NYC - Bites & Buzz - Week of Aug. 20, 2001

EDITED BY ROBIN RAISFELD AND ROB PATRONITE
Week of August 20, 2001

Object of Desire
Wort and All
Just as you wouldn't head to Häagen-Dazs for a frosty mug of ale, you might not expect to find a sensational milkshake at a brewpub. But Heartland Brewery & Chop House's malted barley milkshake, offered on the dessert menu, is worth suffering a raised eyebrow or two from your neighbors at the bar. Exceptionally malty (as you might expect), the concoction is made from malted-milk-ball ice cream and the brewery's own wort, or the filtered liquid that remains after steeping dried malt in water. Ask for yours in a dirty glass.
Heartland Brewery & Chop House
127 West 43rd Street
646-366-0235

Best of the Week
Crayfish Week at Aquavit
We didn't know there was a Crayfish Week. But Aquavit is saving you a study trip to Louisiana (or Sweden, where the teeny freshwater lobsters are megapopular), serving the crustaceans all week on a menu that includes foie gras ganache with -- we're not making this up -- pear-crayfish ice cream. August 27 to September 2
Aquavit
13 W. 54th St.
212-307-7311

Preview
Opia of the People
Considering that Frederick Lesort and Antoine Blech (pictured) have specialized independently in the sort of smoky nightspot (Frederick's, Jour et Nuit, Orienta) where the preferred greeting is the double-cheek kiss, it's no surprise that their first collaboration, Opia, which opens August 27, is in a budget hotel that appeals to transatlantic tourists. But even less physically affectionate locals are bound to be intrigued by exotica like Laos-style chicken-and-cucumber salad, Indian flatbread with marinated lamb and onion jam, and Arctic-char gravlax with dill-potato croquettes -- and the fact that Opia's open for breakfast and lunch, too.
Opia
130 East 57th Street
212-688-3939

Ask Gael

I used to love Aureole . . . will I still?
Curb that rampant neophilia and come back to Aureole. Almost two years ago, chef-patron Charlie Palmer brought on Gerry Hayden (pictured) as his second. Slowly, Palmer let Hayden infiltrate the menu. And this week he crowned him executive chef. Citrus-marinated fluke with Ruby Red grapefruit and piquillo peppers is pure Hayden and a triumph. He revives the lively soba-noodle salad laced with yellowfin sashimi that I loved at Marguery Grill. Amazingly tender rock shrimp sit on a hill of avocado in a sea of gazpacho beside an oval of cumin foam you may or may not want to stir into a fabulous soup. Sirloin in a splendid duet with wine-braised short ribs or truffle-crusted salmon (meticulously rare as asked) or chicken both moist and crackling with morels and potato gnocchi might follow on the $69 dinner. Luscious asparagus risotto can't quite save the overcooked halibut in its silly asparagus-sabayon blanket. Aureole's original pastry chef, Hayden says he will focus on deconstructing desserts and making them more American. For now, the fruit-and-sorbet plate with a slice of Mom's Jell-O mold is a refreshing climax.
Aureole
34 East 61st Street
212-319-1660

Bites & Buzz Archive
Week of August 13
Pollen's nothing to sneeze at; corn dogs and corn cakes; monkey see, monkey re-do
Week of August 6
Best of both worlds at Medi, La Fondita's tacos, Hamptons home cooking
Week of July 30
Seven Great Ways to Catch Halibut, al di l�'s Sweet Breads, Tonic Boom, Hamptons Price War

and more ...

Photos: Patrik Rytikangas; Kenneth Chen.