Limani, the Roslyn, NY based Greek fish focused restaurant that has dominated western Long Island's seafood dining scene since 2009, debuted its second location on Nov. 5 in Midtown Manhattan at 45 Rockefeller Plaza on the corner of West 51st Street. The kitchen of the new 8,000 square foot, 200-seat Limani ("seaport" in Greek) is helmed by Chef M.J. Alam, an 18-year veteran of the Milos organization, where he was most recently the executive chef of the Manhattan restaurant. He left that post to join Limani's owners in the orchestration of the opening of the Rockefeller Center venture, which embodies many culinary and atmospheric elements of the original, while imbued with new components created for a New York City audience.
Indeed, much about Chef Alam's menu for the Manhattan Limani will be familiar to the Roslyn restaurant's legions of fans with a large range of highest quality local and Mediterranean seafood, authentic Greek preparations and use of artisanal small-batch items, such as capers from Santorini and Saffron from Kozani. Chef Alam has also added some dishes representative of his gastronomic style, the likes of: Trikilino Bottarga, cured grey mullet served with crostini; Organic Salmon made with Fresno chili, shallots, cilantro, scallions; Big Eye Tuna, sushi quality center cut tuna with skordalia over a bed of Swiss chard and patzaria; Barbouni made with baby red mullet from Greece; and Astakomakaronada, lobster prepared with linguini and tomato sauce. And carnivores can look forward to the Tomahawk, a 36 ounce, bone-in 30-day, dry-aged USDA Prime rib eye steak as one of the menu's meats. Diners can also look forward to "seasonal surprises" throughout the year as Chef Alam explores new arrivals on the market.
Several of the 22 seafood entrée selections are market priced by the pound. Another Limani Manhattan innovation, as is the option for some fish to be coated with a salt crust and oven baked, instead of the Limani norm of being grilled. The menu is further distinguished by Kakavia, a traditional Greek fisherman's soup named after the "kakavi," the tripod cooking pot used by ancient Ionian fishermen. The dish, which takes an hour to prepare, is considered the oldest of Greek fish soups.
Like the food, some decorative elements of the new Limani ware evocative of that of the original restaurant, including an open kitchen, a market display of fish, and the glamorously modern airy space with soaring ceilings that eschews nautical and cultural clichés. The dramatic décor, as built by Shawmut Design and Construction, includes an elaborate entrance design, symbolizing the ribs of a ship's hull. It opens into the timeless sophistication of the main dining room's gleaming white marble floor, hand-grooved sandstone columns and walls and filmy fabric panels forming gracefully flowing partitions. At the center, a square pool of sparkling water reflects the specially commissioned sculpture of a swirling school of fish in seemingly endless motion suspended from the ceiling.
The bar and lounge area are defined by a massive ceiling high bottle display with striking stainless steel accents behind the backlit onyx bar, a portion of which is dedicated to sashimi and shellfish offerings. As befits such a cosmopolitan setting, there is extensive wine list with 400 bottles representing Old and New World production. Likewise, the beer program represents a broad range of domestic and international brews.
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