Vermilion NYC Requested A Review, So We Obliged

Weeks ago, Vermilion restaurant in Manhattan reached out to The Daily Meal for a review. In the past, the Indian-Latin fusion restaurant, formerly known as At Vermilion, has received less-than-stellar reviews (it was once actually called a "s–tshow" in a review), but we wanted nothing more than to be swept away by the changes promised to us.

Broken down into a few categories, such as desi snacks, which Dey refers to as part of the "hardcore Indian" selections, and the Latin-Indian petiscos, the appetizers are underwhelming. The crisp kale salad is battered and deep-fried (an interesting choice, because when simply baked, kale crisps up beautifully), and the overall effect is less of a salad and more of a bloomin' onion. The grilled pulpo octopus is bland, but well-cooked. The alcapurria Puerto Rican croquettes are paired with a heavily ketchup-based barbecue sauce, but are a comforting snack nonetheless, as most fried potato snacks tend to be. The spinach saag arepa is more like a miniature pizza, and we can never turn down a cheesy app. The best dish on the menu is the pani puri, a traditional Indian street food that requires you to pour flavored water into hollow fried flour shells. The flavors were clean, bright, and confident, and we were excited to continue on a dinner that we hoped would deliver every plate with such intention.

From the "hardcore Indian" side of the menu, the "pindi" butter chicken is a classic Indian item, accurate and satisfying. However, butter chicken is such a standby — like the chicken and broccoli of American Chinese food — that its $24 price tag makes even this dish a little hard to swallow.

Caldeira de peixe, or "seasonal seafood stew," never had a shot — because none of the seafood (shrimp, mussels, and fish) tasted fresh, and no amount of spices could hide that fact. Our guess is that the kitchen doesn't move enough seafood to be able to provide it fresh without throwing anything out. Unfortunately, customers have nothing to gain from this money-saving strategy.

Continuing the theme of underwhelming fusion, the tandoori skirt steak is pleasantly spiced, but the lack of salt leaves flavors to sit heavily on the palate. The smoked Nicaraguan tamale is a confusing combination of rice, chicken, potato, and olive, served with a chutney salsa duo that is bland in both flavor and texture. We tried to eat a fair amount because the charming sous chef described this dish as his grandmother's recipe, and we love grandmas. Unfortunately, we think trying to fuse Indian flavors into a tamale is not the best way to honor what might have been a lovely tribute. 

Described as one of Vermilion's flagship items, the lobster Portuguese was brought over from original At Vermilion menu. We had high hopes for this dish, because lobster is one of those delightful creatures that don't need a lot of help to be delicious. We were proven wrong by the questionable spongy lobster tail that arrived, which we suspect was frozen (but were told were fresh). For $39, everyone deserves a fresh lobster — especially lobster tail.

Coconut rice (also served with the lobster Portuguese) is perfectly seasoned with just a hint of creamy coconut, while the tomato rice tastes like white rice cooked and topped with plain tomatoes. No seasoning equals no flavor.

In an effort to cover all our bases, we tried the Vermilion hedonism (chocolate cake with molten lava), coconut saffron alfajores (crumble cookies with dulce de leche), date rice pudding (sugarcane with browned sooji crumble), and star anise tres leches jar (burnt marshmallow with beet sugar chips).

We ordered the Vermilion hedonism cake because we saw it at a nearby table, and we thought the presentation — chocolate is poured over candy floss right at the table — was beautiful and intriguing. Unfortunately, the texture of the floss immediately hardens into something much less interesting. The molten chocolate inside is almost cooked through, and the overall effect falls short of hedonistic. 

The star anise tres leches jar smells like the Yankee Candle store in a suburban mall, and doesn't taste much better.

Watery instead of creamy or thick, the date rice pudding is served in small pieces of sugarcane with extra cane sugar crystals on the side. Ten dollars for what amounted to four total bites of mundane rice pudding seems a little ridiculous. Go for the coconut saffron alfajores as a sweet treat to end the night. These Latin crumble cookies are sandwiched between sticky-sweet dulce de leche and will satisfy your sweet tooth.

Once we were well past satiated and still unable to find something positive to write about, we ordered as many cocktails as we could, because how bad can alcohol be? We sampled six specialty cocktails, and not one had the appropriate level of alcohol, or any flavor at all besides sugar. As an editor wrote during the dinner, "The alcohol seems to be running away from me as I drink it." We left, some three hours later, with an uncomfortable amount of sugar on our teeth and too much clarity of mind.

The first thing you will notice about Vermilion is that there's a "rain curtain" next to the stairs that you immediately want to touch, and the second thing you will notice is the sign telling you not to. While not offensive, the décor at Vermilion is opulent (think multi-tiered stacked chandelier art installation) and borderline gaudy, in contrast to the meek and bland food that the kitchen puts out. Vermilion takes up a vast two-story space, almost unheard of in Manhattan, where rent prices make 15-seat restaurants unsurprising. However, you could host a very successful sweet sixteen amongst those swathes of red curtain and glass partitions.

The staff at Vermilion is top notch; they know the menu and are fluent in explaining the unnecessarily complicated dishes. Not 10 minutes passed without a visit from a server, manager, or chef to make sure our table was full of food and our cocktails were properly refreshed. If service is as attentive for the average guest as it was for us, Vermilion's hospitality is enviable.

We can't say what's ahead for Vermilion, but we hope that this upcoming reality show stint will force the restaurant to do some serious self-reflection. Fusion may not be the proper use of the team's strengths, and the result is a visibly under-patronized and expensive restaurant not far from "Curry Hill," the impressively genuine Manhattan neighborhood where Indian cuisine flourishes. It's surprising that with the amount of seasoning and spices that go into the food, each dish achieves so little flavor.

With only one or two standout items on the menu, is a trip to see the newly remodeled and re-envisioned Vermilion worth it? Only if you're stuck in Midtown on business or if you're an out-of-towner who wants a swanky New York dining experience but don't know where to find it.