Goodbye New Zealand, Hello World

The information that Matt Lambert, the chef who made Musket Room a lonely outpost of New Zealand delicacies in NoLIta, had been changed by Mary Attea in February 2020 didn’t precisely echo all through the land. A minimum of, I didn’t hear about it. Then the engine fell out of the restaurant economic system a number of weeks later, and particulars like adjustments of kitchen management appeared even much less pressing.

A number of months in the past, I lastly acquired phrase of Ms. Attea’s new submit, and sidled into Musket Room. It was the closest I’ve ever come to studying that an excellent restaurant had been working at peak ranges proper underneath my nostril within the coronary heart of Manhattan, with out my figuring out something about it. As figuring out about eating places like that is kind of my job, I’d wish to blame all of it on Covid and transfer on.

The very first thing that struck me is that Ms. Attea (pronounced uh-TEA-uh), having dabbled in takeout throughout the pandemic, has returned to a luxuriantly elaborate fashion of conceiving a dish, one which she doesn’t appear to have toned all the way down to swimsuit the brand new informality. She just isn’t making meals for individuals who gave up on pants and have dinner out of paper packing containers whereas sinking into the sofa to look at “Pam & Tommy” on Hulu.

When you will have her hamachi crudo, you do not need to be disentangling shreds of contemporary mint from glowing lobes of grapefruit which have develop into smeared with dots of pistachio purée that acquired blended up with the pool of shiny orange French dressing that was once ringed in by slices of hamachi which are barely charred alongside one facet. You wish to be sitting upright, in a chair, holding a fork. You wish to have the entire stunning association, neat as a goldfinch nest, set down in entrance of you by one of many Musket Room’s servers, who will level out the dish’s highlights. They do that as unpretentiously as anybody can whereas speaking about seared hamachi and citrus French dressing.

Musket Room has a daily à la carte menu and two tasting menus, one vegan and one not, every for $98. But the place is way looser and jollier than among the tasting-menu chambers which have marched into city currently, like Saga, 63 Clinton and One White Road. (It have to be Eleven Madison Park’s affect that has made a stiff-spined cheerfulness the default mode for tasting-menu service in New York.)

A whole lot of Musket Room’s power radiates from the bar, a protracted, polished slab of live-edge wooden that has develop into a neighborhood hangout. Little doubt it helps that the proprietor, Jennifer Vitagliano, hasn’t adopted the annoying coverage of reserving bar seating for diners, a certain method to snuff out the spontaneous connections which are the engine of an excellent restaurant bar. You’re free to drink some esoteric cocktails (sherry, vermouth and Cardamaro garnished with a pickled gooseberry nonetheless on the department) or much more esoteric wines (Piedmontese timorasso and a German pink referred to as Rotgut are poured by the glass) with out ordering a crumb to eat. There’s one other room within the again that carries on the ambiance established within the entrance, one thing of a tavern that was attempting to decorate up a bit and stopped midway via.

I first heard the title Mary Attea once I was reviewing Anita Lo’s restaurant, Annisa, which is now closed. Once we spoke on the cellphone to verify a number of particulars, Ms. Lo made certain I knew that one recipe got here from her sous-chef, Ms. Attea, who acquired it from her father. It was referred to as beef tartare and was basically a Levantine kibbe nayeh, chopped by hand, stirred with bulgur and white onions, and seasoned so merely and confidently with cinnamon that I can style it now.

Ms. Attea’s father acquired the recipe from Lebanon, the place his dad and mom had been born. With a number of cheffy prospers, like tofu-sesame sauce, it was proper at dwelling on Annisa’s menu, which blithely roamed the world for inspiration. At Musket Room, Ms. Attea takes an analogous border-hopping strategy when it fits her.

No area appears to function her dwelling base the best way East Asia did for Ms. Lo. There may be an echo of Spain within the saffron-scented aioli spooned round a salad of smoked mussels, jamón Ibérico and potatoes cooked in olive oil. Japanese Europe appears to encourage the candy and smoky wedge of grilled caraflex cabbage, dusted with powdered caraway seeds and served in a sourdough consommé — a bread broth that will recall to mind kvass.

The Center East comes and goes. That’s za’atar dusted over the labneh organized round two meaty slices of duck breast; one other spice mix, baharat, seasons the pink piece of grilled Duroc pork beside puréed and pickled squashes.

Both the flavors or strategies of France, or each, typically lurk within the background. One present tasting menu incorporates a voluptuously clean sunchoke velouté, fragrant with contemporary thyme, underneath a musky patch of grated black truffle; it wouldn’t be misplaced at Gabriel Kreuther Restaurant.

Ms. Attea is aware of what to do with butter — pounding it with anchovies to serve with a wonderful, softball-size loaf of heat sourdough, or browning it to spoon over crisply sautéed sweetbreads with toasted hazelnuts and small, juicy muscat grapes.

The desserts, from the pastry chef, Camari Mick, don’t yield an inch of their complexity and class to the remainder of the cooking. I’m fascinated by the reworked Mont Blanc, formed extra like a croissant than a dome and crammed with a snowy white-chocolate mousse; the candy chestnut crémeux is about towards cubes of sage cake and a scoop of sage ice cream.

One nook of the globe that Ms. Attea doesn’t appear to be exploring is New Zealand. It’s the dwelling of Mr. Lambert, Musket Room’s founding chef; the inspiration for a lot of his menu; and the place the place he resettled throughout the pandemic. She might be sensible to go away it alone. There could be little glory in cooking the second-best New Zealand meals within the historical past of Elizabeth Road.