Ellabess

Lets admit it, hotel restaurants are not that exciting.  Beautiful dining rooms are usually met with apathetic staff and mediocre to sub-par food.  Fine silverware is matched with bright white, stylish dinnerware, that serves as a vessel for food that does not have much thought or care put into it.

Ellabess dining room

Walking into Ellabess you can't help but feel this is going to be one more of those experiences.  Ellabess is housed in the corner of the Nolitan Hotel.  Like many hotel restaurants, the dining room is sleek and chic.  The 70-seat dining room sits just below street level, with two walls of high glass windows allowing an incredible amount of natural light in, and in return allows diners to check out the bustling Nolitan neighborhood outside.  The dining room is set in oak, with Austrian oak floors, and custom-made oak tables and chairs.  A high marble-countered bar sits along the back of the room.

The incredible house-made rolls

At first bite, however, your stereotypes of what hotel restaurants should be are thrown right out the window.  Ellabess is brought to you by Epicurean Management, the same company that created West Village favorites Dell-anima, Anfora, and L'artusi.  With their newest venture, Ellabess, you realize very quickly they're doing some serious food here.

The kitchen is run by Executive Chef Troy Unruh, who was most recently the Chef de Cuisine at Dell-anima, as well as a veteran of Del Posto.  The Executive Sous-Chef is Ty Kotz, the former Chef de Cuisine at Tabla right before the closing of the restaurant back in December.  Also from Tabla is the Executive Pastry Chef Carmine Arroyo, who was the former pastry Sous Chef up until the closing.  The incredible talent in the kitchen translates heavily into the food, making for an overall wonderful and unforgettable experience.

The menu is small, but well put together, offering a little bit of everything from market salads, crab salads, chilled pea soup, to sweetbreads, quail, pork tenderloin, and even fried chicken.  While looking over the menu the first bite of the house-made rolls will make you swoon and transport you to a happier place.  They are warm, buttery, soft, and flavorful.  Reminiscent of your favorite biscuit without the hard texture.



My friend and I decided to share a few appetizers among ourselves.  The diver scallops were incredible.  They are potato crusted, which created a texture play that was unforgettable.  The crispy crust is cut into to reveal a velvety texture of a perfectly cooked scallop.  Pickled asparagus set a perfect vinegar bite, and was offset by a lemon puree and slices of summer truffle.  You're missing out on life if you decide to skip this one.

A tiny quail is de-boned, grilled, and set on top of a summer market succotash and corn puree.  Bold market flavors, light dressings, and the perfect char of a grill make this the perfect summer plate.  Take a sip of your beer and you'll be reminded of a backyard bbq.

Quail

Scallops

Sweetbreads are also grilled, creating a charred crust on an otherwise smooth texture.  They are then glazed with sour cherries, and served with a cold salad of marcona almonds, fava beans, and cherries.  Although the cold salad did nothing for me, the sweetbreads were great.  The strong offal flavor was complemented perfectly with the sour cherry glaze.  I was even able to get my friend who has never tasted a sweetbread before in her life to enjoy them.  Hopefully this dish will help turn a few others onto offal who are hesitant to try them.

Cherry-glazed sweetbreads

I then moved onto the pork tenderloin, and she onto the bass.  The pork was cooked perfectly, slightly pink and incredibly tender.  Diced, grilled stone fruit acts as a bed for the pork, with a shrimp broth poured around.  As good as it was I couldn't help but feel it needed a little something extra.  It was crying for some type of crunch.  That would have made the dish perfect.

Pork tenderloin over grilled stone fruit

The bass with melon consomme and heirloom tomatoes was also good.  The fish was cooked perfectly, with a crispy skin.  However, like the pork, we both felt the dish also needed another element or two.  As happy as we were with the appetizers, we felt the entrees fell a little short.

Bass with melon consomme and heirloom tomatoes

Technique-wise the kitchen didn't falter once.  You could tell they took the time to pay attention to every step.  Getting the right amount of seasoning, the perfect doneness, and overall just paying attention to the little minuet details most kitchens turn their heads at.  But considering they just opened last week I feel they will hit their stride soon and start producing some amazing food.  Ladies and gentlemen, watch out for this one.

*Update.  Ellabess closed February 2012

Ellabess

153 Elizabeth Street

New York, NY 10013

*Photos by Michael Chang