Beauty & Essex Awards

Beauty & Essex Restaurant Review:

Upon entering Beauty & Essex, guests encounter an operating pawn shop selling an assortment of guitars, watches and jewelry. Beyond it lies a 10,000-square-foot venue that celebrates the beauty of jewels in all forms. There’s a chandelier made of thousands of draped pearls, a corridor filled with framed vintage lockets and dining rooms with metallic and jewel-toned hues and glamorous lighting. The menu is sectioned into clever categories: Raw Bar, Jewels on Toast, Accessories and Prime Meats. From the first, the tomato tartare is an explosion of flavor --- fried quail egg, Parmesan and crostini melding with tomato. The Jewels are well represented with the Greek toast made with tomato, cucumber, feta, mint and black olive salt. Although listed under Accessories, the short rib mac & cheese could be a rich meal in itself, with enhancements of herb cornbread crust and pickled jalapeño. There’s a lot to like about the kale apple salad, with bright flavors of apple cider vinaigrette, pancetta, candied pecans and shaved goat cheese. The 10-ounce, thick-cut Prime filet is tender, with vibrant seasoning attained through the simplicity of just salt and pepper. An assortment of creative cocktails includes The Garrison --- Basil Hayden Bourbon, Mount Gay Black Barrel Rum, Fonseca Bin 27 Port and sour. Hopefully you will have saved room for the “les, nyc” doughnuts (named for Santos’ Lower East Side roots) with dark chocolate fudge, caramel and berry sauces, or the layered black-bottomed butterscotch pot de crème with coconut Chantilly.