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Lever House
The Lever House
Cookbook
by Dan Silverman and Joann Cianciulli
Reviewed
by Rachel Levin
By
design, the food at Manhattan’s Lever
House Restaurant is simple and modern, taking a cue
from the mid-century architectural marvel in which it is
ensconced. The Lever House building, which opened in 1952,
was the city’s first all-glass skyscraper. Crowds
flocked to the bottle-green building topped by 22 narrow
stories when it was first completed; however, 50 years later
it was in need of repair. Today, after extensive renovation,
Lever House is gleaming once again, with the addition in
2003 of the restaurant designed in jet-age décor
by Marc Newson. Executive chef Dan Silverman carries these
design principles into the dishes he prepares for Park Avenue’s
most discerning diners. In The Lever House Cookbook,
he shares his cooking philosophy for fresh, well-seasoned
food along with 125 of his best recipes.
“Taste,
taste, and taste again” is Silverman’s motto
for culinary perfection. In recipes from raw foods to appetizers,
entrees and grilled dishes, he recommends constant attention
to seasoning to achieve the right balance of salt, spice
and acidity. Salads are lightly dressed with vinaigrette
while meat and fish are, as Silverman puts it, “judiciously
sauced.” Such consideration for optimum flavor will
be appreciated in starters like tuna carpaccio with wasabi
crème fraiche; farm greens with ricotta salata and
sliced Long Island duck breast à la cerises (sour
cherry sauce). Modern steak dishes are the restaurant’s
specialty, represented by grilled dry-aged Black Angus sirloin
with steak fries and wine merchant’s butter. Fresh
fish also stars in entrées like halibut with roasted
baby beets and monkfish with porcini-red wine sauce. Pastry
chef Deborah Snyder’s novel desserts include apple
cheesecake crisp, sweet corn and peach trifle and an array
of tempting cookies. Though both Snyder and Silverman invite
substitutions, they are exacting about measurements and
ratios, not unlike the team of architects who dreamed Lever
House into being.
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