The night I dined at Bouley the entryway was filled with shelves and shelves of macintosh apples, which put off an aroma reminiscent of a spa. What a comforting and welcoming entrance! The small lounge before the main dining room looks more like a fancy living room in a Newport mansion, with funny old-style french lounge chairs, than the entryway to one of New York’s finest restaurants. I was early so I ordered a glass of $20 pinot noir. A definite strike against them was that it took almost a minute for each dollar that glass cost to finally bring it to me, which was all the more absurd because I was the only person in the lounge and there were about 10 servers walking around aimlessly. Gladly, this proved to be the only service hiccup in the entire evening.
The dining room is beautiful and definitely evokes the intended feeling of being in an opulent estate in the French countryside. The room has two separate areas. The front area is bright with vaulted ceilings and tables spaced generously away from one another. The back dining area is much more intimate with dark wood and a library type vibe. The bathrooms are downstairs, and my friend rightfully insisted that a visit to them is absolutely necessary. You walk down these grand marble stairs past the wine cellar and through a hallway of light colored marble and arched doorways. The vibe downstairs was enough to make me want to move in.
The menu choice is either a la carte or a tasting menu of six courses, which has a bit of a high price point at $175 per person. We went a la carte and, as I was still full the next morning, I believe that we made the right choice. The amuse bouche was a pumpkin soup with roasted chestnuts and a rice paper packet with pine nuts in it. This was exactly the warming and comforting introduction I needed on the windy, rainy day we went. They brought two amuse rolls, one was rosemary and the other had some sort of fruit in it (I think apple). Both were awesome with a crunchy crust and soft interior.
Then I was sent into an absolutely overwhelmed state. They proceeded to roll a bread cage over to our table for what would be the first of many visits. Yes, I said bread cage. It was this cart with about 8 different types of bread to choose from. The bread cart driver sliced your selection tableside and just grabbed another from his cage when a loaf ran out. My friend Jen and I both had a slice of garlic bread and a slice of fig bread to start. On the second visit, my friend couldn’t resist trying the pistachio hazelnut bread and I am glad she couldn’t because it proved to be my favorite of the breads we had. All the breads the entire evening were absolutely outrageous good. In many ways, it seems with all the fanfare surrounding the bread cart the restaurant wants the bread to be the standout item of the evening. The remainder of the food was very good, but when someone mentions Bouley my first thought will always be the bread.
For an appetizer I had shrimp, sea scallops, dungeness crab, and calamari in a herbal broth and Jen had tuna with turnip and radish in a yuzu-miso dressing. All of the seafood on my dish was perfectly cooked. There were two shrimp, one was simply grilled and the other was fried. The scallop was pan-fried to be crispy and it looked like they had been partially pushed through a large grater with the top was split into many cubes. The calamari was stuffed and just awesome. All of this was served atop a bed of crab with a green herb broth. The dish and the broth were extremely tasty. My friend Jen's was also really good, but a bit generic. I love yuzu and miso, but there was nothing in the dish that made it extraordinary.
For my main, I had the Chicken with Carrot Ravioli, hen of the woods mushrooms, and Pain d’épice dressing. Jen had the roasted duck with white truffle honey, chanterelles, asparagus, and porcini puree. Hands down Jen’s dish won. That’s not to say my chicken wasn’t extraordinary. It was certainly the most tender piece of chicken ever, so much so that I was cutting it with my fork. And the ravioli, which is what really made me order the dish in the first place was amazing. The idea of a sweet carrot puree in pasta is just pure genius. And the pain d’epice sauce, which is a gingerbread spice type mixture, was really wonderful but I would have liked more. I know after that description you’re wondering how Jen’s dish could have been better. Well, Jen's had this white truffle honey sauce that was outstanding and without a doubt one of the best sauces I’ve had in a while. And the duck itself was insanely tender and delicious.
