WHEN the Tap closed, locals waited impatiently for this popular little bar and grill to reopen. A handsome new sign and charming facade quickened expectations, but renovations halted midway, and for months the place was shuttered and dark.
Last April it emerged with its current name, Nino’s, and its location across from the Bedford Hills Metro-North station is a natural for end-of-the-day meeting and mingling, and, in general, filling the void left by the Tap. An expanded menu lists items suitable not only for socializing but also for dining. With pizza, pasta, salad and old-fashioned “continental”-style dishes, the kitchen aims to please all.
But dining on these good intentions can be risky and sometimes frustrating. On one hand, the few decent dishes hold promise if properly timed and assembled. But most were careless preparations, and a number departed from the menu’s description, with ingredients whimsically substituted without explanation.
For example, a salad billed as rocket (arugula) and roasted beets with goat cheese, green apples and endive arrived as a hillock of baby greens (with perhaps only 5 percent arugula), no endive, and a few thin sliced beets beneath the greens. While it had the apples and goat cheese, and the final outcome had its moments, the salad was not as promised. Broccoli, carrots and roasted potatoes came with tender calf’s liver, although the menu listed bacon and caramelized onions.
Diners will have to compromise, keeping in mind the disconnect between the menu description and a free-wheeling kitchen. Salads were about the freshness of the ingredients, and in this, made confident starters. That beet salad with creamy goat cheese still kept a nice balance of the tart, mellow and sharp essentials, and greens with tangy Gorgonzola and sweet sugared nuts in a light dressing were equally pleasing.
Go to Nino’s on a good night and enjoy four ivory scallops stuffed with a pink crab meat mixture — a rich, buttery dish. And one evening, a cold seafood special that included prettily arranged shrimp, mussels and scallops was light and refreshing. Two crab cakes, however, needed seasoning.
A bit stingy with chopped clams but alive with sweet garlic, a half-order of spaghetti with white clam sauce was enough for two to share. But the liquid from poorly drained spaghetti primavera washed out whatever flavor there was from a julienne of carrots and mushrooms. Ravioli ala Nino’s were reportedly baked in the brick oven, but the ricotta-filled pouches served to our table were simply boiled.
As for entrees, top marks went to an exceptionally plump and juicy piece of tasty salmon with porcini mushrooms. Yet, the pale flesh of a branzino special was flavorless and mealy from overcooking; and shrimp scampi remained dull in a vapid garlic and white wine sauce.
It was a pity that our order for a medium-rare New York strip steak arrived bloodless. And although the rack of lamb was a disaster of cool tough meat, hacked into ribs and dumped onto a plate, the duck was infinitely worse, dry and roasted for so long that its “crispy” skin had blackened to ash, like a burnt offering.
Cutlets in both chicken ala Nino’s and chicken parmigiana were weighty under a thick blanket of heavily salted cheese.
Neither pizza margherita nor wild mushroom pizza had much appeal or distinction.
Desserts were sweet and unremarkable: a soft square of tiramisù, standard cheesecake, frozen solid parfait, coconut gelato.
Money has gone into this spiffy renovation of what was a dingy fire trap. And front-of-the-house management clearly wants Nino’s to work. The greeting at the entrance is warm and personal; regulars are embraced; family gossip exchanged. But right now, unless diners choose carefully, the chances of having an acceptable meal here depend on luck.
Nino’s of Bedford Hills
13 Adams Street
Bedford Hills
(914) 864-0400
SATISFACTORY
THE SPACE Small, narrow, newly renovated, with two dining areas. The front room is crowded with a bar, a few tables and a pizza oven. A twisting corridor leads to the back room, where a high ceiling augments noise. Handicapped accessible.
THE CROWD Casual neighborhood clientele, mostly families.
THE BAR Two TV screens at a full bar. Decent wine selections, priced on the high side.
THE BILL Lunch, entrees and hearty sandwiches: $9 to $15. Dinner, entrees: $16 to $38. (Check the items on the bill carefully; errors were made, then corrected, on two of our three visits.)
WHAT WE LIKE Roasted beet salad, organic green salad with Gorgonzola, linguini with white clam sauce, salmon porcini.
IF YOU GO Lunch: Monday to Friday, noon to 2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday to Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations taken for parties of more than five.
Reviewed Aug. 5, 2007
