Fried Honeyed Eggplant

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
October 13, 2006

TIDES [CLOSED]
102 Norfolk St
(Rivington & Delancey Sts)
New York, NY 10002
212-254-8855

When Tides opened last July, I had heard good reviews but didn’t put it on the top of my list to try because I was suspicious that it would be one of those “trendy” restaurants. I waited to see if it was just hype or if it would stand the test of time and live up to the discerning palates of New Yorkers.

It seems that I was mistaken. Though Tides has a chic, award-winning interior space, the cuisine also stands on its own. The food is hearty and the service warm. The crowd seems uniform in the sense that they are all food lovers, regardless of their age or style.

I mainly came to try the lobster roll, but a side dish at the table next to mine caught my eye so I had to inquire to find out what it was. Turns out it was the fried honeyed eggplant. When I think deep-fried eggplant, I imagine something like eggplant tempura, but this one looked more like a doughnut of some sort. Chef Judy Seto came up with the idea of beer-battered, deep-fried eggplant drizzled with honey, and the result is delicious. Large slices of eggplants are dipped in thick beer batter and deep-fried, so it comes out looking and tasting like beignets. The honey adds a touch of sweetness to round it out. This side dish is rather copious and good to share amongst friends. Had I not devoured the rest of my meal beforehand, I probably would have been able to stuff a couple more of them in.

The lobster roll changes seasonally and currently it’s “succulent sweet lobster meat, dressed lightly with lemon zest, cilantro, cucumber and mayonnaise.” Seems fancy, but the bottom line is that it tastes downright good. The hotdog bun it comes in is grilled so that it’s not only toasty warm, but also has a slightly crunchy texture. Though it looks a little burnt, it tastes better than any lobster roll bun I’ve ever had. I devoured it then licked my fingers. The roll is accompanied by yucca chips. The thinly sliced chips come out looking so graceful. They’re extremely crisp and tasty, but aren’t overly greasy. I don’t particularly like potato chips, compared to other potato dishes that is. Yet the yucca chips complemented the lobster roll so well, perhaps even better than shoe-string fries.

I know I’m going in reverse order but I just don’t want to leave anything out. I started the meal with the salad Sevillana — baby Arugula, thin sliced red onion, grape tomato halves dressed in a paprika and red-vinegar based “Sevillana” dressing. It’s garnished with 2 hard-boiled egg quarters, 2 artichoke hearts, thin sliced Serrano ham, shaved Manchego cheese and a thin slice of guava paste. Sounds complicated but it was actually rather fun to keep finding different things in the salad, all of which were delicious. For a second, I thought the guava paste was a piece of bottarga, and was so excited, but when I bit into it, I was surprised to taste guava, one of my favorite fruits.

The ceiling at Tides is noteworthy. A visual presentation of seagrass is made from over 110,000 bamboo skewers embedded into a back-lit acoustical ceiling. Wow! It’s gorgeous and makes the restaurant really special because there’s something so soothing about the visual movement it creates — the skewers look like they are gently swaying in water. So even though there are no tides anywhere close by, you can still feel very close to the ocean. Just look up!

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