For a pre-dessert they brought melon soup with ricotta sorbet which really wasn’t for me. There are a few things that shouldn’t be made into a liquid and I think melon is one of them. I also was not at all a fan of the ricotta sorbet, as it just wasn’t as sweet as I’d like a frozen dessert to be. For dessert, we had the chocolate frivolous. This was a smorgasbord of all things chocolate…a chocolate brulee, a hazelnut Dacquoise, a noutgatine, a warm chocolate lava cake, a rich chocolate ice cream, and another ice cream that had what tasted like prunes in it. When it arrived, my first thought was it was too much on one plate. But I liked every component and couldn’t possibly pick one to remove!
After our dessert, our server brought a silver tower of petit fours. The petit fours included carrot spice macaroons, rich butter cookies covered in white and dark chocolate, coconut lemon wafer cookies, a truffle, and sesame sandwich cookies. I’m not sure if I was so full that I just couldn’t enjoy these or whether they were only average, but there was nothing that stood out from the tower that I wanted to have again. Maybe it was all that bread!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Eleven Madison Park
In the realm of making a night feel special, Eleven Madison knocks it right out of the park (albeit a park much larger than its little namesake). Everything is at a calm, relaxed pace that once you sit down at your table, you feel as if it’s yours for the rest of the night. The food is inventive and interesting new presentations of classic dishes. All four of the courses we had were extremely good and the majority of them made lasting impressions. The food definitely would stand out on its own but with the level of service the experience was raised to a whole new level.
The Executive Chef is Daniel Humm, and his concept is a grid menu that lists only the primary ingredient of every choice. For each of the four courses, you have four choices so the menu looks like a little square grid of words. After you order, the waiter asks if there is anything that you aren’t fond of so that they can tailor your dishes around your likes/dislikes. You can also opt for a larger chef tasting menu, but honestly there was plenty of food in the four course menu that more is unnecessary. We also did the wine pairing, which was definitely one of the best values of wine pairings I’ve ever had. We had two drinks prior to the first course, and then we had a glass with each course including dessert. All of the pairings were spot-on and each wine was immensely interesting and thoughtful.
Not only were there two drinks before our first course, but there were three rounds of small appetite teasers from the kitchen. The first were airy gougeres, mushroom tea with lemon verbena and toasted truffle brioche. The gourgeres were wonderful, but we both were not fond of the brioche toasts and the topping that had a dry, unpleasant texture. The next round of bites was scallop ceviche with blood orange presented in a scallop shell and raw tuna with pepper and basil powder. Both of these were awesome. The third round of little bites was a yogurt pop with fried fennel seeds and madras curry powder coated in goat’s milk butter and then a little piece of fried fish with aioli. The presentation on all of these was gorgeous and playful, right down to with the pops sticking out of a vase with tall grass.
After these three bites, the bread arrived with a choice of cow’s or goat’s milk butter. The bread was extraordinary with no other way to describe it other than to say it was a warm and buttery bread/croissant hybrid.
And then our meal began. I believe we had been there for over an hour at this point! My first course was fluke. The fluke preparation that evening was fluke carpaccio with dried apples, celery, and chives. I adored the thin slices of melt in your mouth fluke with the apple flavor. My friend’s first course was the Langoustine with green apple and celeriac. This was extremely tender and the flavors were outstanding. We both agreed though that the fluke was the better dish.
For my second course I chose the endive with truffle, egg yolk, and pear. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful this insanely tender endive was. I find it incredibly impressive when a chef can make vegetables taste this amazing. My friend chose the Loup de Mer, which was okay but a bit on the disappointing side as none of the flavors really tasted like they came together.
The third course for my friend was sous vide guinea fowl with salsify puree and jus. This was another wow dish. The fowl was so tender and paired sensationally well with the fabulous salsify puree. I love salsify and think it is one of the most under-used vegetables out there. My third course was pork with roasted plum, onion soubise, and amoretti crumbs. The pork was incredibly tender, the onion soubise was buttery fabulousness, and the almond flavored crumbs added such a nice sweet, nutty layer of flavor.
After our final savory course, our waiter rolled over a little cart and proceeded to mix up a homemade orange egg cream for us. He explained that the restaurant likes to take old fashioned New York hometown favs and bring them back. Well, if they keep serving these, there is no doubt in my mind that the egg cream will make a rapid comeback.
