By John Mariani

    Restaurants that have long lives never follow trends, for their owners and chefs know that it is in the consistency of their original ideas, whether a Southern Italian trattoria or a New York steakhouse, that their strength lies.  Indeed, restaurants that started out trying to catch a cresting wave, like New Nordic or Neo-Peruvian, rarely succeed in becoming that all important thing--a favorite.  For every person dying to be among the first to get a table at a buzzing new restaurant in Dumbo (down under the Manhattan Bridge) or Losaida (Lower East Side), there are thousands more hungry people more excited to return again and again to their favorite places.  And in New York City, anyone’s favorites can number in the dozens.
      The Harrison (near the new World Trade Center) and The Liberty Room (attached to Aureole on West 42nd Street) are anything but dated, though their menus and chefs de cuisine change with the seasons over the years. There is a well-focused consistency in the style of cuisine, with new flourishes all the time, that keeps them always in the forefront of people’s minds if not on the lists of the hottest restaurants of the week.         
     Chef-Restaurateur Jimmy Bradley opened The Harrison (left) at the worst of times, just weeks after the events of 9/11, but it proved to be a beacon of hope and resilience in that devastated neighborhood, as much by simply keeping the lights on as by serving modern American comfort food people craved.  Now, more than a decade later, the modestly sized corner restaurant teems with regulars day and night.
      The dining room has an unassuming charm, with cream-colored walls, dark wood and slender pillars, with a convivial but not overly loud walnut bar, and superbly flattering lighting.  The reception is always just as warm and inviting.  It’s a look and form of hospitality that would be welcomed anywhere, from Boulder to Birmingham, and fits into downtown New York like the setting for an O. Henry story.
         Since January, Executive Chef Ari Bokovza has been both maintaining and fine-tuning the menu with his own ideas.  I seem to recall that the crispy gnocchi has long been a staple at The Harrison, and it was as good as ever, with a rich duck confit, hen of the woods mushrooms and walnut pesto.  Grilled octopus (right), which is everywhere these days, here gets a novel accompaniment of sweet potato falafel and a bracing shot of hot harissa condiment.
         Seafood and meats vie for equal attention on the menu, for it’s hard to choose between Chatham cod in a bath of fish chowder with fresh spring peas and sweet onions, and one of my favorites, sautéed calf’s liver, sliced to the right thickness, with bacon and onion tart, dashed with a Sherry vinegar sauce that brightens the richness of the meat and bacon.
         There is a new pastry chef coming aboard soon, so I hesitate to recommend desserts I enjoyed, but, given the way The Harrison has always been, the style of delicious, homey desserts of the past should be intact.
         If I lived in the area, The Harrison would be my go-to place; the fact that I don’t means I can always go back and be reminded of what I’ve
always loved about it.

The Harrison is at 355 Greenwich Street; 212-274-9310; . Appetizers $12-$17, entrees $24-$41. Open Lunch Mon.-Fri., dinner nightly; brunch Sat. & Sun.

    The Liberty Room is the new name for the barroom at restaurateur Charlie Palmer’s classically elegant Aureole, near Bryant Park.  Its origins go back 25 years to another location, and today it is rightly considered one of the classic dining rooms of a genteel New York, especially noted for its nonpareil wine list.
    The Liberty Room now opens onto a 600-square-foot al fresco patio (left) that right now is perfect for a late spring pre-theater dinner, cocktails or bite after work, and its location on West 42nd Street reminds you of the old song, “Little nifties from the Fifties innocent and sweet,/ Sexy ladies from the Eighties, who are indiscreet./ They're side by side, they're glorified,/Where the underworld can meet the elite, Forty-Second Street./Naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty, Forty Forty-Second Street!”  This is People Watching Central.
    Inside are shiny walnut-topped tables and a bar back-lit and with etched glass. A highlight of the contemporary menu--and by no means a light item--is Chef Marcus Gleadow-Ware’s signature Liberty Duck Casserole (below), exclusively offered to Liberty Room diners, and, with Swiss chard, fava beans, marble potatoes, and orange, it is as wondrous and delicious a dish as you’ll find in New York right now, easily feeding two, perhaps even three people. I also loved his foie gras mousse, his smoky pulled pork sliders, and finely chopped tuna tartare with fennel, espelette pepper, and taro root chips.  Crispy shrimp with cauliflower and basil aïoli was all right, though the shrimp themselves lacked flavor.
    Don’t miss any dessert here that involves chocolate, like the crèmeux with salted caramel, “Aureo” cookie and chocolate sorbet, but for something more summery, go for the Meyer lemon parfait with a touch of basil, hibiscus gelée and grapefruit sorbet.
    Palmer is a chef-restaurateur who makes the kind of food people will always love without needing to puzzle out what it is, and that, in the long run, is what makes a great place to eat every time. 

