For no good reason I had not dined at Proof in some time. We remedied that on Saturday night. I am an admitted Proof fan. I am well aware of the sniping that the place receives because of its "lofty" connections in NYC, and its well-capitalized backers, but that crap doesn't really resonate with me. I'm here for the food . . . and the wine . . . and the good service . . . and the cool atmosphere. As good as my meals at Proof have been in the past, Saturday night's meal hit a new high.
For an amuse we received a clever play on the age-old dish of bacala, with this version benefiting from being served as a fritter spiked with bits of country ham served with a bright parsley salad. Talk about waking up the taste buds. Chef Michael Paley has really perfected the art of taking classic dishes, both fancy and rustic, and updating or tweaking them to make them new and fun. A good example was the tuna appetizer that was just reminicent enough of a pan bagnat to bring a smile to my face as I recalled the sandwich I had recently enjoyed in the south of France. Just barely seared tuna was sliced thin, sprinkled with bottarga and topped with half of a coddled egg, all barely dressed in the lightest vinaigrette. Soft-boiled egg and tuna? Sounds odd until you think about the sandwiches your mom used to make. The celery that is omnipresent in the more pedestrian version had a very clever substitute in Chef Paley's version, but I won't ruin the surprise. While Paley shows throughout the menu that he is comfortable borrowing technique and ingredients from a myriad of cuisines, his real strength is Italian, specifically Tuscan, and this showed in his pasta preparations. Asking this guy for something Italian is like throwing a fastball in Albert Pujol's wheelhouse. Both pastas were unfamiliar to me in terms of their names, but the preparations were classic. Large sheets of homemade pasta were bathed in a simple butter sauce and sprinkled with strips of country ham, fava beans, and shavings of parmiggiano reggiano, the other thin but sturdy strands of pasta (think thin spaghetti) were perfectly al dente and dressed modestly with a delicious melange of herbs and cheese. I really had to show restraint with this course so as not to ruin my appetite for the rest of meal to come.
Our next dish was sockeye salmon topped with dandelion greens in a vinaigrette. This was easily the best salmon preparation that I've had in recent memory. The dandelion greens were bracing and had a pleasant peppery bitterness that offset the unctuous fattiness of the salmon, I cleaned my plate. Our final savory course was a perfectly sized portion of seared and sliced flatiron steak fanned over salsify and morels with a rich reduction sauce. The meat was flavorful and beefy and paired oh so well with the morels.
Desserts were an assortment of whimsical petit fours, including a delicious bite-sized red velvet cake, and a trio of house-made gelati. The gelati at Proof are really special. The straciatella features peanut butter instead of the classic hazelnut, and the malted chocolate takes you back to your childhood days in summer, but the very best is the caramel sea salt.
Some of my favorite restaurants in NYC are Craft, Hearth, Babbo and Landmarc. Proof is as good as any of them, and it is similar in the sense that Paley is having fun with high-quality ingredients without over dressing them or getting too fussy. His cuisine really reminds me of Marco Canora's at Hearth, and that is a very good thing.
For wines we had a quartino of Albarino and a Arnaldo Caprai Rosse de Montefalco, which is unfortunately mispelled on the winelist. Both were excellent food wines and fairly priced. Service was friendly and very efficient, as it always is at Proof. The place is so well run both in the front and back of the house, it really leaves me scratching my head when I hear anyone report that they have had less than an excellent dinner there.