CAFÉ PONGO

68 Broadway

Tivoli, NY

(914) 757-4403

$$

Joyce Carol Oates, from "Food Mysteries":

Appetite is a kind of passion, and bears the same relationship to food and drink as passion bears to the "loved object." Borne along irresistably by the momentum of both, we never question our destination, still less its mysterious source. Nor should we.

I had been looking forward to returning to Café Pongo ever since I first ate there two years ago. I fondly remembered the succulent half roast chicken, a steam pot with bits of silky salmon and noodles floating in an eminently drinkable broth, and the dark-wooded, heavy curtained, almost medieval - in a wooded, cinematic Sherwood Forest sense - coziness of the place.

I arrived earlier than my dining companions and sat near the kitchen. The waitress, a fine specimen of young womanhood, asked me if I'd like some bread while I waited. I had forgotten about the bread. Cafe Pongo bakes fresh bread and pastries every day. By the time my friends arrived, I had already finished off the plate, served with garlicked olive oil and a subdued cold marinara sauce. Another plate arrived. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir from the small but inexpensive wine list.

And herein lies the key to Café Pongo: There's no hidden pretense to the place. The entrées are certainly unpretentious - no foie gras, no truffles, no thrice cooked anything. But what Café Pongo does prepare is prepared well - call it nouveau comfort food. Veggie mac and cheese, the above mentioned roast chicken (when was the last time you looked forward to eating restaurant roast chicken?), the simple sirloin with a heap of mashed potatoes, the sides of various greens and potatoes (for two bucks!) and the steam pots, which sit under your nose like an aromatic, edible humidifier. And it's all - relatively - cheap; as if they stripped the place down to the bare essentials - warm décor, attentive yet casual service, good, simple food - and they got it right.

The only disappointment in an otherwise stellar meal - good hearty minestrone, suprisingly tasty chicken breast stuffed with seafood, a steak-y portabello mushroom stuffed with creamy goat cheese, a fine steak, another great steam pot - was the tamales special, which was a tad too corn mealy. This was a mere speed bump, however, in an otherwise wonderful evening.

- BKM