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Dining Review: Lime

by Paula Eisenberg

(September 30, 2002) "Contemporary American cuisine" is one of those new buzzterms that covers a lot of territory. Whatever it means, we have it here in Larchmont and Mamaroneck, served up in several restaurants like Watercolor Café, Larchmont Avenue Oyster House, Down by the Bay and others. One of the newest is Lime, occupying the old Baci location on Larchmont Avenue for a little more than a year.

The restaurant's greenish name and décor could be carried to silly lengths in the food (theme restaurants often don't work beyond the kitsch level), but chef Jonathan Dorf mercifully uses the fruity namesake sparingly and intelligently. The peekytoe crab salad, with a lid of fresh-tasting guacamole, rested in a pool of mild, sweet salsa, prettily garnished with lime slices. Our waitperson didn't know anything about the origin of the peekytoe crab, but some quick online research reveals it to be a formerly unappreciated crab often thrown away by lobstermen. Now, its sweet, delicate flavor is much-prized in local restaurants, so you'll start seeing it on more and more menus.

Tuna tartare, raw yellowfin tuna served with tobiko (red sushi-style caviar), seaweed salad and a tart wasabi vinaigrette, made a satisfying and, importantly, very fresh appetizer. One is always a bit nervous when ordering raw fish in a non-sushi establishment, so if the fish is sushi-quality, the restaurant gets high marks for quality control and attention to detail.

Other appetizers on the new seasonal menu include a sweet corn and crab bisque, Portuguese-style clams and mussels with chorizo, and a warm pear and quince compote with sautéed foie gras. Appetizers are in the $8-$19 range, a bit high on the upper end for local eateries.

Only in a French bistro have we encountered hanger steak, at least identified as such. This flavorful and fatty cut comes, at Lime, from the buffalo rather than the steer, and it was superb. The thinly sliced meat in a red wine reduction was accompanied by lyonnaise potatoes and boiled Swiss chard. A word about portion size here: Lime gets it right. No great gobs of food on the plate, making all but sumo wrestler-sized appetites quail. There was just enough of everything, so that the meat portion was enhanced by the vegetables, not overwhelmed by them. We should all speak up and demand rationally sized portions when we eat out, and not only in defense of our waistlines! Too much food on the plate is off-putting. Better to be slightly under-stuffed by dessert time, especially when the desserts are as enticing as those at Lime.

The pan-roasted organic free-range chicken, succulent and flavorful, was garnished with braised baby artichokes, chick peas, arugula, garlic confit, grape tomatoes and basil oil.

A side dish of braised red cabbage was both healthful and delicious, and more than enough for two.

In keeping with the lime motif, the Key lime tart was the real thing, served on a raspberry coulis, with shavings of white chocolate atop the whipped cream. The lime tart and home-made lime sorbet are perennials, but Chef Dorf makes frequent menu changes. If you're lucky, you'll be at Lime when he's offering the molten chocolate cake - a chocoholic's dream.

With their sophisticated menu and cozy dining room, (chef) Jonathan and (hostess) Anne Dorf are succeeding in their goal to provide Larchmont with a "Manhattan experience five minutes from home." The chef grew up in Larchmont and New Rochelle and is happy to be giving back to his childhood community.