The carrot chawan mushi was a creamy carrot-juice-and-egg custard topped with fried black quinoa, beet chips and pickled white beets.
When it comes to color, Waxman seems to have Redon in mind, especially in a salad of Valencia oranges, red and white beets, and amaranth, which looked almost too good to eat.
Chewy calamari, redolent of the wood-burning oven, was a far better option, as was a salad of white beets, apple, ricotta and granola — pleasingly sweet, tart, juicy and crunchy.
In the next few weeks, local beets will be available in New York at the Greenmarkets, from farmers like Guy Jones from Blooming Hill Organic Farm in Blooming Hill, N.Y., who sells organic golden beets, white beets, Chioggia and several varieties of red beets on Fridays at Union Square.
Different versions today include "red" (with beets), "white" (without beets) and a version where the ingredients are laid out separately to be mixed according to individual preference.
The long menu consists almost entirely of house-made pastas, which on my visit included squid-ink pappardelle tossed with shellfish and white wine, beet gnocchi with butter and herbs, spaghetti carbonara and a decadent duck ravioli in a port-and-prune cream sauce.
Ahi tuna "duo" matched diced tuna tartar with seared triangular cuts of tuna, slices of red and white pickled beets complementing the sweet fish.
Today through Saturday, Fraunces Tavern Restaurant, 54 Pearl Street (Broad Street), will offer a three-course patriotic menu, including red, white and blue beet salad and American pie, for $17.76 at lunch and dinner: (212) 968-1776.
(Even colorwise, it's confusing, because there are white carrots, yellow beets and purple potatoes).
Steamed halibut "borscht style," golden beets and horseradish crème fraîche The vivid contrast of white halibut and crimson beet sauce makes this dish a visual stunner, but I really stopped dead when I tasted the sauce.
