THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ida Mae's Kitchen -n- Lounge

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Ida Mae's Kitchen -n- Lounge Restaurant Review:

Named after chef Kenneth Collins' great-grandmother Ida Mae, this restaurant offers a respite from a hectic area of the Garment District. Once inside, you are greeted by a sleek bar area facing an open kitchen, an inviting lounge filled with a hodgepodge of comfy chairs and couches, and a fairly elegant main dining room accented by indigo walls adorned with large red feather fans. Collins, who honed his culinary skills at restaurants in Dallas, Hartford and Tennafly (N.J.), has created a New American menu with significant Southern influences. Appetizers include low country vegetable rolls with cucumber-watercress salad and plum ketchup, as well as Louisiana crab cakes served with green apple slaw and saffron consommé. The lunch menu also has a selection of salads and very large sandwiches. Main plates are dishes like Cajun-style tuna with curried plantains, local greens, tomato-papaya salad and cider wine vinaigrette; and poached Maine lobster medallions on grilled grits with creamed leeks and apples, and a crayfish butter foam. Unfortunately, the preparations work better on paper than on the dish, so we don't feel that they quite live up to the restaurant's initial buzz or its relatively high price tag.