Pete Wells Awards Two Stars to Michael White's Costata

Pete Wells is not in love with the dining room at Costata, and he finds some misfires on the menu, but overall he thinks that Michael White and Ahmass Fakahany have created a satisfying restaurant. Wells praises the pastas, most of the seafood dishes, and several of the steaks. On the meat:

The bone-in strip is a very good piece of beef, though it doesn't have the intensity of the best dry-aged meat. Neither does the 40-ounce porterhouse, though big enough for at least two people, for $116. Called the Fiorentina, it's a handsome carnation-pink all the way through, but it has no crust to speak of and is lukewarm on arrival. It's all steak and no sizzle.

For sizzle, we'll spend $2 more to get the Costata, a 44-ounce rib-eye on the end of a theatrical curve of roasted bone. Bathed in mouth-coating melted fat, the meat is so tender beneath its dark crust that slicing it makes you feel like a bully. This steak alone is a reason for the restaurant that it's named after to exist.

Although it's not perfect, Pete Wells thinks that Costata delivers what we want from a Michael White restaurant, more or less. He concludes: "Things aren't the way they used to be. They're not quite the way we pictured them in the beginning. But give us the cavatelli and a rib-eye, or a few langoustines, and for tonight, we'll be happy." Two stars.
· An Old Flame, Whispering 'Steak' [NYT]
· All Coverage of Costata [~ENY~]
[Costata by Krieger]

Costata

206 Spring St., New York, NY