Piora: A Restaurant of Unexpected Flavors


Piora is truly representative of what New American cuisine is; with an Italian-American chef and a Korean-American owner, you see the influences of each in the food that is produced here.

Their culinary backgrounds – chef from Tenpenny and owner from Jean-Georges – definitely put this place on the West Village map. Also reading article after article about Piora’s monkey bread, two foodies – ChubbyChineseGirl and Vonatron from Socially Superlative, and I gathered together, ready to eat to see if the hype was worth it.

Monkey bread served with seaweed butter and whipped lardo was served warm (which is my most favorite way to serve bread) and nicely salted. I really enjoyed this, and would definitely come back for more.

Scallop served with sweet corn, chanterelle and crispy chicken skin is pictured above. The scallops were cooked nicely. As for the other elements, I had a hard time finding how they came together.

This dish – duck confit served with early grey, plum and cucumber – was unexpected namely because it came out like a cake, and I don’t remember tasting the plum altogether. I’m not sure if I would order it again but it was at least interesting to see the interpretation of these flavors.

Their sunchokes were really good, served with saba and hazelnut. It was well seasoned and definitely tasty.

The bucatini with black garlic, dungeness crab, maitake and chili topped with scallion was a bit salty for me. I didn’t really taste too much of the crab but at least the pasta was cooked well.

Their suckling pig served with radish, burdock and apple was good. The meat falls apart, which is always a good sign, and the sauce served with it was well paired.

We ended the meal with the cotton cheesecake served with strawberry and basil. It was light, and a pretty straightforward dessert.

Even though I didn’t find all the things at Piora especially tasty, it’s still a good place to go to on a date (definitely has a nice dining area) and try their dishes that comprise of various interesting ingredient combinations. If anything, I would go back for their monkey bread – it’s definitely worth ordering that on a cold winter night.

Piora
430 Hudson Street (near Morton St.)
New York, NY 10014
(212) 960-3801
http://www.pioranyc.com/


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