For the dessert course, my friend had the Pistachio that was a Pistachio cheesecake with pistachio sponge cakes, grape sorbet, and pistachio crumble. I had the Chocolate which was Hazelnut mousse coated in guandija chocolate atop a bed of caramel crumble served with espresso ice cream and sponge. The pistachio won the dessert war hands down. I thought the chocolate dessert was good, but there was something missing from it for me. On the other hand, the pistachio had everything and I couldn’t get enough of the grape sorbet.
Then the absolute best part of the evening arrived. My friend and I were invited back to the kitchen for a tour. The kitchen was immaculate and exuded an absolute state of calm and efficiency. We were brought to a station where we could watch everything while someone made a cocktail using liquid nitrogen for us. I can’t remember 100% what it consisted of but there were diced apples, some frozen apple brandy, and some sort of foam made into a ball in the liquid nitrogen. It was awesome. They also let us flip through a copy of their brand new cookbook, which is just as beautiful as everything else that night and now on my Christmas wish list.
When they brought us back to our table they left a bottle of cognac for us to sip as much of as we wanted at our leisure. The petit fours that night were a fruit gelee with chocolate, a raspberry linzer tart, pistachio and rose macaroon, and a lemon shortbread tart. The standouts of these were the raspberry tart and the lemon shortbread tart which were both awesome. As we paid our bill, they presented us with envelopes that had the menu and the full explanation and paired wine for the dishes we ordered and also left me with a jar of granola and explained that they give one to every woman that dines with them. I finished my jar the other day and its one of many reasons I want to go back to Eleven Madison.
Find a reason to go
The Executive Chef is Daniel Humm, and his concept is a grid menu that lists only the primary ingredient of every choice. For each of the four courses, you have four choices so the menu looks like a little square grid of words. After you order, the waiter asks if there is anything that you aren’t fond of so that they can tailor your dishes around your likes/dislikes. You can also opt for a larger chef tasting menu, but honestly there was plenty of food in the four course menu that more is unnecessary. We also did the wine pairing, which was definitely one of the best values of wine pairings I’ve ever had. We had two drinks prior to the first course, and then we had a glass with each course including dessert. All of the pairings were spot-on and each wine was immensely interesting and thoughtful.
Not only were there two drinks before our first course, but there were three rounds of small appetite teasers from the kitchen. The first were airy gougeres, mushroom tea with lemon verbena and toasted truffle brioche. The gourgeres were wonderful, but we both were not fond of the brioche toasts and the topping that had a dry, unpleasant texture. The next round of bites was scallop ceviche with blood orange presented in a scallop shell and raw tuna with pepper and basil powder. Both of these were awesome. The third round of little bites was a yogurt pop with fried fennel seeds and madras curry powder coated in goat’s milk butter and then a little piece of fried fish with aioli. The presentation on all of these was gorgeous and playful, right down to with the pops sticking out of a vase with tall grass.
After these three bites, the bread arrived with a choice of cow’s or goat’s milk butter. The bread was extraordinary with no other way to describe it other than to say it was a warm and buttery bread/croissant hybrid.
And then our meal began. I believe we had been there for over an hour at this point! My first course was fluke. The fluke preparation that evening was fluke carpaccio with dried apples, celery, and chives. I adored the thin slices of melt in your mouth fluke with the apple flavor. My friend’s first course was the Langoustine with green apple and celeriac. This was extremely tender and the flavors were outstanding. We both agreed though that the fluke was the better dish.
For my second course I chose the endive with truffle, egg yolk, and pear. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful this insanely tender endive was. I find it incredibly impressive when a chef can make vegetables taste this amazing. My friend chose the Loup de Mer, which was okay but a bit on the disappointing side as none of the flavors really tasted like they came together.
