One year after the $20 million Lincoln opened to a critical piling-on, the pricey Italian restaurant under the twisting grass lawn twinkles a half-star brighter. It might not be the mega-leap forward diners who may pay $150 a head deserve, but it’s more progress than on the roof, now closed to the public.
The restaurant touched down at Lincoln Center preceded by buzz that might attend the first UFO landing. But New York magazine flattened glass-wrapped, weird-angled Lincoln with one star out of five. My own 1½-star review found even more wrong, from the warped-looking building to truly wobbly dishes.
Lincoln eked out two stars in the Times. But executive chef Jonathan Benno, who ran the kitchen at Per Se for five years, and operator Patina Group had set out to deliver a four-star culinary masterpiece worthy of its neighboring arts institutions.
Today, Lincoln is better, but much of the improvement is on the floor, where the once-awkward crew now delivers three-star service.
I’ve had some three-star dishes, too, in the past two months. A few pasta dishes rival those at Marea. Vitello tonnato blew us away — a circle of succulent, paper-thin veal with a light anchovy lilt, embraced in a frisée wreath. Rich monkfish on the bone was attended by early autumn veggies worthy of ABC Kitchen.
Even so, problems in the kitchen stubbornly persist, and until they’re remedied, Lincoln won’t be claiming a place in the Italian pantheon. Certain dishes are as ordinary as at the opening, like underseasoned lamb loin that was cheaper and better at lunch, when it at least came with sweet fairy-tale eggplant.
Pedestrian choices might be fine for the staid palates of Philharmonic-goers, but others were just badly cooked. Marvelous branzino and miserable striped bass inexplicably came off the line the same night. If they’re so careless feeding a critic, what can ordinary diners expect?
And the prices! It’s $31 for a miserly square of swordfish bulked up with potatoes, and as overdone as if ordered off a diner’s “from the sea” list.
Still, don’t write the place off. Enough dishes promise better things to come. Desserts are wonderful. Let’s hope a recent rise in business inspires Lincoln to be more worthy of the precious ground it stands on.