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"Definitely not Chinatown”, these “big, brash”, party-centric Pan-Asians serve a variety of “tasty” dishes in “flashy”, “kitschy”, “lacquered” settings that seem “turned up to 11”; they’re “frenzied” “fun for the kids” and “tourists”, so regulars advise “go at off times – if there are any."
By Ruth Reichl
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Swinging his coat off his shoulders, the man by the door knocks the young woman behind him off her feet. "I'm so sorry," he apologizes, "there is just no room." Turning to help her up, he finds himself staring down at a little girl who is crawling through the legs of the crowd to reach the exit. A waiter looks despairingly at the impenetrable mass of people, hoists his heavily laden tray above his head and gingerly picks his way to the tables by the window. "I hope you don't drop that," says one woman he passes. "This is a new suit." She turns to the harried hostess and wails, "Can you tell me when we'll be seated?"
Just another Friday night at Ruby Foo's Dim Sum and Sushi Palace. Stephen Hanson owns the nearby Ocean Grill and Isabella's, so he must have known the Upper West Side suffered from a serious glitz gap before he opened the most sensational restaurant in the area. But he obviously underestimated just how wide that gap was. People were knocking on the windows and begging to come in even before the restaurant's January opening. "I tried to get a reservation the first weekend," said one older woman, who lives nearby. "Do you know what time they offered me? 10:30!"
Every restaurateur in New York knows about the Upper West Side problem. Although apartment prices are soaring, it has never supported a really first-class restaurant. At least part of the reason is that there is little lunch business.
When Ansonia opened on Columbus Avenue a few years ago, there was hope that the drought might finally end. No such luck. Ansonia had the very talented Bill Telepan at the helm, but it was neither attractive nor comfortable and soon came to its own end. Lately, however, restaurateurs are taking a new look at the neighborhood. In the last several months, ambitious restaurants like Spazzia, Avenue and Calle Ocho have opened. And, of course, Ruby Foo's.
But look beneath the surface. Despite its splendor, Ruby Foo's is a very careful restaurant. This is no Le Cirque 2000. Mr. Hanson, a savvy restaurateur with a deep understanding of his audience, has opened a restaurant that is spectacular without being expensive, the sort of place that can attract everybody from young families to people on the prowl. And his multi-million dollar gamble seems to be paying off.
Mr. Hanson owes a great deal to the restaurant's designer, David Rockwell, who has outdone himself here. Mr. Rockwell seems to have has Auntie Mame in mind when he created the sensational curved staircase; you can just see her floating down it, crying, "Live, live, live!" Mr. Rockwell's exciting design, a vibrant collage of mah-jongg tiles, gilded Buddhas and red-lacquered walls, sets the tone of the restaurant: Asia, the romantic East, seen through American eyes.
The menu is much the same, offering Asian food tailored to American tastes. Mr. Hanson is treading no new ground here. "Absolutely, positively no MSG in anything!" it says in bold letters on the bottom if the menu. The are absolutely, positively no odd inards or strange beasts on the menu, either. Mr. Hanson went to experts before he produced this menu. His consultants were Barry Wine, who owned the Quilted Giraffe and also ran the private sushi bar Sony's corporate quarters in New York; Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, the author of Chinese cookbooks, and James Crew, who was the chef at Typhoon.
They have done their work well. With the exception of dim sum, the weakest link in the menu, the Chinese food is seductive. Forget the steamed dumplings, with their tough wrappers and dense fillings, and have spare ribs instead. Baby back ribs come either glazed with a tantalizingly sour tamarind sauce or with a fabulously funky spicy black bean sauce; both leave you licking your fingers. The main plates include a fine, spicy chicken with cashews and peppers, and huge jumbo shrimp with black beans. I was not taken with the dry crispy duck, but the crispy whole fish is so perfectly executed that each time you tug a section from the body it falls from the bone in moist slices.
The sushi, which was not stellar when the restaurant opened, seems to be improving with each passing week. This is not the place to try esoterica like toro, but on my final visit the maguro was clear and fine, the hamachi rich and silken, the various rolls beautifully made. Even the sea urchin was good.
The menu includes one other memorable Japanese dish: miso-glazed black cod, a fish of almost unbearable richness.
But I think it is telling that chef, Junnajet Hurapan, is Thai, for it is the Southeast Asian dishes that really sing. You find them sprinkled all over the menu, from appetizers of small spiced crab cakes that are a sort of reinvented Thai fish cake, to a powerful hot and sour lemongrass soup. The green papaya salad lacks the dried shrimp it would contain in Thailand, but it still has lots of garlic, heat and character.
The best of the main courses are also Thai inspired. The seven-flavor beef is a clean mixture, all spice and chilies and lime, that leave your mouth burning. And the green curry chicken, chunks of meat mixed with Thai eggplant, has a fiery coconut-based sauce that is irresistible.
There is nothing Thai about the desserts, which are purely American and purely wonderful. The chocolate cake with ice cream is so large and rich that it makes a child out of everyone who encounters it. The cake is lots fun, but I still prefer the raspberry-passion fruit parfait with white chocolate sauce. Remember raspberry-peach Humorettes? In my opinion, they were the best Good Humour bars ever made. It seems right that Ruby Foo's has brought back a great American taste in a jazzed-up version.
Does Ruby Foo's have a tea menu? Of course it does. Would you expect anything less than the very latest trend from a restaurant that has set out to cure the West Side restaurant blahs? Besides, you'll need something to fortify you before once again tackling the crush at the door.
Copyright © 1999 by the New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
This was the last review by Ruth Reichl for the New York Times before she became editor of Gourmet Magazine
"Winning candidates for food capital dining" - Bob Lape
New York's best chocolate layer cake. "Go figure that Asian-fusion fun food forum Ruby Foo's two locations would feature chocolate cake, but this one-pound slab is moist and yummy, too much for one tummy, but just right for two people or two days."
Where to go for fun and food. "Ruby Foo's comes in twos...hyper-colorful surroundings, a whimsical Oriental atmosphere, a lively buzz and good east from all of Asia."
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