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Dining Review: MacMenamin's Grill

(August 7, 2002) When you enter MacMenamin's Grill, you might think you're in a Martha Stewart dream (or nightmare, depending on how you feel about Martha). The first level cooking school and demonstration kitchens of the converted Plasticworks building, within kissing distance of I-95 in New Rochelle, hold serried ranks of red-knobbed, stainless steel Wolf ranges and large prep areas. This is Chefworks, Brian MacMenamin's new mega-culinary venture, where, among other things, you can sign up for "Recreational Chef" courses. But we were there for immediate gratification, so we headed upstairs to the restaurant.

The huge, lofty space of raw brick, with refinished but still interesting old wooden floors and lovely alabaster lighting fixtures, was only 1/6th full on a Monday evening. Tall, bare windows afford an almost surreal view of rushing traffic at eye level on I-95, just yards away. The window glass must be very thick, because there was no noise from the roadway. But since there is very little fabric or upholstery in the room, the noise level must be rather high when the restaurant is full of diners.

The practice of presenting diners with amuses-bouches, tasty morsels to "amuse the mouth," is a welcome French touch in more and more American restaurants. But MacMenamin's pallid slivers of gravlax, served room-temperature on tiny bread rounds, were not even diverting, much less amusing.

Appetizers were more satisfying. Perfectly cooked asparagus spears were lightly covered in melted Gorgonzola cheese. The brandied lobster bisque, intensely pink and creamy, had just enough liquor in it to be out of the ordinary. The mesclun salad, while fresh, arrived with the listed citrus dressing instead of plain oil and vinegar, as requested.

Why do we go out to dinner? For lots of reasons, of course, but one of them is to get a better cut of steak than we can buy in the supermarket. MacMenamin's filet mignon lives up to that standard, dense and meltingly tender at the same time. However, the New York sirloin might have come from Stop and Shop, judging from its pedestrian flavor and toughness. It was also a solid well-done rather than the asked-for medium rare. At $30, this is not a good value. Grilled lamb chops were perfectly cooked and tender, but there were only two, at $28. Side dishes were acceptable but not special.

Other main dishes include lobster, veal chop, stuffed free range chicken breast, several fish selections and a roasted duck breast with seckle pear. There is also a raw bar, serving prawns, oysters, clams, crab meat and even 1/2 of a 1 1/2 lb. lobster.

Only one person in our party tried dessert, and he was underwhelmed with the gorgeous-looking but lackluster craquelin, a chocolate mousse/cake combination topped by a large sugar cookie.

This new restaurant, with its ambitious owner/chef and elegant, special interior, should be an exciting addition to the Sound Shore restaurant scene. Let's hope Brian MacMenamin can get his kitchen staff firing on all cylinders. Until he does, a better bet when you're feeling carnivorous is Port Chester's Willett House.

 

MacMenamin's Grill 115 Cedar Street New Rochelle, NY 914-632-4900 Open for lunch: 12-3, every day Open for dinner: 4-10, weekdays; 4-11, weekends, 4-9, Sunday