CHEAP EATS
EL OMBU
1363 First Ave.
P ERHAPS it’s just taking time for locals to heed the cattle call to El Ombu, a new Argentine steakhouse on the Upper East Side.
On our visits, the 6-month-old churrascaria was all but empty. This is surely not due to the rustic ambiance, which suggests a ranch house on the pampas with rough wood tables and commodious chairs. And when the aroma of sizzling beef mingles in the air with the dramatic strains of tango, the room gets even higher gaucho marks.
Owner Felipe Cha is a 23-year-old Argentinian whose parents own a chain of rotisseries back home. He pays homage to his roots with rotisserie chicken that’s done to a turn, the skin on the juicy, flavorful half-bird crisped golden brown ($8.50). But the main event here, as in his South American homeland, is beef and more beef, grilled over wood charcoal.
The menu reads like something from Letterman’s “Late Show” game “Know Your Cuts of Meat,” featuring a carnivorous collection from Argentina and the United States, as well as organs such as tripe and kidney. (“I wonder where the head went,” my cohort asks while gazing at a nearby cowhide wall-hanging. Actually, the tongue -in vinaigrette – can be found among the appetizers.)
A grilled sweetbread starter ($8.50) is interesting, crunchy on the outside with a gamy interior. It’s better than matambre – the specialty of beef rolled around vegetables and egg is leathery and tasteless. Crusted Garlic Shrimp is best of all, thickly coated with light bread crumbs amid a tangle of sauted onions, but where’s the promised lemon cream sauce?
El Ombu won’t steer you wrong in the beef department. The house steak, churrasco ($14.50), is a plate-sized, pleasantly chewy top sirloin cooked rare as requested, it’s beefiness accented by a singed crust. Argentine filet mignon, a much thicker cut, is buttery soft but would be better simply grilled ($17.95) than the “garlic sauce” version ($18.50) we tried, with its bitter topping of browned, chopped cloves. A side of mashed potatoes, appropriately sturdy with a few lumps rather than a delicate puree, outclass wimpy fries that seem formerly frozen.
Service is sweet and very leisurely, but spotty, as is the kitchen. Confirming that we’d like our wine to breathe and then corking the bottle is one thing, but how does it happen that fettuccine with shrimp, radicchio and plum tomatoes arrives with not only no tomatoes (there were chunks of carrot) but also minus the shrimp?! (When we called this to the attention of our horrified waitress, she apologetically offered to have the rather pasty concoction remade.) On the first visit, there was a complimentary basket of delicious, dense bread, but not the next.
It’s nothing that a session on staying focused won’t cure. Meanwhile, best stick with meat and potatoes here and keep your fingers crossed that the warm crepes with dulce de leche are available come dessert.