10 Downing Food & Wine
10 Downing St
New York , NY
(212) 255.0300
See larger map and more nearby
VdV Rating: 3.5
Food: Mediterranean
PRO: Great space and vibe, great food, fresh ingredients and nice preparation
CON: Not much, really
No, not that 10 Downing, sucka. We didn’t eat with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I 
think he’d be a buzz kill anyway. But we did eat with the next best thing, Chef Jonnatan Leiva, the San Francisco Chronicle 2008 Rising Star Chef who left lil’ ‘ol SF to compete at a higher level on the mean streets of New York F’ing City. Go Jonny! So Jonnatan is running the 
culinary show at 10 Downing Food & Wine (I guess the term ‘restaurant’ is so blasé), and is turning the place around big time. We were bummed when he left SF, as we could get his classy, Mediterranean-inspired grub on a daily basis, but now it’s just a whole ‘nuther reason to hit our other fave city Manhattan.
WTF did that phrase ‘whole ‘nuther’ come from anyway? Seems like it just crept into the vernacular the past coupe years. ‘whole ‘nuther?’ Wow. We are doomed as a civilization. How about ‘another’, people?
Anyhoo, this ain’t no grammar lesson, home slice. The spotlight needs to be on Jonnatan and 10 Downing. Excuse me. 10 Downing Food & Wine. So, 10 Downing is a cool spot, located in the West Village on the corner of Downing & 6th. It has a great city neighborhood vibe, with a cozy, angled room and great contemporary art, outdoor seating and a good sized bar. All pretty much in one room, with a 1/2 wall partition 
between the bar and dining areas. It’s a place you want to hang in, have some cocktails and a bite. Plus they also have long-time Manager Joffrey there, who adds a fun energy to the place. And if he’s in the mood to get behind the bar, he mixes some mad cocktails, kittens! Front of the house, back of the house, all covered by pros!
We were here for our 3rd meal the other night. Yes. We waited 3 times until we reviewed. Hear that, Bauer?! Wait, I guess since Jonnatan is in NYC now we’ll have to pick a fight with a local food critic. I’ll work on that. Watch out you!
So 10 Downing leans toward a New American style with Mediterranean flair. No, I’m not going to explain that to you. It’s pretty straight forward, and I am giving a valiant attempt to keep my rambling to a reasonable minimum. Thanks for your suggestions. Like I said, this place has a great vibe going, and we hit it on a busy Saturday night. Our server was very nice, efficient and helpful describing the various menu choices. Nice sense of humor to 
boot. So we started with the Roasted Baby Beet Salad ($11) Castlevetrano Olives, Burrata, Basil, & Radish. This was a nice, fresh salad with golden, red and peach beets. Nice and crisp, full o’ flavor and the basil and radish were excellent accompaniments. And oh yeah baby! Burrata. Mmm mmm. We also ordered the Winter Salad ($8) with Fennel, Beets, Apples, Spinach, Grapefruit, and Citrus Oil. Yeah, it sounds like a kitchen sink salad, and it works. I’m not sure how ‘wintery’ it was, with the grapefruit and citrus oil, but maybe it’s cause was to make you forget it’s Winter and you’re gonna freeze your nuggets off when you walk outside. Whatever, it is a nice salad and precursor to some entrées!
OK, not so fast, Gomer. Pre-enteé we snagged the Charcuterie Plate ($25), with Iberico Pata Negra Jamon, Foie Gras Terrine, Duck Confit Rillette, Country Pork & Pistachio with toast points. The other J isn’t a huge fan of charcuterie simply because apart from the meats (which she loves), there’s usually the inclusion of paté or Foie Gras. But hey, variety is the spice of life, eh? And even though I’m a little cholesterol-aware, I’ll dig into anything. And this dish didn’t disappoint. Excellent ham, the Pork with Pistachios was a great spread and the Duck was spiced perfectly. Confit, again the French can make it all sound good. ‘Cuz Duck Confit, or any ‘confit’ for that matter is actually ______ (fill in the blank for your choice of animal) that got the crap beaten out of it. Post-mortem, so don’t worry about that. Anyway, it was a nice paste of very flavorful bird.
OK, movin’ on jeans. For the real meal, we had the Herb Roasted Lemon Chicken ($23), with Quince, Currants, Almonds, Fingerling Potato Salad. We usually don’t order chicken when we go out. It’s like “Can’t we make chicken pretty well at home, and get about 6 chickens for $24?!” But knowing Chef Leiva, and our server’s reco we went for it. And no, there’s no way on God’s Green Earth we coulda whipped this up! This isn’t your mommy’s chicken people! I wasn’t sure at first about the currants & quince thing, but the flavors burst out big time and made a perfect bite with the moist, tender chicken. And they should put that potato salad on the menu as an appy. Word.
Next we had the Black Bass ($24) with Green Lentils, Leek & Tarragon Fondue. Again, a very well prepared dish, well executed, great ingredients and presentation. Oh yeah, and it tasted awesome too! The Bass was pan roasted, well seasoned, perfectly cooked and moist. The bed of lentils was nice, but the Tarragon Fondue rocked it.
To finish, we had some dessert wine and the Butterscotch and Panna Cotta. Whew. No pix, no notes no these. But they were very tasty and a great way to end a kick-ass meal. Shit I’m still at 905 words! I’m going to enroll in conciseness school.
Hours:
Lunch: Mon-Fri 12p-4p
Dinner: Sun-Sat 6p-12a
Brunch: Sat & Sun 10a-4p
