first
taste
Royal Feast
If Chairman Mao
were still laughing, he'd giggle to know there's a slicked-up
tablecloth joint on Mott Street called Royal
touting a "provincial" menu of his favorite dishes.
My convocation of pepperhead pals is greeted by an empty
room and five guys in dark suits looking like undertakers,
maybe, and a menu full of Hong Kong this and Sichuan
that. "Where is the Mao food?" I cry. "Coming up next
week," one of them promises. "Have to translate this."
He ruffles a manuscript. "Chef will cook for you. You
try now." Then comes the Lop Yuke leeks with Hunan bacon,
Mao's twice-cooked pork, custardy bean curd, grilled
prawns with fat green asparagus, and frog with shrimp,
ginger, and scallion -- most everything larded with
torrid red and green peppers to pick out and set aside
in hopes of survival . . . absolutely delicious. And
the Hong Kong salt-baked squid are amazing, too. No
word yet from Mao on dessert. —
GAEL GREENE
Royal
1 Mott Street
212-964-9650
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best of the week
A Fine Romance
A Valentine's
Day visit to Daniel would suffice on its own, but from
February 14 through 16, the pot's been sweetened: Bill
Boggs and Hilary Kole serenade with romantic numbers
from the American songbook. Prix fixe dinner and cover
is $150; the late show costs $100. Reserve tickets now.
Daniel
60 E. 65th Street
212-288-0033
See our Valentine's Day restaurant picks
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object of desire
Devilish
Combination 
Lately, deviled
eggs -- like fondue, pupu platters, and Bert Convy-hosted
game-show reruns -- have enjoyed a modest, kitschy comeback.
We used to be of the opinion that the only way to prepare
them was with as little fuss as possible: Whip the yolks
with Hellmann's and Dijon mustard, pipe into the whites,
and sprinkle with paprika or chopped parsley. Then we
came across Le Zinc's jazzed-up quartet. Chef
Michael Sullivan tweaks the mustard-mayo formula by
topping one egg with bacon, roasted onion, and thyme,
and another with salmon roe. In a third, he substitutes
curry for mustard and adds a garnish of Granny Smith
apple slices. For the traditionalist at the table, the
fourth is the classic Joy of Cooking take, with its
telltale dusting of sweet paprika and parsley.
Le Zinc
139 Duane Street
212-513-0001
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shopping
Greene Grocer
Fort Greene's L'Epicerie
came about after some solid, old-fashioned market research:
"I'd see people walking down the street, carrying Dean & Deluca
and Balducci's bags," says Jean-Baptiste Caillet, owner of
the bistro A Table a few blocks away, "and I figured, There's
a niche that needs filling." By transforming a former bike
shop into a charming Portuguese-tiled gourmet grocery, stocked
with everything from Australian lamb and New Zealand beef
to organic produce and mostly French cheeses and charcuterie
-- even a rigorously trained Toulouse butcher, Yohann Nazet
(pictured) -- Caillet has done just that. But mixed in among
the delectable imports are homegrown foodstuffs like bread
from Blue Ribbon Bakery
and chocolate from Jacques Torres's dumbo factory. And for
brownstone dwellers in mid-kitchen renovation, there's an
enticing selection of prepared foods like cold poached salmon,
ratatouille, and boeuf bourguignonne.
L'Epicerie
270 Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn
718-636-1200
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Ask Gael
What's worth leaving my homey
winter cocoon?
Blue
Fin. It's smart. It's handsome. It's jumping. Fiercely
noisy with jazz to boot. (Ask to sit out back, an oasis
for, ahem . . . adults.) Stephen Hanson, a longtime pal,
hooked us that first night with his esculent uni. Lushly
primal, this pedigreed sea urchin spills over its rice
saddle with nary a bit of nori to rein in its voluptuous
sprawl. Sushi mavens will be happy here, though for me
the admittedly tasty rolls (spicy tuna, sesame sea scallop,
miso-glazed sea bass) seem a tad skimpy. And the staff
is still figuring it out. But chef Paul Sale scores with
splendid goat-cheese-and-beet salad, a superior crab cake
with chunky celery-root salad, and his precise cooking
of fish, especially black bass on shrimp-and-asparagus
risotto, the wild salmon (rare, we said), and perfectly
roasted Chilean sea bass (though I hated the sauce). Gotham
vet Joseph Murphy bows with a chocolate tasting that's
hard to just taste and a satiny coconut-milk panna cotta
in pineapple-passion-fruit soup.
Blue Fin
1567 Broadway, at 47th Street
212-918-1400
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