I have always secretly believed that Graydon Carter's original vision for his quasi-private Waverly Inn was to open a smaller, more elitist version of the red cat in a space that resembles an old Oxford pub–one practically next door to his apartment. Not only do the the two restaurants share many of the same patrons (some famous, some not) and a common urbane-yet-cozy vibe, their menus reflect an abundance of the same modern American culinary contours. But in the translation from Chelsea to West Village–if indeed that is what happened–The red cat's gentle Mediterranean influences were lost. It is a shame, because it is precisely these nuances that make the nine-year-old red cat a much more pleasant place to dine. Don't get me wrong, I get the the same sort of frisson as anyone when Susan Sarandon steps on my toe. I, too, smile admiringly when John Mayer bumps his head on Waverly's rough-hewn low beams, or when Hilary Duff walks in to the place with her angry little posse. But I can't help but think how the food reminds me of the red cat's–and makes me wish I were there instead.
Part of the reason why the red cat has been so successful for so long is that it takes the concept of modern American cuisine and does not turn it into a monochromatic essay on starch and protein. Instead, chef Bill McDaniel looks at the idea of ‘American' through the lens of its Mediterranean–mostly Italian–immigrant influences. And this approach works splendidly. Case in point: the oven-roasted cauliflower ($8), technically a side dish, but one we order as an appetizer, gets its allure from its freshness as well as its puttanesca-style dressing of anchovies, capers, chunks of tomato and garlic. Appetizers, even somewhat shopworn dishes like the beet tartar (pictured on Flickr, $12) and the fish cake (pictured on Flickr, $14) benefit from confident, deft spicing: the roasted beet cubes thrum with a peppery tingle, while the fish cake's bold yellow rouille highlights a delightfully smoky, musky aroma in the crisp little patty.
On the entrée side, red cat's grilled pork chop tends to get all the attention, but the fish dishes are all solid. The grilled salmon with apple-parsnip purée and a light, clarified lobster vinaigrette (pictured on Flickr, $23) showcases McDaniel's ability to pair complementary flavors, although here, as with his calf's liver au poivre (pictured on Flickr, $20), he perhaps includes one too many elements. Even better is the pitch-perfect roasted cod with escarole and an anchovy-almond sauce (pictured right, $25), an indulgently savory filet of tender white fish that, if I were blindfolded, I would guess was poached in melted butter. Yet because of the European inflections–the almond, the paprika, the anchovy, even the escarole–the dish possesses a lush complexity. Cod does not get much better than this.
When guests come to visit, as Moose Ma did this week, we could certainly take them out for the full pageantry of a meal at Waverly Inn. And for some of our less gastronomically inclined visitors, we could imagine no better destination than Graydon's place. But our really special guests, the ones whose trips to the city are guided by their tastebuds, get to skip the experience of being jostled by Chloe Sevigny and go straight to the red cat, where the palate trumps the paparazzi every time.
the red cat, 227 Tenth Avenue (between 23rd and 24th Streets), 212-242-1122.
