Mooo finds a new home on the Hill

by Sandra Miller

Mooo… just turned a year old, and is a pretty, romantic, and elegant 60-seat restaurant that has swept away any memories of its more stodgy predecessor, the Federalist. It’s a destination for senators and artists, powerbrokers and locals, all of whom feel comfortable in its casual attitude and adventurous steakhouse menu items created by chef-owner Jamie Mammano.
But during one Tuesday afternoon, it was a little quiet. “Sometimes it’s packed, sometimes it’s quiet,” says bartender Dante Delucci, who moved over from Mistral to serve the afternoon crowd. “In the wintertime, it gets really busy. I think it’s because people aren’t eating lunch out on the patios then.”
Delucci tended to a lone lunch diner, who sat at the 16-seat gray marble bar that’s lined at the end closest to the door with copies of the Boston Globe, New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Mooo… is a restaurant that’s attached to a four-star hotel, XV Beacon, so it attracts an international crowd, business types, and government workers along with the locals.
Delucci likes to talk to the customers. About 25 percent of the customers who come to Mooo… are from the neighborhood. Delucci can tell the business crowd from the locals, just by what they order. Locals order the less expensive items on the menu. The other day, a customer was talking about the economy. “He’s a stockbroker. He said, ‘Remember this date. This is going to be the worst crisis in U.S. history. Please take care of your job.’”
Mooo… apparently treats its staff well, since it has kept 76 of its original 80-person crew. “They are part of our family,” says manager Diego Rivera. “We depend on them, and on their level of responsibility and professionalism.”
The staff of Mooo… has built a portfolio of rave reviews, to prove its successful move from its predecessor, the highly regarded Federalist.
“It’s a totally different feel” from its days as the Federalist, says Rivera. “The Federalist had a great start, but it didn’t seem to be doing what it was expected to do. They decided to change the concept, and brought new life to it with a fresh revitalization to the entire restaurant.”
The new restaurant’s décor is Asian inspired, with almost an entire absence of dark-wood steakhouse colors to create an airiness in the 60-seat dining room. Mammano changed the Federalist’s mostly seafood menu to Mooo…’s meat-centric lineup. “The chef definitely thinks outside of the box with cuts of steak and meat,” says Rivera.
Chef David Hutton, with 23 years of experience, five at Mistral with Mammano, was surprised to discover that he had a lot to learn about what makes a great steak. He figured out how to check for fat marbling, perfected his searing method, and experimented on how long to let it rest to maintain moisture. “I thought it would be easier than this,” says Hutton.
He researched farms and tasted more than 60 steaks before they opened the place. “My doctor told me to have salads for six months,” he jokes. Finally, he tried out his recipes for three days on family and friends until he perfected his recipe. His goal? “To knock the guests’ socks off,” he says.
Apparently, that’s what they are doing.
The best selling items are the filet mignon and beef Wellington, although Hutton recommends the $46 grass-fed prime sirloin from Painted Hills, New York, or the $49 pepper crusted prime sirloin au poivre. All of the steaks are served with roasted garlic and bone-marrow butter tucked into the bone.
Many customers go for the flight of sides, which during autumn will be whipped Yukon gold potato, creamed spinach with parmesan foam, truffled parmesan fries, and locally forested mushrooms. The top-selling salad is the arugula, lemon and parmesan. Their new seared foie gras atop butternut squash soup became popular quickly. Hutton also plans to add an appetizer of black mission figs with prosciutto and apple balsamic vinegar.
A fair number also stampede to their Kobe beef, a “true 100 percent Kobe beef from Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan,” which is $120 for six ounces. They buy two sirloin shells of Kobe a month, cut out the centers of the $78-a-pound sirloins, and sell about 50 steaks a month.
“Our prices are reasonable compared to other restaurants in the area and New York,” says Hutton. “We sear it, slice it on a plate, add no sauce, no oil. It’s $35 an ounce at some places. We don’t make any money on it. That’s okay, because we’re about providing a service for our guests. No one says the steak is too small.”
But that’s a pricy leftover, and that’s where the chef came up with the most popular item on the appetizer list, the steamed kobe dumplings with garlic and ginger soy sauce, sprinkled with micro cilantro. “You need a spoon,” says Hutton. He insisted on it, and it was well worth spooning up the sauce, which was not just a dip for the dumplings, but a rich Asian soup laced with Kobe juices and fat.
“I have really learned a lot about steak in the past year and a half,” he said. Now it’s fall, and the roof herb garden is nearly depleted, so he turns to perfecting a comfort-food menu, including the introduction of dry-aged, bone-in prime steak once he decides on a supplier. “That’s the gamut of steak,” he says.
Other fall items include a veal porterhouse with a side of gorgonzola polenta with truffle oil served bubbling in a crock. He plans to add lobster to their take on macaroni and cheese. Salads will include more seasonal ingredients, and he hopes to encourage more customers to try the mussels and chorizo soup. “People don’t get the mussels, but when they do, they rave about it,” Hutton says.
Vegetarians need not avoid Hutton’s steakhouse, because he promises to whip up off-menu items beyond the salad-and-pasta standbys, like interesting things with polenta, fall veggies, and quinoa. He became excited talking about his mushroom distributor who is bringing him fungi with names like chicken of the wood. “You’d swear it tasted like chicken,” says Hutton.
It’s this kind of excitement over ingredients that turns curious first-time diners into regulars on a first-name basis with staff, says the manager. But Rivera also says it’s the level of service that diners also have come to expect and enjoy. The waitstaff crumb the tables, change the glassware, and anticipate a customer’s needs without being overbearing. “We don’t have the ‘Is everything ok?’ question as they pass by the table,” says Rivera. “I’ve sat down with guests and had conversations with them. We want the feedback, so we can put in the right items. I want to create that bond. Creating that comfort zone with our guests is what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
As a result, Rivera says their delivery, food quality and service is five-star quality, although they currently are rated at Mobil’s four-star level, and four diamonds with AAA. “I think it’s just because we’re still new,” he says.