Critics often talk about a restaurant’s point of view, which boils down to the question: What is this chef trying to say? Arthur, the Greenpoint restaurant from the married couple Kevin and Lex Finch, is betting that New Yorkers don’t want pandering, mindless bistro food. They want sophistication, but they don’t want to make a big fuss about it.
Nowhere does this pay off more than the kitchen’s excellent roast poussin. A hidden layer of farce (a seasoned thigh meat mousseline) beneath the lacquered skin keeps the meat juicy while adding a pleasant sausage-like buoyancy. It’s served over crispy rice mixed with chicken bits, troves of rich, gamy flavor. Then there’s the plush beef tartare swathed in pungent black garlic oil with a dusting of toasted nori powder that somehow conjured the lovable flavors of sour cream and onion. The delicate tilefish arrived in a light-as-air briny fish bone sauce, an unsuspecting powerhouse of crisp, deep-ocean flavor.
Amid these standout dishes, where ambition and execution were evenly matched, others exposed a less steady footing. The levers of seasoning — salt, fat, acid — sometimes seemed to be pulled at random. The cumbersome-to-eat maitake skewer and rather plain tuna crudo lacked the elegance and vibrancy seen elsewhere. Hakurei turnips arrived atop a tonnato sauce that had the questionable consistency of mashed potato.
Nevertheless, informed by Mr. Finch’s experiences in rigorous kitchens from San Francisco to Shenzhen, the cooking bears familiar signs of fine dining — precise knifework, complex sauces and, visible from the chef’s counter, where I do recommend getting a seat, a satisfying Tetris arrangement of mise en place. (You’ll also get a glimpse of just how much butter is necessary to make that chicken taste so good.)
The long and slender dining room bustles with energy borrowed from the open kitchen, while exposed-brick walls and small tables topped with drippy candles have a softer, more rustic charm.
By the way, who is Arthur? It’s the pseudonym Mr. Finch’s father playfully used to make restaurant reservations. From one lover of good food to another, I can relate.
These briefer starred reviews of New York restaurants from our contributing critics Mahira Rivers and Ryan Sutton first appear weekly in the Where to Eat newsletter (subscribe here). Tejal Rao, our chief critic based in Los Angeles, writes starred reviews of restaurants nationwide. Ligaya Mishan, our chief critic based in New York City, writes starred reviews of restaurants in New York and beyond.