44 & X Hell's Kitchen Inspires Love for Both Waiter and Chef
Sunset is lowering, Friday, on 10th Ave. Due to humidity, we pass up the sidewalk seating at 44 & X Hell's Kitchen (44th and 10th, get it?), and the hostess seats us in the dining room. I didn't know Cameron Diaz was moonlighting. The room is wood and white; great camp meets Miami. There are a few flies buzzing about.
The crowd is from the neighborhood. Middle-aged in the evening, juvenescent into the night. Good people-watching out the windows of our corner table. Dogwalking and limos.
"Can you believe this is Hell's Kitchen?"
"I hope the economy doesn't tank any further, because I like this."
The DJ is an hourglass and wears a sparkly tank that reads "Black Girls" on one side and "White Boys" on the other. The waiters' tees are similarly amusing.
Everyone has fun reading the menu entries aloud. Comfort food that puts you out of your comfort zone. The menu lists several wines by the glass for $6-$9. We choose a versatile Cotes du Rhone for $7. Dark carnelian color and lightly berry-perfumed. A slight harshness at first, but on second sip I sink into its plummy warmth.
The woman next to me does a dance after tasting her Mediterranean chopped salad (a special). We'll have what she's having. Our faces light up and an irrepressible "Wow" passes through my lips at first taste. Chunks of fresh and firm avocado resist my bite. The plate holds a large mound of mostly crunchy vegetables cut in uniformly small bits. I usually hate salad dressing, but this one isn't too vinegary. Not a greasy dressing, just pleasantly slippery.
The squash blossom appetizer, as described by our waiter, sounds too good to ignore. The breading is lightly crunchy; the redder-than-red chunky tomato sauce is spiked with cardamom. The goat cheese stuffing is young and sweet, not tangy. It gushes out of the blossom smooth and thick, in happy counterpart to its crisp conveyance. Many of the dishes, including this one, are garnished with a peppery chive blossom. The waiter makes sure we know it's edible.
A shrimp appetizer is composed of two gargantuan crustaceans atop a disk of nutty Israeli couscous incorporating morsels of tender roasted vegetables. The whole affair is surrounded by an orange moat of zesty carrot kefir lime soup that brings me to a spring day.
The "Vermont Cheddar" mac and cheese is the cheapest entree at $10. I can see pools of oil nestled in its crevices, yet the dish feels buttery in texture, not oily. It is rich with white and yellow cheeses. The portion is so large I'm scaled down to a little girl before it, legs dangling from the bench seats. I dig deep into the white bowl, but am forced to submit. I can only manage half of it. The waiter says, "Does it need more cheese?" I laugh and say this mac and cheese is awesome. Waiter replies, "He puts truffle oil in it. He puts truffle oil in everything."
On receipt of their entrees a chorus of "This is good" and nods from the party of five thirtysomethings seated nearby. I hear people planning what they're going to order on their next visit.
The lime tart is as a lime tart should be: tart. It comes in a softly crumbly cookie crust surrounded by a lemon-yellow puckery sauce, the consistency of sticky egg yolks. The filling is pistachio-green, stiff and creamy, and topped by an amazingly fresh and dense scoop of lime frozen yogurt. The zingy yogurt melts over my tongue like icy Pop Rocks. Smart Alec, the waiter, asks, "Is it tart enough?"
And the coffee is good. I return the waiter's goofy wave goodbye. The intensity in the kitchen is palpable as I pass their open doorway. I have decided that I like 44 & X, but I haven't decided whom I'm more in love with, the waiter or the chef.
44 & X Hell's Kitchen, 622 10th Ave. (44th St.), 977-1170.