After almost a decade off of the New York culinary scene, celebrity chef Bobby Flay returns with Gato, a Mediterranean affair that sees the Mesa Grill impresario in the kitchen, cooking on the line. Featuring both a kitchen and bar menu, there's no going wrong here, with appetizers that stun every conceivable sense, like oven roasted shrimp in Diavolo oil and oregano, a crag risotto with garlic bread crumbs and Calabrian red chile, and two different pizzas, not to mention mains like a kale and wild mushroom paella with crispy artichokes and egg, charred beef with Valdeon blue cheese brown butter, red wine, and broccoli rabe, tarragon chicken with crispy potatoes, goat cheese and dandelion, and more.
The space is impossible to pin down aesthetically, with heavily mirrored walls and warehouse-style windows and a ceiling of brick bordered by black columns and inscrutable lighting. Yet it somehow comes together cohesively. And anyway, with a menu like the one at Gato, you could be eating in the alleyway and still rave about the experience!