Secession.(Restaurant review)

Secession, David Bouley's French-Italian bistro, used to be Danube, David Bouley's formal Viennese dining room, which abutted Bouley, David Bouley's flagship restaurant, which is now Bouley Bakery & Market, David Bouley's gourmet grocery store. (The new Bouley is across the street. A Bouley Japanese restaurant is also under way.) The problem is not Bouley's ambition--any neighborhood is lucky to have an infusion of capital, and charcuterie, in these lean days--but, rather, that he seems to be rejiggering his holdings with greater haste than heed. A nine o'clock reservation might mean a ten o'clock seating. The bar check still says Danube. It's Dubai on Duane Street.

Secession went up fast: barely two weeks after Gael Greene chronicled bickering between Bouley and the Tuscan chef Cesare Casella, with whom Bouley collaborated on Italian dishes ("Fuck you if you want to be French!" went an argument about lemon in the calamari), the place was open for business. (The calamari, for the record, is prepared with "ocean broth": lemon, clam juice, onion, garlic, and herbs.) It's a glorious rehab, preserving the plush intimacy of Danube--Klimt-style canvases, pendant lamps, scarlet lacquer, gold and teal accents--but not ...