Cite (NY - Midtown Manhattan)

In Soprano's parlance, Cite is dead to me.

I am as big a fan of unbridled capitalism as there is, but in the restaurant business, the pursuit of profit alone is a dangerous thing. Cite used to be an average steak house, but an extrordinarily fun place to go (catch my drift?).

The real draw (besides the fries) were the famous nightly "wine dinners," where for $69 plus tax and tip, you got an appetizer, an entree and a dessert along with all-you-can-drink of four wines that changed quarterly (always a sparkling, a white and two reds). This policy fueled a bacchanalian festival every night of the week where over the course of the night, the bachelor party in the back room would eventually meet up with the bridal shower across the dining room while tables of young investment bankers mingled with roving female bands of B&T.

I admit that over the years, the overall level of decorum dropped significantly. The slightly amusing elderly gentleman who was too drunk to find his table upon returning from the men's room was replaced by the college coed taking a header down a flight of stairs. And yes, while a glass of red wine disgorging its contents all over white tablecloths (and nearby diners) used to be a serious gaff, eventually it was replaced by vomiting in public and departing via stretcher and EMT.

The current rendition of the $69 wine dinner consists of decent enough wines, but stingy pours, burned pieces of the lesser cuts of meat and a conspicuous absence of the once revered "fries w/ filet." Seriously, they used to serve a juicy filet with a mountain of fries and practically open a case of wine onto your table. Now, they serve charred skirt steak and a cone of fries alongside empty wine glasses.

No wonder the place has twice as many empty tables as occupied tables - in midtown Manhattan on a Friday night in December. . .

2 Amys (DC - Cleveland Park)

We stopped into 2 Amys again and had a night of firsts: four new dishes and the real surprise, a bad pizza!

We went with a group of friends and were introduced to a bevy of new appetizers. Usually we are bottle of wine and two pizza people, but this night we shared:

Suppli de Telefoni
Piping hot fried balls of risotto and cheese. You will recognize these as being very similar to the amuseé you get at Obelisk - a sort of grown up comfort food (like an Italian version of macaroni and cheese with a crispy topping and that you can serve at cocktail parties). We had suppli like this all over Italy on a recent trip and have no excuse for why we have overlooked them on 2 Amys menu for so long.

Boar Sausage
A plate piled high with thin disks of boar sausage. The sausage itself was gamey and nutty, a little heard, spicy like chorizo, but without any of the grease that comes with that sausage.

Meatballs
2 Amys packs a tiny baking dish full of meatballs and then covers them with tomato sauce before tossing them in the oven. The result can be anything from some of the juiciest meatballs you have ever had to pathetic, died, cotton-mouth inducing lumps. It all depends on how long they were left unattended in the oven and whether you are eating one from the center of the dish or the outside.

Frittata
Redolent of a Spanish tortilla, 2 Amys serves theirs as a 1/4 circle of room temperature egg and potato composition. You need to enjoy eating cold/room temperature eggs to get into this dish, but any fan of Spanish tortilla (myself included) will feel right at home.

Now for the real surprise - the pizza. As I mentioned, we typically order a bottle of wine and two of the day's special pizzas. We have tried this countless times and never been disappointed (we have been surprised, challenged, delighted and intrigued before, but never disappointed).

Anyway, we ordered the special porcini mushroom pizza. It arrived as a sea of mushrooms and garlic with very sparing amounts of cheese and no sauce. I think I understand what they were going for - porcinis were in season and they had some lovely ones, so why not create a dish that really showcased them?

The problem is that the garlic overpowered the mushrooms and the lack of cheese and sauce resulted in a dish that lacked the requisite lubricant to comfortably descend the esophagus.

Oh well - maybe this is the exception that proves the rule!