Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City
SADLY, GATO IS NOW CLOSED.
The first thing that every chef must learn how to cook are eggs. If you can’t master the art of scrambling a perfect set of eggs or folding over a beautifully cooked omlette, you’re going to have a rough time ahead of you. So when celebrity chef Bobby Flay announced he was opening a brand new restaurant in New York City, everybody figured he’d be able to at least scramble some eggs – even the naysayers that complained he was more of a TV personality than an actual chef.
Well, at Gato, his Spanish-influenced tapas restaurant, he proves that he can cook way more than just eggs. We had a spectacular meal including some tasty, but complex little bar snacks (like an intricate seven-layer potato and a sweet and smoky eggplant with manchego cheese), a rich and crispy vegetarian paella, and a phenomenal charred octopus with sour orange and bacon.
Yet surprisingly the most impressive dish was the one Flay might have been cooking since his first day at culinary school. If I ever boasted about my perfect fluffy eggs, this masterful plate puts me in my place. A bowl of aforementioned eggs sits alongside toast that’s been kissed with tomato confit oil and an earthy, spicy almond romesco awaiting to be constructed. The eggs have been scrambled with butter, creme fraiche, and boucheron goat cheese. No wonder they’re perfect. But it’s the extra components that continue to make this seemingly pedestrian dish sing beautiful music.
Those that say Bobby Flay can’t cook need to visit this restaurant. And I want to see them make scrambled eggs taste this spectacular.
| GATO |
| 324 Lafayette Street (between Bleecker and East Houston Street), Noho (212) 334-6400 |
| gatonyc.com |
