Graffiti Earth

Graffiti Earth Restaurant Review:

In the diminutive lobby of TriBeCa’s Duane Street Hotel, chef Jehangir Mehta has given himself the goal of turning “unloved produce and underutilized seafood” into beautiful, craveable dishes. When he succeeds, he really succeeds. Take the scallop brûlée, which features broken scallops elsewhere destined for the trash cans of New York restaurants. Here they’re everything scallops long to be: fat, sweet, and laced with crunch from brûléed ginger and a bit of heat from wasabi yogurt. “Shitake panna cotta” is more soup than panna cotta, but it’s luxuriously rich and an excellent foil for tender, finger-shaped long pepper squid. Garlic coconut soup, cooked with “veggie scraps” and poured tableside from a teapot, has tons of depth. Not every item hits the mark, though. Malbec mole duck is chewy and wan, on a bed of slimy seaweed noodles. It’s both disappointing and a miniscule portion size for $17. The dishes are so small you may need a slice of pizza on the way home. The place is charming, with mismatched glassware and old newspapers for tablecloths. The bar serves wine plus vermouths, liqueurs and house infusions. Baked chocolate sauce topped with a scoop of banana ice cream and buttery 'Persian' french toast showered in butterscotch satisfy any sweet tooth.