We’ll be honest. We didn’t have high hopes for Entourage. This big space at the unfashionable end of Elgin Street seemed to us like yet another venture soon to be swallowed up by SoHo’s ever-shifting sands. We had visited their dingy and unpleasant nightclub a few months ago (it’s now closed) and expected more of the same at the restaurant on the first floor.

Actually though, the food here is pretty good—definitely on a par with SoHo’s better restaurants. The appetizers were generous—big chunks of salmon tartare were blended with French pickles and served with farmhouse bread for a tangy, rustic crunch. The goat’s cheese parcels were a tad oily, and the cheese a little rubbery for our liking. But with a hefty serving to tuck into, we didn’t complain.

For mains, our risotto with crab and lobster was almost like a thick bisque. With strands of crabmeat suspended in the rich sauce and a few good chunks of lobster, it was a hearty main that could easily have been sickly, but wasn’t. The beef tenderloin was rather unremarkable, but we enjoyed the thinly sliced baked parsnips on the side that were a lighter take on potato gratin. Dessert was a canele served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and generously drizzled in chocolate sauce. It was mislabeled on the menu as a pancake (it’s actually an eggy dessert pastry) but no matter—we wolfed it down anyway, and it was good.

Entourage has its work cut out for it to stand out among the many restaurants in the area, but getting the food right is a good start.