Luthun In New York’s Lower East Side Makes Its Eclectic Tasting Menu A Global Experience

Readers of this column know that I’m not a huge fan of long, extravagant tasting menus that go on for hours at the behest of chefs trying to show off as well as pump up the bill. Long ago I lost interest in going to places like Momofuku Ko ($280), Eleven Madison Park ($365), Per Se ($390), Brooklyn Fare ($430), Masa ($950)—not including beverages—whose evenings can be a three-and-a-half hour endurance.

By the same token, I have very much enjoyed somewhat more abbreviated (in both number of courses and time spent) at admirable multi-course restaurants like Jung Sik ($155), Wicked Jane ($95), Frevo ($198) and, most recently, Luthun ($150) on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In each of these, the dedication of the chef within a small kitchen is more clearly to delight rather than dazzle the guests, who are smaller in number than those others.

The combined experience of Luthun’s owners, Nahid Ahmed and Arjuna Bull, provides enormous ballast to their cuisine, which is eclectic but never gimmicky. Ahmed, whose bloodlines run through South Africa, India and Bangladesh, was born in London, and after training at Lausanne Culinary Institute in Switzerland he headed West, working at New York’s Lespinasse, The French Laundry in Napa Valley, El Bulli in Spain, The Fat Duck outside London and Restaurant Philippe Rochat in Lausanne. In New York he was Executive Chef at Respite.

Bull, from Cornwall, England, grew up in Miami, where he worked at The Fontainebleau Hilton before moving to New York to work at Café Gray, Pearl and Ash, Brasserie 8 ½, Capitale and Tribeca Grand Hotel, as well as serving as Executive Chef at gastropubs Jones Wood Foundry and at The Shakespeare.

Sommelier Jahdea Gildin has compiled a very varied wine list, and with this kind of food, where matching flavors and wine is impossible before you taste a dish, it’s best to allow him to choose the beverages, which may range from a vermouth to sake to beer to wine.

The premises are fairly stark but good lighting, a counter directly in front of the kitchen, unobtrusive music and exceptionally cordial servers make Luthun a very comfortable place to dine and interact with the full staff and perhaps with the people seated next to you. Each dish is described at a reasonable length—although the word “awesome” is used way too much—and Ahmed and Bull are right there ready to chat with, having gotten the tempo of the meal down pat. No one in the kitchen seems rushed. No one gets yelled at.

The tasting menu changes frequently so that what I here describe may not be in evidence when you go next week. The menu is global, and though Ahmed says he hasn’t been to India in ages, the inflections of that country’s spices show up subtly in several dishes. Indeed, subtlety is the rule at Luthun, where seasonings are added to complement the natural flavors of the principal ingredients, which are all carefully sourced.

Our eight-course meal began with a fushka—Bangladesh street food—little pastry cups of sugar snap peas with pinenuts and calamansi lemon. “Halal Guys” samosas take their name from a New York chain of halal food carts from the Ahmed’s childhood, served with tangy-sweet pineapple chutney. A plump caramelized mussel was dressed with passion fruit and a pinch of wasabi, while a pretty scallop was perched on salted onion blossom and mandarin kosho ( a chile and lemon mixture).

Lovely, translucent, raw, lightly brined fluke took on flavors from fermented cashew called amloki (Indian gooseberry) and shiso. Mild uni was made into a custard with trout roe and farro to add texture. All these dishes were decorated via tweezers used to apply tiny edible greens or flowers. The simplest dish was beef tartare dashed with whiskey vinegar placed on an egg yolk cooked with seaweed and bonito, topped with Chinese caviar and grated cured egg. This was followed by lightly smoked squid in an oxtail consommé tinged with XO black truffle vinegar. The Indian bread called roti had a sweetness to it with a yuzu and pistachio salsa. In fact, there is a touch of sweetness in many of the dishes served, something that should be done sparingly lest it become cloying.

A foie gras emulsion with Thai nuoc cham fish sauce with cured egg yolk and rice cake accompanied prawns, and the last savory course was a rare , very juicy Colorado lamb chop served two ways: a rare chop and braised shoulder with the Turkish chile pepper urfa biber and elderberry glaze and a mix of greens, vegetables and flower.

Dessert was a pleasantly traditional chocolate and strawberry mousse with a Champagne gelée Rose.

Our meal had a fine cadence to it so, with each dish i small in size—bite-sized—there’s no long wait for the next one. We spent something close to two-and-a-half hours at the counter, and, because of comfortable tall chairs and the small number of guests to be served, we never felt things dragged. Also, the amounts of beverages served were judicious, given that so many courses needed to be matched.

Luthun is a special place and an antidote to those brash, bombastic, uncomfortable places where you may exit exhausted. Perhaps Luthun’s real distinction is that everyone at Luthun manifests a civilized side of downtown dining when others go for razzle dazzle rather than refinement. Having too often slogged through long meals delivered with the solemnity of a tithe collector, I enjoyed every minute of my time at Luthun.

LUTHUN

432 East 13^th Street

646-454-9484

Open for dinner Wed.-Sat, with seatings at 5:30 and 8:30 PM.