Trestle on Tenth

We won't weigh in on Top Chef 6 thus far, other than to state the obvious: boy, that's a lot of ink, and boy, what happened to all the New Yorkers? Past seasons had several, but the only one this time around is Ash Fulk, sous chef at Trestle on Tenth, a bistro-esque spot in Chelsea.

There recently, we watched him work the room in baggy chef pants (hard to say if there was a bowtie beneath the chef coat, though). His schmoozing meant that he almost certainly had no hand (whisk? spatula?) in preparing our chilled tomato soup with crunchy corn and soft shrimp or butter lettuce drenched in buttermilk dressing and spotted with bits of bacon that acted like croutons. He probably didn't make our linguine with bay scallops and unexpected pistachios, coriander hanger steak with wax beans, or our dense chocolate tart, and blueberry-caramel sundae with pecan crumble either. With the exception of the inconsistently seasoned steak (what would Tom say, Ash?), we thoroughly enjoyed the food. A summery meal during the first real fall weather meant Indian Summer right at our table.

Ash behind the stove or not, the place was packed --- and the host most certainly hustled us out after our allotted 1.75 hours. We hope this little restaurant stays cute and neighorhoody as the season goes on, rather than getting too big for its, ahem, chef coat.

Anyway, Go Team NY!

Photo: thanks