Small Bites

Cafe Barcel, the new restaurant in Nyack, was the hoppin’ place to be for food people on Monday night. I walked in to find Joe Printz, the owner of the Grape D’Vine in Tappan, at a table with his wife, Pam, and their daughter, Emma.

Then my husband and I took a seat at the bar next to James Phanor, the GM of X20 in Yonkers. Then Didier Dumas, the owner of Dider Dumas Patisserie across the street from Cafe Barcel, took the bar stool next to me.

While we were dining, Matt Hudson, the owner of Hudson House of Nyack, came in with his girlfriend and another couple.

All this name-dropping to say two things: I got to try dishes at Joe’s table and bites of all of Didier’s dishes, so I sampled even more than I ordered.

And — when you’ve got that many restaurant/wine/pastry people in the room, you know everyone’s hoping the food holds up. (Especially the chef, Kevin Reilly. More on him and owner Nidia Alexander on this post here.) They needn’t worry at all. Most everything I sampled was terrific.

UPDATE: I stopped by after writing this post and snapped a few photos of the interior:

Look for more photos at the end of the post.

My camera was on the fritz, so please excuse the quality of these iPhone photos. This is the Diver Scallops a la Plancha, Bagna Cauda Broth and Shaved Raw Vegetables:

There are four small, beautifully seared scallops under a gorgeous pile of carrots and swimming in a broth with tons of umami.

Frisee Salad, Cabrales Blue Cheese, Pork Cracklings and Creamy Mustard Dressing:

I tasted Pam’s and my husband’s plates of this. There was more than just frisee — watercress was a big player, too. And while the greens were fresh, there was a bit too much dressing and there was something strange with the dressing, too. Maybe too much walnut oil? Or maybe something else was off balance?

Didier’s Pan Seared Mozzarella Speidini with White Anchovy and Caper Sauce was outrageous:

Little breads that were crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside, with melted mozz as a little present inside. Mmm. Like a grilled cheese that’s all grown up.

Quite a bit of camaraderie at the bar, too. Again, apologies for the iPhone photo. Here’s my husband sharing a laugh with James. That window behind them faces east down Main Street and toward the river. As you can see, the whole room has been turned around since the previous incarnation as Change.

Behind them is Joe’s table. (No photo of Joe, sorry.) There is one more table next to him in the front window.

Here’s Didier:

As you can see, the bar seats about 8 or 10.

The light changed at the bar, so these photos are a little better. Here’s the garganelli my husband and I shared as a mid course. Garganelli Pasta, Pork Bolognese, Lime, Cilantro and Sweet Onion. Excellent:

The pasta was creamy and light on the tongue, the pork was so stringy it fell apart when you looked at it, and the vegetables had bite. I didn’t taste much lime… the dish was more meaty than bright. But the pop of the herbs made a difference. One of my favorites all night.

Now is as good a time as any: I also tasted Joe’s Hand Made Gnocchi, Crispy Garlic and Wild Mushrooms in Parmesan Broth, which was a little more dense than I’d hoped. (Now this is one bite, so take it as it’s worth.) But the sauce was rich and satisfying and had plenty of depth of flavor.

I also had a bite of his daughter’s Char Grilled Hanger Steak Frites, with Chimichurri Sauce and Watercress. The char on the meat was thick and crusty, and the inside of the steak was pink nd juicy. Plenty of flavor here, and the fries were terrific: small (but not tiny), crunchy on the outside and puffy on the inside.

Didier’s Chilean Sea Bass a la Plancha, Oven Dried Tomatoes and Chick Peas in a Citrus Broth:

Fish was flaky, crust was brittle. The sauce was like a thick vegetable soup with some texture from the chickpeas.

My husband’s Roasted Chicken with Preserved Lemon, Yukon Gold Potato Cake and Maple Glazed Carrots. Good skin, juicy bird, nice sides, too. (He always gets chicken. What’s with that?)

I chose the Crispy Pork Cakes, Vinegar Slaw, Preserved Lemon Sauce, an appetizer, for my main:

Porky flavor, crisp on top and braised in the middle. These sat on little tufts of slaw, which was very lightly dressed.

A creative way to serve them indeed. I recommend highly. My only question on this is whether you need three as an appetizer. But here’s my bet: I think the restaurant is anticipating people like me who order two apps. If the kitchen makes them substantial enough (and charges enough, too, this was $10), then the restaurant is doing OK financially no matter which part of the menu diners choose. I actually took two of these home. But don’t forget, I was eating bites off plates of everyone else’s, too!

UPDATE: I spoke to chef Kevin Reilly —

—this morning and he’s adding a few specials to the menu. Some of these will be priced very low indeed. For example, tonight’s special board, which will be written on this blackboard —

— and on this mirror in the back of the restaurant —

— will have a crispy bacon dish and a plate of meatballs, each for just $3. He’ll also do occasional entree specials there, too.

Didier’s grilled pineapple dessert:

Just lovely.

My husband’s apple crumble:

Fall in a bowl. Nice ratio (and contrast) of topping to apple.

My bunelos (or doughnuts):

Light, airy and cinnamon-y. Dipped in chocolate? Sinful:

I’m headed past the restaurant as I go to work now, so if they’re open, I will supplement these awful photos with ones taken during the daylight. But here’s looking  toward the back of the restaurant. There’s a beautiful red banquette (sort of like the ones at the Hudson House) and a big mirror on the wall above it:

This is the left (or west) side of the restaurant. The red banquette again, with local art hanging from a picture rail.

A few tables are also in the center of the restaurant. So sorry again for the quality, but I know people are curious about Barcel, so I wanted to get these up as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Here are the photos from this morning:

Open only three days? Yes. But Barcel, with its creative and solid food, friendly service and sleek (but hardly pretentious) look, is already an exciting addition to the Nyack restaurant scene.

The 411 on Cafe Barcel.

Photo Caption: lj111609barcel01