The third course for my friend was sous vide guinea fowl with salsify puree and jus. This was another wow dish. The fowl was so tender and paired sensationally well with the fabulous salsify puree. I love salsify and think it is one of the most under-used vegetables out there. My third course was pork with roasted plum, onion soubise, and amoretti crumbs. The pork was incredibly tender, the onion soubise was buttery fabulousness, and the almond flavored crumbs added such a nice sweet, nutty layer of flavor.
After our final savory course, our waiter rolled over a little cart and proceeded to mix up a homemade orange egg cream for us. He explained that the restaurant likes to take old fashioned New York hometown favs and bring them back. Well, if they keep serving these, there is no doubt in my mind that the egg cream will make a rapid comeback.
For the dessert course, my friend had the Pistachio that was a Pistachio cheesecake with pistachio sponge cakes, grape sorbet, and pistachio crumble. I had the Chocolate which was Hazelnut mousse coated in guandija chocolate atop a bed of caramel crumble served with espresso ice cream and sponge. The pistachio won the dessert war hands down. I thought the chocolate dessert was good, but there was something missing from it for me. On the other hand, the pistachio had everything and I couldn’t get enough of the grape sorbet.
Then the absolute best part of the evening arrived. My friend and I were invited back to the kitchen for a tour. The kitchen was immaculate and exuded an absolute state of calm and efficiency. We were brought to a station where we could watch everything while someone made a cocktail using liquid nitrogen for us. I can’t remember 100% what it consisted of but there were diced apples, some frozen apple brandy, and some sort of foam made into a ball in the liquid nitrogen. It was awesome. They also let us flip through a copy of their brand new cookbook, which is just as beautiful as everything else that night and now on my Christmas wish list.
When they brought us back to our table they left a bottle of cognac for us to sip as much of as we wanted at our leisure. The petit fours that night were a fruit gelee with chocolate, a raspberry linzer tart, pistachio and rose macaroon, and a lemon shortbread tart. The standouts of these were the raspberry tart and the lemon shortbread tart which were both awesome. As we paid our bill, they presented us with envelopes that had the menu and the full explanation and paired wine for the dishes we ordered and also left me with a jar of granola and explained that they give one to every woman that dines with them. I finished my jar the other day and its one of many reasons I want to go back to Eleven Madison.
Find a reason to go
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Gilt
Gilt is located in the New York Palace Hotel in the former Le Cirque space. You enter the restaurant through the hotel lobby and walk into the main bar area, which has this incredibly cheesy neon lit textured backsplash that made me and my sister feel as if we were at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun or some AC casino bar. The host leads you to the main dining room through a pair of pocket doors that remain only slightly ajar through service. The dining area is an intimate space of about 15 tables with chestnut wood panel and gilded era type style. Up a few steps on one end of the room is the kitchen, into which diners can peek through another set of partially ajar pocket doors. On the night I went, I only saw absolute calm and precision in the kitchen, which was no surprise given the quality of food with which we were presented.
The service the entire evening was impeccable, but the waiters were a bit more rigid and less inclined to smile and joke then I like. The only thing that detracted a bit from the food was the crowd, which was such a bizarre mix the night we were there that my sister and I couldn’t help but just sit back and observe. The pair that won the gold medal in weirdness was the couple next to us that sat down about 5 minutes after we did, took about 20 pictures of each plate of food, and then proceeded to let each course sit in front of them untouched for 40 minutes or so (they were still on their second course when we were leaving!). But enough about that, it’s time to get back to the food.
Gilt has two Michelin stars and in my opinion it deserves both. Executive Chef Justin Bogle’s menu is American with modern twists and a seasonal undertone. The menus offered are a three course prix fixe, a five course tasting menu, or a grand tasting menu of seven courses. My sister and I opted for the middle ground, five course tasting menu, which for each of us ended up being the perfect amount of food. The price points for the wine by the glass are a bit on the steep side in my opinion, but the nebbiolo I had was delightful despite the $20 price tag per glass.
The bread basket offered five choices that really made me stop and think what I should do. My sister and I had three of the five: butternut squash and herb roll, manchego twist roll, and apple and cheddar bread. All were the perfect carb texture and wonderfully flavorful, but the winner was the apple and cheddar, which was the ideal balance of sweet and salty.