The Liberty Room at Aureole is at One Bryant Park, 135 West 42nd Street;  212-319-1660; ; Open for lunch Mon.-Fri., dinner nightly; Patio bites $6-$18; Liberty Room dinner appetizers $14-$24, main courses $29-$72 (for duck for two).

THE MOON AND STARS WATCH OVER THE WINES OF AVIGNONESI

By John Mariani

    The sun and moon shine over the vineyards of Avignonesi (left) as they do everywhere else in Tuscany, but the owner and winemakers of this 495-acre estate in Valliano di Montepulciano probably spend more time looking up at the sky than do their neighbors at other vineyards.
         When Virginie Saverys (below) took over the ownership of the property in 2009, after years as a silent partner, she and winemakers Matteo Giustiniani and Ashleigh Seymour adopted the motto, “Terroir speaks; we listen.”   That in itself does not make Avignonesi distinct in Tuscany, but the estate’s commitment to being certified 100 percent organic and to following the sometimes-controversial concepts of biodynamics put it in a smaller pool. “We are the stewards of the land on which we grow our vines,” says Belgian-born Saverys, “In order to create the healthiest growing habitat for our grapes, we must let the vineyards imitate nature as far as possible, despite the fact that they are monocultures.”
         Biodynamics, first proposed by Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolph Steiner, now includes many of the most modern approaches to winemaking, based on a philosophy that the world’s ecosystem demands paying attention to the natural order, including phases of the moon and the position of the sun as they affect the climate and soil of a microclimate like Tuscan vineyards.  Avignonesi’s insistence that terroir speaks and the winemakers listen makes the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides anathema to healthy vineyards.
         Avignonesi is also committed to bringing the traditional red wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to greater eminence among Sangiovese grape-based Tuscan wines, while eschewing the meaningless market term “Super Tuscan.”   Vino Nobile di Montepulciano has long had respect among connoisseurs but like Cinderella stayed in the shadow of better promoted Tuscan wines like Brunello di Montalcino, Ornellaia, Tignanello, and Sassicaia, some made with Cabernet Sauvignon.               Avignonesi’s Vino Nobiles are 100 percent Sangiovese, even though Italian wine laws allow 30 percent other grapes to be added to the wine.  Belgian-born Virginie Saverys states unequivocally, “I say no! It would make life easier to add some Merlot to Sangiovese, but I accept the challenge to make ours wholly Sangiovese. The easy route is not always the good route.  And now we are dealing with global warming.  I have one wine at 15 percent alcohol and that is too high.”
      Long in love with Tuscany, Saverys has brought a formidable curriculum vitae to Avignonesi: born in Ghent and graduated from law school in Paris, she rose to the top ranks of a law firm but decided her work was becoming too corporate. “I resigned in 2006 because I didn’t want to be a policeman,” she says. “I like deal making.”
    In buying Avignonesi, founded in 1974, she was determined to make the finest wines possible with the least intervention in the vineyards and to make the estate a kind of modern global village.  “We are not interested in the past but only in the future,” she says. “We have 100 different nationalities working at the winery and we have three big parties each year for everyone.”Over a dinner of spaghetti alla carbonara and lamb chops at Maialino restaurant in New York, Saverys noted that Vino Nobiles are softer and less tannic than other of Tuscany’s Sangioveses.  Still, she says, “I don’t want to release wines that are not ready to drink.  The 2011 Grand Annate won’t be released until 2015. In 2011 I did not even make the Grand Annate because I did not want to over-promise and under-deliver in quality.”
    Avignonesi makes other wines beside Vino Nobile, including the 50/50 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon called Grifi, which when originally produced in the 1960s acquired the Super Tuscan moniker.  Another wine, Desiderio, is dominated by Merlot from the Cortona region and is named after the robust Chianina beef steers raised in region.
    I have always found the wines of Avignonesi impressive for their richness and complexity, easily deserving a place next to better-known Tuscan rivals.  Now, with Saverys and her army of 100 workers from 21 counties, the winery is poised to push Vino Nobile into the highest ranks of recognition for Italian wine.
    Of this, Saverys has no doubt. “I was recently in China,” she said, slightly smiling, “and the Chinese are becoming very interested in Italian wines. I met some very young, very eager Chinese who spoke excellent English and they told me there are now many wine courses in their country being given in Mandarin. So we are looking carefully for a distributor there. China will be a huge market, and I want them to taste the best Italian wines.  I am patient and willing to take my time to make that happen. ”