The Smith. The name alone tells you what you’re gonna get here. It’s trendy and crowded with young people who have no concept of what an inside voice is. The food is a mixture of old school and comfort food mixed with some cutesyness. Stuff that is semi-appealing to young and old, but mostly young. The white tile and black everything else makes for the same kind of throwback aesthetic as many of the city’s trendiest eateries and amplifies the fact that the joint has not much personality beyond those who inhabit it. And inhabit it they do, in droves. In beautiful, young droves. The evening started with an eardrum adjustment and moved quickly on to the fancy, fun menu of drinks. It turns out this place is a good time, but an even better time screaming to your friends with a few strong alcoholic beverages in your gut. And then we moved on to some chips with white junk on them — which I think might have been spongy Gorgonzola. They tasted way better than they sound. I think there was some other shared stuff, but I don’t really recall. I then had the soft-shelled crab for dinner. You can see a photo of it to the left. While I generally like the whole French way of cooking crabs, which involves like tons of wine and butter and stuff, the cornmeal encrusted version at The Smith wasn’t dry and unappetizing as it sometimes can be. Kind of a backhanded compliment, I know, but it was pretty tasty. I was somehow filled up once dessert rolled around, but I did take a couple bites of someone’s peanut butter ice cream thing that made me regret my decision to skip the sweets. It was pretty damn excellent. So while I’m hardly as hip as I once wasn’t, The Smith certainly made me feel that way. [MF]
55 3rd Ave.
212/420-9800
thesmithrestaurant.com