East End Eats: Pacific East

To go to a good restaurant and get a good meal is the equivalent of the favorite winning a horse race. To go to a hyped place and then get a bad meal is when the horse you've backed falls at the first fence.

But when you go to a new restaurant and have your initial misgivings wiped out by a spectacular meal, that's when your heavily backed 50-1 outsider wins the big race.

We had heard nothing about Pacific East - which opened recently in Amagansett on the spot where, in the misty past, stood the famous Mar tell's - and didn't know that the owners, Alex Duff and Michael Castino (who is also the chef), were members of the team that started South Beach's famous Pacific Time in Florida.

Pain And Dismay

The building has always been a big barnlike place, and the clean, simple decor gives no idea of what kind of food to expect, though we knew it was Pacific Rim.

Our first reaction was a cry of pain as we saw that a number of entrees were over $30, the second was a snort of horror as we saw there was no bread, only seed-encrusted crackers that were cold and had lost their crispness in Sunday's humidity, and the third was a groan of dismay to see that, pandering to yuppie pretension, there was a cigar room.

So we fenced and quibbled and finally arranged our order as economically as possible.

Works Of Art

But as we sat waiting, obviously prejudiced and unenthused, the first course arrived in a flurry of waiters and our hearts were won - Pacific East gets an A-plus for presentation.

Pale celadon spears of fresh hearts of palm (yes, fresh - the restaurant cooks entirely from raw ingredients) were arranged in a square construction on a dark blue glass plate, the center of the square being filled with carrot miso vinaigrette. Around the edge of the plates were slivers of green scallion.

Amagansett miso clam chowder with New Zealand cockles and baby vegetables was a huge helping in a white bowl starred with blue. The iced tuna tartare with fresh coconut juice and Japanese horseradish was served in half a coconut shell over ice, with homemade potato chips arranged like a Cezanne still life on a blue plate.

Spirits Soared!

Shredded roast duck arrived wrapped in little ginger scallion crepes and served with a sweet and sour sauce of plums and huckleberries. Once again the delicate sliced garnish was a work of art.

The final appetizer, which just nosed out the tuna as favorite, was a divine Indochine beef salad, charred to perfection in a wok, and served over what they call hearty greens with satay flavors and fresh basil.

Everything was delicious. Everything was beautiful. Everything was subtle, sophisticated, and light.

How the mood of the evening had changed! How the wine, and laughter, and conversation were now flowing!

Pretty And Prettier

The entrees, also, arrived in a simultaneous flourish - one almost expected a trumpet fanfare. Each plate complemented the colors of the entree that was served upon it and vegetables were never duplicated.

Organic roast chicken over gingered spinach mash with pan juices. Does that sound dull? On a marbled green plate, the chicken reclined in a wine-dark sauce, buttressed by mounds of green potatoes surmounted by long spears of scallion - there scarcely exists prose purple enough to do it justice. And it tasted better than it looked.

One of us ordered an appetizer as a second course which won the vote for prettiest dish of the evening: five little rolls of smoked salmon wrapped around sprouts with wasabi and creme fraiche and topped with red beads of roe. As with all the dishes, texture was emphasized.

One Disappointment

Then there was an inexpensive dish of noodles with Peking duck served with crisp vegetables. It was served in a warm pepper duck reduction which, while it was almost too subtle to be appreciated, was considered a sign of great care and attention to detail.

The wonton tofu ravioli with ribbon vegetables in a ginger garlic miso broth were as light as a feather and excitingly hot and spicy.

The only disappointment was the portobello shabu shabu, which was bland and undersalted and served over sad, overcooked soba noodles. The lemon grass broth was delicate but the dish was not enjoyed. However, since the menu changes every night (Pacific East commendably has no "specials"), there will obviously be a lot of sorting out of what works and what doesn't as the weeks go by.

Snowy Hedgehog

We only tried two desserts, a warm chocolate bombe and a key lime sorbet baked-Alaska sort of thing. The waiter sliced open the little chocolate mound, which was served with homemade ice cream, and the molten chocolate center seeped out. The fragrant sorbet arrived in its warm coating of soft meringue like a little snow-covered hedgehog.

Those diners who had said, "Nothing for me, thanks. I never eat desserts," suddenly changed their minds. Both desserts were perfect.

The wine list incorporates a moderate but imaginative selection of wines from fairly inexpensive to fairly expensive. There is a big range of wines by the glass which include an Alsacian white, a SagPonds rose, and French and Californian reds. We chose a 1994, if I remember rightly, Palmer Vineyards cabernet sauvignon which was not expensive and was lovely.

Order Craftily

Apart from the one dish that was not good, there were a couple of other quibbles. There really should be bread, even if it's not a big item out there on the Pacific Rim - a customer feels loved when that basket of fresh, interesting rolls arrives and, besides, how else can we get that last bit of fabulous sauce?

The blending of the ingredients was not always perfect, so that occasionally one jumped out too much, like the garlic in the noodles or the chili in the bean dip. But they were small quibbles - this is a serious chef we have here.

Pacific East has prices about as high as they go on the East End - the Szechuan Maine lobster is $32, the organic rack of lamb and prime Angus sirloin are $30 - but it also gives you a lot of leeway to construct a less expensive meal.

For example, the appetizers, priced at $8 to $12, are generous and extremely good value for what you get. One less hungry diner ordered two appetizers and found she had had enough to eat for $20. And while there were seven entrees $25 or over, there were seven which are $25 or under, including the thin noodles with Peking Duck, which are only $13.

We were extremely surprised to find that with careful ordering, we ended up having had a spectacular meal for less than we had paid recently in Montauk at a less expensive restaurant.