Flora Bar, the thrilling new restaurant in the Met Breuer on Madison Avenue, is taking chef-partner Ignacio Mattos’ kitchen art outdoors. More contemporary than many of the works on view in the museum, his culinary creations bring joy to a space that was wasted on meh sculpture for 50 years.
Flora Bar opened last fall in a room warmer than an underground, granite-and-concrete space has any right to be. Now, it’s debuted a cool, austere dining terrace that makes for the best al fresco eats north of Bloomingdale’s since Cafe Boulud first plopped a few tables on the sidewalk. The patio has taken over the former Whitney Museum’s moat-like sculpture garden, scrunched 20 feet below ground between the building and the street.
It was the least lovable part of architect Marcel Breuer’s landmarked edifice, but the cement-lined, open-air setting turns out to be just right for Mattos, who gained acclaim with the Houston Street bistro Estela, and his eclectic American lineup.
A menu doesn’t have to be tropical or party-driven to be savored outdoors. Clarity of presentation and surprising lightness on the tongue make Flora Bar’s offerings as refreshing as the setting.
Dishes that sound mundane and appear simple, such as “chicken, celery and apple” ($32), are anything but. A wedge of boneless breast is drizzled with olive oil and topped with crunchy bok choy and celery, and sits in a pool of apple juice and kohlrabi. The chicken is cooked to supple, flavorful perfection on the plancha with a discipline and technique rare in these often culinarily uninspired parts.
Spinach- and wasabi leaf-wrapped halibut ($34), too, looks same-old only until you taste its heart-stoppingly delicious flavor depths. On the cheaper side, luscious, cured and olive oil-marinated anchovies ($16) are a first-class ticket from Madison Avenue to Las Ramblas.
You won’t mistake the setting for Barcelona. It needs some softening touches to mellow the view of stark cement walls and the brooding overhang cantilevered over the dining floor like a Brutalist umbrella. Metal-slat chfashionistas inairs carve new grooves into your butt, not the way to enjoy $30-plus main courses.
But what the terrace lacks in decoration is made up for by eye-candy clientele. There are bow-tied dandies from the nearby Gagosian Gallery, women in little black dresses and fashionistas in top-to-bottom, Chanel-ish gold.
The styles are uptown, but Flora Bar’s food tells a compelling downtown story. Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr. Mattos!
945 Madison Ave., 646-558-5383; FloraBarNYC.com