 Ouest Restaurant Review: The sultry, lush food of chef Tom Valenti has beguiled New York diners for over a decade, at Alison on Dominick Street in the early nineties, Cascabel in the middle of the decade, Butterfield 81 in the late nineties, and now Ouest. Remarkably, Ouest is located on the restaurant-bereft Upper West Side, and neighborhood foodies are happy a sophisticated dining experience no longer necessitates a cab ride downtown. Valenti is feeding the crowds with old favorites of his repertoire, like sautéed baby calamari with a spicy tomato sopressata sauce and herbed crouton and seasonal offerings such as roasted lamb chop with mustard-crusted braised lamb neck and smoked eggplant, tomato and chickpeas. If available, try the stewed honeycomb tripe with red wine, pancetta and onions or the handmade potato gnocchi with braised short rib ragoût and herbed ricotta. The L-shaped space is large and clubby, but is divided in a way that makes it feel intimate. At times, the open kitchen almost feels like a shrine.
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