More than once I’ve been asked if I ever tire of going out to restaurants or of eating so much of the same thing. The answer to the first question is absolutely not: Like everyone else I get hungry after six PM and still think that a good restaurant always offers the promise of something new and exciting. As for the second, while there is a lot of sameness and trendiness on menus, the good chefs know how to make people’s favorite dishes their own.
So, nothing is ever the same, and sometimes I come across a restaurant of such decorous appeal and a chef of such innovation that I realize all over again why I love what I do.
The brand-new Point Seven is a case in point and Chef Franklin Becker, whose career I’ve followed for decades, proves that the great ones never get bored—tired, perhaps, in a profession that takes its toll—but never blasé or lax about trying to give enormous pleasure to his or her guests. Becker is a very busy fellow: Brooklyn born as the son of a mother whose ethic was “always do better,” he attended the Culinary Institute of America and first came to my notice at Capitale in Soho. He has devoted himself to healthy food causes, co-founding Little Beet and Hungryroot.com, and works with Columbia University on its food hall, as well as opening Oliva Tapas restaurant in Harlem.
Together with Stephen Loffredo of Hospitality Department, Becker debuted the first-rate Press Club last year near Times Square, and now, in the MetLife Building atop Grand Central Terminal, the marvelous new two-level Point Seven on premises formerly Fonda del Sol. Studio Valerius has changed that once red Spanish restaurant into a sophisticated, very New York styled restaurant, whose cool décor of muted colors in the swank bar at ground level, which reminds me of the original Eero Saarinen’s design for JFK’s TWA terminal.
Up a few steps the dining room repeats colors of beige, gray and blue, along with piscine chandeliers. Tables are widely separated and the highly professional waitstaff moves easily amidst them; for once I can pronounce with pleasure that the decibel level here is almost serene, without being in any way hushed. Tables are topped with a smooth surface of Smile Plastics made from 100% recycled post-consumer plastic. China and wineglasses are exquisite, and sofa-like seating has pillows to lean back on.
Point Seven is decidedly a seafood restaurant (with some meat options), whose name refers to the fact that 70% of the world’s surface is water, and Becker gives a strong Asian edge to many dishes presented in ways you’ve never seen them before. For starters, he offers “sushi unrolled” ($23-$29), which means you construct your own: You take a spoonful from a juicy tart of spicy tuna with tobiko, red onion and sweet-sour shio kombucondiment and place it into a sheet of ultra-thin, very crisp nori seaweed. The oddness becomes a revelation, because you get a wonderful crunch you would not if made back in the kitchen in advance.
So, too, the shrimp and grits ($24) is unlike any I’ve had in the South, where you usually get a bed of unseasoned grits topped with spicy shrimp. At Point Seven the dish acquires more of the refinement of a bouillabaisse, with smoky Benton’s ham, a rich garlic-chili butter and scallions, all set as a pretty bowl.
There is so much deep flavor in everything, including a tuna tostada with sweet avocado and pico de gallo ($24). The charcoal grill gives a slight smokiness to sea scallops served in the shell with a complex XO sauce and scallop crisp. ($29).
For entrees there are several surprises, foremost a large slab of what looks like the silkiest wild salmon imaginable, until you discover it is bright orange-pink steelhead trout with cabbage, leeks and a tangy mustard sauce ($42), which shows how exceptional trout can be. There’s also a savory Caribbean stew with achiote tomatoes and coconut ($48), and—the first I’ve seen this winter—Nantucket bay scallops that Becker says he gets from a long-time provider on the island. The plump nubbins are like barely sweet but briny marshmallows, enhanced with nothing but their buttery juices ($48). I could eat a raft of them!
Swordfish takes well to the grill, but when made into kebabs and skewered they usually dry out and easily get overcooked, which was the case at Point Seven ($34), served with al dente chickpeas, couscous and chermoula.
If you like potatoes suffused with butter, you’ll love the ones here ($12), and the Peruvian shrimp chaufa fried rice teeming with vegetables ($14) is as good as any in the city.
Becker is fortunate to have a pastry chef who can match his talents: Sam Mason (formerly of wd~50 and current owner of Oddfellows Ice Cream) does a terrific manchego cheesecake ($16), banana cream chai ($16) and a very lavish take on tiramisù ($15) show off his mettle.
Max Green oversees the cocktail service, and I would always defer to wine director Luke Boland, whose cellar is stocked with unusual bottlings from all over.
New York continues to show amazing strength in the fine dining sector, whether it’s French, Italian or Asian, and, as a seafood restaurant, Point Seven joins the league leader Le Bernardin as among the best in the U.S.
POINT SEVEN
200 Park Avenue
929-877-1718
Point Seven is open from Monday through Saturday.