With its ornate, palatial room full of hand-finished details and a squadron of white-jacketed waiters, this seaside brasserie talks the talk. But with a menu full of subtle flourishes and a heavyweight cellar teeming with riches, Gibney more than walks the walk.
When George Kailis commits, he goes all in. So, when the ambitious restaurateur pledges to build a landmark seaside brasserie and grill, the finished space looks every inch the big-night-out (or big-lunch-out) spectacle he promised. The ornate, palatial room is full of hand-finished details and a squadron of white-jacketed waiters; the heavyweight cellar is teeming with riches; and caviar and large-format beef tick the boxes for steakhouse opulence. Elsewhere, though, it’s the little things that denote Gibney as a house of both substance and style. Preserved chilli and smoked lardo electrify new-school oysters Kilpatrick, one of many assured seafood offerings on a menu that also includes a pissaladière, mussel escabeche on sourdough soldiers and grilled lobster with curried buckwheat. Meanwhile, elegant steak tartare flanked by fine-meshed pommes gaufrettes and a textbook brûlée-topped lemon tart embody the kitchen’s reverence for the classics. “Big” might be Gibney’s stock-in-trade, but the operation proves big can also be beautiful.
