AUTHOR: Hot Plate DATE: 4:50:00 PM ----- BODY: Has the slew of new restaurants opening left you foaming at the mouth? Well, if basil and sake foam wet your palette, then call now for a reservation at Cru, which you will then have in a month. Though Cru has a head start, having been open for over a month, with a plagued location, high prices and high concept food, it just might need it to compete with Per Se, Cafe Gray and all the other highly anticipated choice tables this fall. I was not the only one eager to try Bouley alum Shea Gallante's food, I looked around the dining room to find the newly anointed president of the James Beard Foundation, the editor of Food and Wine, and one of the city's most prominent food critics. The buzz was out and the buzzards were circling. I had secured my reservation for 9:30 and found the dining room half full upon arrival. The restaurant seemed to rest on a delicate precipice between young and old. Diners ranged from groups of yuppie couples dressed to impress to Armani clad upper east siders who had braved the $20 cab downtown or had their drivers waiting outside. Though the staff was young and enthusiastic, guiding you though the menu and wine list, or rather the wine bibles, two of them to be exact, their youth seemed at odds with their dark conservative suits and the staid mahogany wood and marbled wallpaper decor. Immediately after ordering, food began appearing from the kitchen, a cone like amuse bouche, a crudo sampling and a trio of small bites. I would have been thrilled to explore everything, if only I had known what I was eating. Each plate was presented by a runner, an individual whose main responsibility is to run the food from the kitchen to the table and though I have the utmost respect for all members of restaurant staff, having been one myself at times, I could not understand what I was eating even after a few "I beg your pardons." Despite the confusion I deduced that I was eating a prosciutto wrapped fontina grilled cheese, soggy but delicious, a crispy halibut cake and an apple currant tuna sashimi with cucumber sorbet and sake foam. I bit into each one with eagerness delighting in the opportunity to preview the kitchen's ability to manipulate ingredients. We waited patiently for our crudos of white tuna and kanpachi to arrive eyeing the pearly flesh of the two bite-sized pieces that were soon placed on the table. Each slice of meaty fish was accompanied by a slew of accoutrements, such as olive praline, caper-espresso, micro celery and lime salt, but I had to search for hints of these seemilingly familiar ingredients in their more elaborate incarnation. The obligatory heirloom tomato salad delivered as promised reminding me of the ability of such a simple fruit to embody such deep flavor and also of the limited time left to savor it. Gooseberries peaked out from underneath a basil foam, but the other ingredients such as currants and even an aged balsamic stayed hidden. The entrees also presented hits and misses. The spiced turbot was far from spiced, and though the rich shallot confit and braised red cabbage complimented the meaty fish, at $36 not even the red wine jus distracted me from the fact that the filet was dry. The vegetarian at the table was accommodated with a buttery sweet pea risotto with barley mushrooms was cooked to perfection but a pint-sized portion left little room for sharing. Despite feeling as if we had been eating all evening we eyed the dessert menu hoping that it might prove more satisfying then dinner. We settled on a hacienda concepcion chocolate parfait, a tasting of sorbets and after much debate involving numerous staff members the nightly "spontaneous desert." The chocolate was chocolate and by spontaneity I guess the kitchen meant ordinary since we seemed to be served leftover almond tea cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberries. At this point in the evening another dining companion discovered that she may have been served an allergic substance. As we contemplated the emergency room, the waitress assured us that milk powder did not contain any milk, and we picked at the petit fours that accompanied our check. There was the almond tea cake again, along with some nuts, a jelly candy and a chocolate pudding, deductions I came to again on my own. Had we come to early? Did the kitchen only need time to refine its formula? Perhaps the point of Cru was to lure you in with complexity but serve you simplicity. Either way my meal had left me hungry for more, fortunately New York is always ready to oblige. Cru 24 Fifth Avenue (212) 529 1700 --------