THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ian

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ian Restaurant Review:

After working at high-profile restaurants all over Western Europe, Brooklyn-born chef Ian Russo conjured up a dream: to open a restaurant in the Big Apple and update the city's cuisine, reflecting 21st century immigration patterns (since, after all, much of classic New York fare really is a reflection of 19th and early-20th century immigration). Enter Nouveau New York Cuisine, which is scrawled across Russo's awning at his eponymous Upper East Side eatery. On paper, the menu isn't as groundbreaking as Russo's coined cuisine might suggest: lemon truffle chicken with Israeli couscous; truffle chicken and Malaysian ribs; and Pacific Rim surf 'n' turf (drunken rib-eye, Chilean sea bass, dancing shrimp) all can be found elsewhere in the city in more or less the same guise. But then you take a bite and the flavors tend to make you forget about concept and focus on flavor instead. Russo is talented and nearly everything he sends out of his kitchen is a winner---which makes it a shame that this restaurant has been generally overlooked by the New York foodie community and most of New York outside of the Upper East Side.