Before going any further, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll let it be known that I’m not exactly objective about Restaurant North. I shot a video on North’s chef/owner Eric Gabrynowicz when he was at his previous restaurant Tavern, and I like the guy and his food.  So I was admittedly biased towards Restaurant North before stepping in the door.

Having said that, had I gone in knowing nothing about the place, I still would have thought the food rocked.

But let’s start with the building itself.  I, er, had a problem.  Couldn’t figure out how to get in.

There are French doors in the front, connected to the dining room. I walked to the left, but that was the parking lot and the back side of the restaurant.  I walked to the right, went up to a door, and whoops, that’s a hair salon. What the hell, I thought. Finally, I saw a woman open a different door and step out of the restaurant.  I don’t know why I missed it; we’ll blame it as usual on stupidity.

My dining companions Katherine Curry and her friend Amy, made the great suggestion to sit at the bar and dine there, rather than try to snag a table on a busy Thursday night.

Dining at the bar is a far different experience than sitting at a table, and in many ways more enjoyable — less structured, more relaxed and lively, closer to the drinks. In fact, you definitely tend to drink more at the bar, because well, jeez, the bartender’s right there, and… why not, bring another round!

Here’s a look at the dining room.

The menu at Restaurant North has Eric’s touch all over it: rustic, un-fussy seasonal dishes using top notch local ingredients.

Normally I don’t take a picture of butter, but this isn’t any old butter.  It’s strawberry butter, and we slathered it all over our warm, crunchy rolls.

Katherine, Amy and I shared a bunch of dishes, like this wild mushroom flatbread with truffle and lardo.

If you’re not familiar with lardo (cured and spiced strips of pork fat), read the book Heat. There’s a story in there about Mario Batali arriving at a dinner party, home-cured lardo in hand, and seductively feeding it to guests by placing strips of lardo on their tongues.

See the lardo draped over the flatbread?  Intense and out of this world.

Next, a crabmeat risotto.

Creamy but light, bright with summery flavors, and drizzled with what tasted like a chive, garlic oil.

This next one was a killer — the Madura Farms Black Dirt Mushroom Tarte Tatin with polenta and caramelized fennel.

“It looks like an Egg McMuffin,” Katherine joked.

A tarte tatin is a tart served upside down with the pastry on top. We cracked through the crisp pastry with our forks, into the meaty and earthy mushroom below. Throughout the meal I really noticed how skilled Eric is with the yin and yang of contrasting textures.

Did I mention we were sitting at the bar?  The drinks were deadly good.  Amy and I couldn’t get over the smooth Mutu, a cocktail of Pinot Grigio, elderflower, soda and grapefruit bitters.  I don’t even know what half of that is.

In case you think I’m just throwing out blind praise, the mussels flatbread were an issue. No problems with either the tender mussels or the flatbread, but the sauce was overwhelmingly salty.

My favorite of the night, crisped soft shell crabs.

How gorgeous is that?  Don’t you want to bite the computer screen?  Perfect summer flavors — lightly crisped crab, delicate corn coulis and tomato confit. This is a dish I could imagine eating if you’re a bazillionaire lounging oceanside in a hammock at your Nantucket estate.

For dessert, the “Super Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookie.”

A chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet until the bottom of the cookie became brown and crisp, and the chocolate chips warm and gooey.  With a big scoop of vanilla ice cream placed on top.  Hot and cold, crisp and creamy, oh my. Seriously.  Oh my.

Katherine, Amy and I stumbled out with big smiles on our faces. “Let’s do this every Thursday!” we exclaimed, only half kidding.

Maybe it was only a third kidding. If you’re at Restaurant North one Thursday night, you may see the three of us sitting at the corner seats of the bar.  We’ll be the ones oohing and aahing, and sipping Mutus.

Restaurant North
386 Main St.
Armonk, NY
914-273-8686