A friend suggested trying Triomphe in the renovated Iroquois Hotel when we were discussing pre-theatre dining options.
Theatre — by the way — was the not-to-be-missed “God of Carnage,” the Tony Award winning play with Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis, and Jeff Daniels.  The show won the best play, the best performance by a leading actress (Marcia Gay Harden) and best director (Matthew Warchus). The play has been aptly described as a “comedy of manners without the manners.”  It’s about parents who meet to discuss the school-playground fight between their sons.
Back to to food at Triomphe: It’s simple, generally good, and somewhat understated. The wine list is short and fairly mundane, with many of the by-the-glass offerings oddly not readily available by the bottle. After mentioning that to our waitress, she allowed us to purchase a bottle of the Purple Mountain Pinot Noir for four times the glass price – $52.
Our start to the meal: delicate ricotta wontons that melted in my mouth, floating in a parmesan broth along with lots of Swiss chard ($11). Also, what the menu called “toast points and yummies” ($19) — cured meats, hummus, olives, seafood cocktail and cheese. One cheese was full-flavored, the other tasteless — so tasteless that it remained on the plate. We did, though, finished every speck of the garlicky hummus.
The coriander-crusted Australian lamb rack ($34) was cooked exactly how we requested: pink and served in a delicate port wine reduction. We hunted for the menu-described foie gras before realizing it was hidden in a miniscule amount inside the prunes. Also good, the saffron risotto served under the sauteed shrimp with mussel butter ($29).
A decent meal, in a perfect location for the theatre. But, there are so many better places around that I doubt I’d return.
Triomphe Restaurant
triomphe-newyork.com
49 W 44th St
New York, NY 10036-6613
212.453.4233

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