CityZen

2011 Fall Dining Guide
By Tom Sietsema
Sunday, October 16, 2011

The most luxurious potato salad in the city is delivered with a wink. To find the dish in its big white bowl, a diner has o remove its golden cover, so light the lid nearly floats. Snap the potato tuile into pieces to scoop up the perfect diced spuds, along with sheer radishes and celery bavarois. That's the way Eric Ziebold eats his creation, one of several highlights on the chef's fresh vegetarian menu that has carnivores at the table watching wishfully. The six-course adventure actually begins with what looks like the most inviting geometry class ever, a brilliant green rope of compressed cucumber aligned above precise portions of Greek yogurt, sesame-crusted tofu, pickled watermelon rind and marinated onion: a salty, crisp, sour and sweet progression of notes. The fun and finesse continue with roasted baby cauliflower, massaged with herbs, including oregano and rosemary, that ennoble the humble vegetable. From the meatier tasting menu come small wonders such as foie gras torchon with grilled peaches, and butter-poached lobster set off with corn "marrow" (imagine corn crossed with satin). Happily, everyone in this dining room with the endless ceiling and the golden glow is treated to a small wooden box of oven-warm Parker House rolls. "I'd go there just for them," a companion says. Meanwhile, pastry chef Matthew Petersen, a Season 2 contestant on "Top Chef Just Desserts," turns out some of the most sophisticated finales in the area. You'll never look at rice pudding the same way after tasting his lovely napoleon distinguished with star anise. CityZen, in the Mandarin Oriental hotel, is not without its minor moments - a bit too much salt here, a merely pretty dish there - but its brushes with perfection outweigh them.