Metropolis

When your home is the half-billion-dollar cube that is the Perelman Performing Arts Center, you can’t just phone it in. The facade of glowing marble brings certain expectations. Metropolis, with its vast open floor plan and hodgepodge of a menu, attempts to live up to its monumental setting, but winds up trying a little too hard.

This restaurant—whose full name includes "by Marcus Samuelsson'"—sits in the lobby of its FiDi venue, under a display of lights that dart across the ceiling like a futuristic race track. Allegedly inspired by New York City (similar to Tatiana), the menu offers everything from parsnip agnolotti and pigs in a blanket to “Flushing style” oysters, and curry with a mound of coconut rice.

photo credit: Adrian Gaut

photo credit: Adrian Gaut

photo credit: Andy Thomas Lee

photo credit: Andy Thomas Lee

The food isn’t bad, but most dishes have one, two, or three too many elements running smack into each other. A slab of short rib that looks and tastes like a fancy McRib arrives with a spindly potato churro tossed on the side, and a piece of arctic char drowns in uni beurre blanc while pucks of raw cucumber watch from a safe distance.

Somewhat appropriately, the dishes are as busy as the city itself. If you’re fine with that, and don’t mind a space that suggests a high-end condo, Metropolis works for an upscale group dinner, especially when you’re seeing a show in the building. The tables are well-spaced, reservations aren’t hard to come by, and the scattered floral arrangements help keep the room from feeling too antiseptic. You may have to politely pretend to be wowed by the food, but the view from the street really is magnificent.

Food Rundown

Montauk Fluke Crudo

More like a tartare, this heavily-dressed crudo comes with especially large and somewhat gummy chunks of fluke. If you skip it, you aren't missing out. We are, however, fans of the puffy scallop chips—a twist on Asian prawn crackers—that come on the side.

Caesar Salad

Instead of a pile of individual leaves, Metropolis’ caesar consists of a few intact hearts of romaine showered with pecorino. It isn’t a novel (or offensive) concept, although the lack of dressing does seem a bit daring.

photo credit: Andy Thomas Lee

Smoked Hamachi Taco

This isn’t a singular taco, but instead a small DIY setup with thick slices of smoked hamachi, crepe-like tortillas with swirls of cilantro, and a few sauces on the side. Gimmicky, and also kind of fun.

Blanketed Franks

Pigs in a blanket are good as-is. No need to get fancy with crispy potato sticks and splotches of what tastes like mayo-heavy sauce. As is often the case here, the extras are excessive.

Short Rib

An interesting choice, but not a horrifying one. The sweet, glazed short rib is very tender, and even if the churro seems out of place, it’s a decent little snack.

Tiger Curry

Did you come to Metropolis for a bowl of curry? We understand the impulse, but why? Others do it much better.

photo credit: Andy Thomas Lee

Arctic Char

Chaos on a plate. The rounds of cucumber don’t add much, the amount of beurre blanc feels aggressive, and the presentation looks a whole lot messier in person. Good char, though.