Rubbery shrimp a la Bellini came with rice that had been reheated so many times it tasted like plastic pellets. A special one evening of rabbit roasted with thyme paired with quail wrapped in bacon was more satisfying than most entrees although the rabbit was dry ; it came with watery polenta, which didn't help. Braised free-range chicken in a thick mushroom sauce tasted like a dish I recently had at 30, feet while flying to California.
Sorbets, lemon meringue pie and a fluffy zabaglione-filled layered pastry were the best desserts. Forget the sugary homemade ice cream and achingly sweet chocolate layer cake.
In such a competitive market, it is remarkable to see Bellini by Cipriani succeed, indeed flourish, despite such dismal food and service. It is a vehicle propelled by celebrities and legends. If you are enamored of either, I suggest you stare through the sidewalk windows and save a heap of cash.
About This Review. In September, Bryan Miller tried to dine at Bellini by Cipriani but was refused service by the management. The Cipriani family had expressed unhappiness - in letters and by telephone - about a January review of their other restaurant, Harry Cipriani on East 59th Street, which received a ''fair'' rating by The New York Times.
It has since closed. Within the last three weeks, Mr. Miller visited Bellini by Cipriani, unrecognized, on two occasions with other diners, sampling nearly 30 dishes. Today's review is based on those visits. Mellow peasant-style dishes and Gallic classics are the specialties here, so stick with those and you will be happy. The setting is warm and familiar, with a cozy little bar up front and a rustic French feeling in the dining room.
Tables are well spaced and noise is muted, making this a fine spot for business lunches. French waitresses in black and white outfits can be either matter-of-fact or endearing, but they are always efficient. The most dependable appetizers are the moist and rich pork terrine, robust onion soup and pate de tete a well-seasoned gelatin-bound head cheese. Salads are prepared with care, especially such occasional specials as the combination of rare-sauteed salmon with green leaf lettuce in a mild vinaigrette, and the mixed green salad crowned with broiled disks of goat cheese.
Leek tart was flavorful and fresh but the crust was undercooked, while carrot soup was pale and mussels ravigote lacked the aromatic herb flavor they should have.
The dinner menu carries an exceptionally light and vivid scallop mousse glossed with chive butter. The wine list sensibly matches the food, and at relatively modest prices. If you are an aficionado of the classic French country dish tete de veau, this is one of the best places in New York to have it - a melange of brain, tongue, cheek, boiled potatoes, and carrots with a zippy mustard vinaigrette bolstered with capers and eggs.
Less intrepid diners would be happy with the juicy lamb chops with sauteed potatoes or the lusty beef a la Bordelaise. Seafood is not always so successful. The two best dishes sampled were poached grouper in a lovely beurre blanc sauce and swordfish steak in a rosemary-perfumed broth; simple sole a la meuniere, on the other hand, was leathery from overcooking, and what the menu calls scampi Escoffier was nothing more than chewy little shrimp in a thick brown sauce.
The Friday bouillabaisse was generous with cod, mussels, clams and eel, but the broth was watery and the flavors were not integrated. Desserts are generally attractive and pleasing - raspberry tart with an airy puff pastry crust, peach tart layered with coconut cream, and creme caramel among them. Pierre au Tunnel is a survivor in a dwindling genre of family-owned French restaurants in the theater district.
For a pre-theater meal or a sedate business lunch, it's worth keeping in mind. Bellini by Cipriani: Poor. Atmosphere: Simple cafe setting upstairs; downstairs is nondescript and overly bright.
Recommended dishes: Cold marinated salmon with asparagus, carpaccio of beef, risotto with mushrooms, rabbit roasted with thyme and quail wrapped with bacon, sorbets, lemon meringue pie. Hours: Lunch: A. Monday to Saturday; dinner: to P. Wheelchair accessibility: Access to street level; restrooms downstairs.
Atmosphere: Homey French bistro feeling with well-spaced tables and good noise control. Recommended dishes: Pork terrine, onion soup, pate de tete, warm salmon salad, scallop mousse, tete de veau, lamb chops, beef a la Bordelaise, swordfish with rosemary, poached grouper, fruit tarts, creme caramel.
Jean Paul Picot, owner of La Bonne Soupe, where richly flavored onion soup gratinee is a standard, made brandade a Friday and Saturday menu special two years ago. The restaurant recently added to the weekend menu a first-rate bouillabaisse full of red snapper, monkfish, sole, mussels, clams, scallops and shrimps. La Bonne Soupe, 48 West 55th Street, Bistro aficionados will walk a mile for well-prepared organ meats such as sweetbreads and calf's liver as well as tete de veau literally calf's head or for pate de tete.
For nicely sauteed sweetbreads, I sometimes stop at Chez Napoleon, one of the cozy old French bistros on the West Side. Chez Napoleon, West 50th Street, For tete de veau, my favorite spot is Pierre au Tunnel, where it includes well-cooked pieces of tongue, cheek and brain, accompanied by a caper vinaigrette. The cold pate de tete, a combination of tongue, cheek and herbs bound with gelatin, is always fresh and tasty. Pierre au Tunnel, West 47th Street, Cassoulet, the long-cooked bean-and-lamb stew from southwestern France, can be found in a score of restaurants around town in winter.
Cafe de France in the theater district's restaurant row often runs it as a special, and it can be exceptionally good. Cafe de France, West 46th Street, Steak pommes frites is another classic bistro dish that is particularly well done at Cafe de Bruxelles in the West Village, while couscous fans often flock to La Metairie, a pint-size restaurant nearby on West 10th Street, where two versions of the savory North African specialty are available nightly.
The standard couscous comes with chicken and lamb; the couscous ''royale'' also has spicy merguez sausage. Of course, no bistro meal is complete without one of the two classic desserts: creme caramel and homemade apple tart.
Both are exceptionally good at the lively and perpetually packed Quatorze. The thin tart with a butter crust and caramelized apples is the size of an individual pizza. Quatorze, West 14th Street, View on timesmachine.
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