Thor Packs the Thunder

Imagine three pristine strands of Christmas lights stretched tight across a Rear Window-esque courtyard. This trompe-d'Å“il effect-reflections confusing indoors with outdoors-is the result of the quirky, yet seemingly calculated lighting scheme and glass back wall of Thor. We're dining at chef Kurt Gutenbrunner's (of Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Gallery) new restaurant on Rivington Street. The din of the lobby-cum-bar of The Hotel on Rivington resounds throughout as waiters ferry magenta cocktails to and fro.

We're on time for our nine o'clock reservation, but the hostess tells us to wait "five or 10 minutes" at the bar, where we reluctantly perch. No sooner are our cocktails shaken than she offers to seat us: we thus wind up drinking tequila cocktails in place of Sancerre with our dinner, which seems an avoidable pity. Nestled between two couples on the room-length banquette, we squint at each other across a four-foot-long table, not exactly conducive to the tête-à-tête my boyfriend and I had envisioned.

The majority of diners blend right into the black, white, and gray lacelike pattern covering the walls and ceilings-a sort of Lower East Side spin on camouflage. Luckily, the menu is rife with bright, seasonal fare divided into several categories such as "cold plates to start" and "warm in the middle," which are to be mixed and matched. We start with complementing starters: a salad of Bibb lettuce with radishes and pumpkin seed vinaigrette and a warm salmon lasagna crowned with a purple basil leaf. The lasagna seems to have been assembled after each component was individually cooked: poached salmon and subtle tomato sauce layered with pasta sheets and bechamel froth. Alternate bites of its luxurious softness and of the tart crisp salad prove satisfying.

Sides "from the market" intrigue, quark spaetzle and 24-hour roasted tomatoes among them. Unfortunately, as our waitress informs us, quark spaetzle is essentially Austrian for mac and cheese, and 24-hour tomatoes are, in fact, hour-and-a-half tomatoes. We move straight on to the fish and are tempted by the Bearnaise poached lobster with fava beans and cherries. But as our budget only allots for a single entree and the single lobster claw of a portion seems rather unshareable, we opt instead for the red snapper. The expertly steamed fish floats in a pool of olive and clam-studded basil broth. Another good-looking option is the potato-crusted monkfish, which the woman wearing a skin-tight mauve dress devours at a nearby table.

Unlike most restaurants whose desserts err towards the traditional regardless of the innovative offerings on the savory menu, Thor's are the real highlight of the menu. One-bite chocolate lollipops-molten chocolate truffles that explode in your mouth-are served alongside a miniature malt milk shake, and a fresh Concord grape soda is fizzed from a seltzer canister over intensely ginger ice cream and accompanied by a homemade Fig Newton. The impressive nature of these desserts makes the sight of the woman in mauve and her Robert Downey Jr. look-alike boyfriend's palate-cleansers of snappy mint gum all the more horrifying. We make for the door as they drink their coffees.