Lever House

The Lever House Cookbook
by Dan Silverman and Joann Cianciulli

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.

Reviewed by Rachel Levin

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