BAR BOLONAT

Chef Einat Admony has a nice little empire going on here, although Bar Bolonat is the first and only I've tried thus far.  I've heard great things about Balaboosta, Taim, and most recently Combina, but Bolonat seemed most suited to my tastes.  And suited it is, were it not for slightly precious price points, this would be a perfect neighborhood nook.  Instead, the prices vault it into a slightly more "special occasion" category, but special the restaurant is.  Admony is from Tel Aviv, and she brings those bold lusty spices to fruition at Bolonat.  The room is simple and attractive, shades of soothing blue and ivory rounding out exposed grey stone walls and linear furniture.

Our server was more than amenable, guiding us through the menu, which is pretty straight-forward, although his suggestions weren't redundant.  The menu has three sections: small, medium, and large, of which was recommended one person of the first two, and then a shared entree for the two of us.  He steered us toward the Japanese eggplant over the attractive  beets with white grapefruit that a table aside had ordered... and subsequently demolished.  But the eggplant is a menu stalwart, and memorably great.  Two fat, roasted halves lie in in a slurry of spicy tahini and crowned in a shower of crunchy
shallots. I wish I would've been as thrilled about the Everyday Cauliflower, while which I didn't mind trying it once, I certainly wouldn't want it everyday.  The florets are deep fried, which isn't indicated on the menu, and take on a particular sturdiness which, when combined with the bamba (a crunchy peanutty puff) and peanut tahini, verges on overload.  A better combination would've been the vegetable, roasted, with said accoutrements, or if you're going to keep it "tempura-ed", lighten up its counterparts. 
Chickpea gnocchi displayed a fetching nuttiness, both from the legumes themselves and a lashing of brown butter that enriched its punchy za'tar spiced sauce, studded with toothsome fresh spring peas and a snowy crumble of milky goat feta.










Bigger plates didn't palliate flavors as their size increased.  Branzino had its skin-side-up nicely crisped atop a bed of onion stewed kale and more of those vibrant peas, a nice squiggle of zippy green harissa keeping the energy up.  A wild mushroom
 pasta was decidedly less Israeli but inarguably delicious, with wide, floppy pappardelle noodles cradling an abundance of woodsy mushrooms sauteed with nigella and onion.

Although only four desserts are in rotation,  it was hard to choose  between a milky chocolate pudding or a creme brulee made from the super-trending halva, complete with whatever Persian cotton candy might turn out to be.  We opted for a gorgeously seasonal compote of rhubarb, a delicately spindly  raft of crisp kataif cradling a luscious, milky scoop of Greek yogurt ice cream.  Nothing to complain about there, but I left curious still about that Persian cotton candy.  Lucky for me, it's on the menu at Balaboosta as well, there paired with a Middle Eastern cheesecake.  As solid as Admony's cuisine is at Bolonat, I'm even more interested in trying her original.... so it looks like I can experience that confection and explore her talents further without even a revisit: Win-win.

    611 HUDSON STREET

    tel. 1. 212.390.1545