FEATURED RESTAURANT

Aquavit
Autumn In New York

Autumn in New York: Besides being a great song by Vernon Duke, it's a great time in a great city, a city that I used to call home before Chicago called me.

If you happen to be in New York this autumn and have the hankering for some thoroughly innovative versions of what a lot of people would automatically (and unfairly) term an unexciting cuisine, then I recommend that you head up to 13 West 54^th Street and visit Aquavit. Better call them first (212-307-7311), because your chances of strolling in off the street and snagging a table are roughly the same as the Cubs' chances of winning a World Series in this millennium.

You tell people that you're going to one of New York's finest restaurants to eat Scandinavian food and they'll roll their eyes. Tell them that it's cooked by one of New York's top chefs, who is only in his twenties, was born in Ethiopia and raised by a Swedish family and they will, if they are true New Yorkers, speculate about which of your mother's deficiencies led to the sorry condition of your mind.

But it's all true. Marcus Samuelsson does the kind of things with a boring dish that a good jazz musician does with a tune that you've heard over and over until you're sick of it: he brings new life to it and makes it seem like you're only just hearing it for the first time.

And there's something else that's just as important. Aquavit is one of those rare restaurants in which the staff has the power to make the people at each table feel as if they have been singled out for special attention.

The menu changes frequently, but one of the constants is the aquavit. Aquavit, the liquor, is a staple of the Scandinavian liquor cabinet, and the most common variety is infused with caraway. Aquavit, the restaurant, prepares its own versions, and caraway (toasted caraway, at that) is the only a starting point. You will find fruit infused spirits, herbals, spices, sweets and pungents. If they have the cumin/fennel variety available when you visit, don't miss it!

There's no point in discussing particular dishes, because chances are that you won't find them on the menu any more when you get there. But here's an example: Ordering the individual smorgasbord one night produced a plate filled with boiled potato, pickled herring, sweet and sour herring, gravlax, smoked herring, chicken liver, shrimps with caviar, curried herring,  and Swedish cheese, each artfully prepared and presented. In the center of the plate was what was billed as on oyster shooter (a raw oyster in a small glass of, you guessed it, aquavit.) One night's entrée was a lotus crusted arctic char, served with mushroom dumpling, roasted garlic, white beans, and sea urchin broth.

So next time you're in New York, no matter what the season, gather a lot of money (after all, you're going to eating in a building that used to be John D. Rockefeller's townhouse) and allow yourself ample time, then head to Aquavit to let you and your palate by pampered by some of the best people in the business.