NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

While bending the elbow is always a pleasure at Lyon Hall (love me some Blood, Sweat and Tears), the main attraction has got to be all that glorious meat.

Executive chef Liam LaCivita and chef de cuisine Andy Bennett make no bones about their affinity for flesh, fielding a full catalog of house-made sausages (wursts, kielbasas, puddings), charcuterie (pates, rilettes, cured meats) and mains (steaks, shanks, bellies) plucked from across the protein spectrum (rabbit, veal, duck).

“I’d recommend it just for this,” one companion announces while foisting a plump lamb sausage—interwoven with cumin, paprika and garlic—to his lips. His center-of-the-plate fixation is well warranted, as the accompanying fingerling potato salad mostly plays possum.

A short rib frankfurter pits the extra savory link (bravo!) against spicy pub mustard and tangy, house-made sauerkraut. The winner: you.

Shaved speck and fresh sage punch up a plate of potato-prune dumplings inundated in butter, heavy cream and heavenly ubriaco. “I call it our version of mac and cheese,” one server says of the gourmet garden party.

And lest anyone think seafood gets the short shrift, keep an eye out for the beet-cured arctic char. The fish is flush with natural sweetness and escorted by wildly crunchy potato cakes.