 2010 | Tags: OmsB, Omusubi, Rice Balls | Category: Japanese | Leave a comment