Unconventional territory
Bufón (Lower East Side)
RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: Set on a graffiti-splashed corner at Ludlow and Rivington, Bufón is the new, more polished, dinner-focused Lower East Side outpost from the team behind Greenwich Village wine bar Demo. While the place shows off all the hallmarks of a steakhouse — surf-and-turf tendencies, white tablecloths, a serious house martini — the cooking rejects the genre’s conventions, deploying high-acid, seasonal, and precise cooking paired with an exclusively natural wine program.
The Vibe: At present, buzzy, packed, and loud (or in need of soundproofing). The front bar, reminiscent of the’ iconic Clown Bar in Paris, features a U-shaped counter lined with 10 stools beneath a circus-themed mural. It can feel especially tight when diners wait for tables. For a more relaxed experience, head to the compact rear dining room, where the white walls are largely unadorned and punctuated by lipstick red leather chairs that inject a classic steakhouse-style jolt of color.
The Food: You wouldn’t know you were at a steakhouse until you reach the bottom of the menu, where a boxed section lists the three beef options: 12-ounce bavette, 12-ounce picanha, or dry-aged ribeye available in 20- or 40-ounce portions. There’s no shrimp cocktail or wedge salad. Instead, chefs Quang Nguyen and Dina Fan offer open-faced littleneck clams with a zingy vinaigrette made from garlic, lime, chili, and fish sauce, and a stunning seasonal salad of radicchio torn into ribbons alongside paper-thin slices of persimmon and Asian pear, tossed with toasted walnuts and a sesame dressing. There’s clearly more seasonality here than at your typical steak spot: Witness the sunchokes over sunflower butter with preserved lemon, and flageolet beans with dried scallop and winter melon, too.
Still, you’re probably here for the beef — and those fries, perfectly thick, with a shatteringly crisp exterior and creamy interior, so good we ordered a second round. While the ribeye might catch your eye (as it did mine), go for the ultra juicy, more modest picanha: three shimmering slices served in a pool of jus, with optional (and probably unnecessary) sauces like au poivre.
The Drink: Cocktails, built from small-production spirits, are mostly classics with a twist, from a house martini enriched with sherry to a Cognac-based milk punch dosed with amaro and Vietnamese coffee.
The Verdict: A refined evolution of the Demo formula and a steakhouse that defies predictability in all the right ways. –Kat Odell
→ Bufón (Lower East Side) • 78 Rivington St • Tue-Sat 5-11p • Reserve.