Bolo - View this location on map After showing some slippage over the decade since it opened, Bolo is newly energized. The Spanish-influenced menu has been updated. The wine list has been improved and more tightly focused. And the new tapas menu shows star chef Bobby Flay at his best. It forces him to work in miniature, a format that shows off his talent for expressing simple flavors clearly, with precise seasoning. Sour orange dressing and small orange segments cut the unctuousness and salt in marinated white anchovies. A chunk of seared duck liver gets treated as a serious cut of meat, with a sweet-sharp jolt of sherry vinegar tempered by honey and black pepper. Appetizers on the new menu seem like a midway stage between tapas and entree, a little larger and just a little more complex. Mr. Flay has managed to develop distinctive dishes that draw on Spanish flavors and spices in a disciplined way. The humble fig in Mr. Flay's hands becomes an opulent sauce that doubles the richness of the walnut romesco stuffing in an entree of pork tenderloin. A garlicky potato gratin makes this dish one of the true heavyweights on the menu, along with a fiercely concentrated squid-ink risotto packed with prawn and lobster meat, surrounded by a pungent green-onion vinaigrette. The restaurant looks like a glorified cafe and feels like a chummy saloon. The food says it's more than that. Moving into its second decade, Bolo has rediscovered its youth, and, improbably, become fresher and more vibrant than the day it opened. NYT Restaurant Review 23 E. 22d St., New York, New York Restaurant

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