I can’t express enough how beautiful the presentation of each and every course we had was. It began with our amuse bouche which was a square of finely chopped lobster ceviche, which was silky in texture and had a wonderful spice kick to it. My first course was tuna with wasabi avocado mousse. The plate contained three pieces of tuna with different sauces, sudachi (a citrus), black sesame, and shiso. The sesame piece was my favorite with a thin black sesame meringue on it that coupled with the tuna perfectly and was everything in one (sweet, crisp, salty, and earthy). My sister had the autumn salad which was baby root vegetables with carrot vinaigrette. This was okay, but nothing extraordinary. All of the remaining courses were the same for us but they had substituted the salad for the tuna for my sister.
The second course is probably my favorite of the night and it should come as no surprise that it contained a pork product. The dish “bacon and eggs” was just extraordinary with cavier, egg custard, bacon confit with this thin round of crisp brioche and fried cippolini. The bacon confit was basically bacon jam, a salty, sweet condiment that’s heavenly, the egg was airy and light, and the cavier was the salty goodness that it needed to be. All the flavors and textures were perfectly balanced and each bite just tasted better than the one before it. I looked up and saw the sadness on my sister’s face when she was done and I was certain she was seeing the same emotion reflected on my face.
Up next was red snapper with puffed sorghum (sort of like mini popcorn), corn custard, and abalone fish sauce. The sauce on this dish was tad too fishy tasting for me, however, my sister really liked it. Nevertheless the silky, sweet corn custard made the course worth it for me because it was amazing. Our final savory course was dry-aged strip with bone marrow mousse, mushrooms, and beef jus. This was a delicious and absolutely beautiful piece of meat that was very tender. The beef jus was so rich and meaty that I wished there was more of it.
After our main course, our waiter brought us a pre-dessert of yuzu mousse with poached pear. I love a pre-dessert and this only made me love them even more. Our dessert was rocky road, which was squares of chocolate and nuts with marshmallows, and they brought us an extra dessert, ricotta cheesecake with berries. Both desserts were very good, but neither were anything I would crave. Although in fair disclosure, I was a bit obsessed with the marshmallows on the rocky road dessert, as they were coated in graham cracker crumbs in a way that made me want to hold them over the candle on our table. The petit fours were a bit underwhelming, a peanut butter and jelly square, caramel chocolate, fruit gelee, and a mini tart. None of these were standouts for my sister or me.
As a little aside, I’m conflicted with tasting menus that don’t offer options. If you are dining with someone you are both getting all the same thing and I prefer to try the most I can of what a restaurant has to offer. My sister argued that it was nice not to have to share your dishes and perhaps this is a partial motivation for this style. I suppose in retrospect it was rather nice that I didn’t have to share any of my food at Gilt because I was enjoying it so much!
The service the entire evening was impeccable, but the waiters were a bit more rigid and less inclined to smile and joke then I like. The only thing that detracted a bit from the food was the crowd, which was such a bizarre mix the night we were there that my sister and I couldn’t help but just sit back and observe. The pair that won the gold medal in weirdness was the couple next to us that sat down about 5 minutes after we did, took about 20 pictures of each plate of food, and then proceeded to let each course sit in front of them untouched for 40 minutes or so (they were still on their second course when we were leaving!). But enough about that, it’s time to get back to the food.
Gilt has two Michelin stars and in my opinion it deserves both. Executive Chef Justin Bogle’s menu is American with modern twists and a seasonal undertone. The menus offered are a three course prix fixe, a five course tasting menu, or a grand tasting menu of seven courses. My sister and I opted for the middle ground, five course tasting menu, which for each of us ended up being the perfect amount of food. The price points for the wine by the glass are a bit on the steep side in my opinion, but the nebbiolo I had was delightful despite the $20 price tag per glass.
The bread basket offered five choices that really made me stop and think what I should do. My sister and I had three of the five: butternut squash and herb roll, manchego twist roll, and apple and cheddar bread. All were the perfect carb texture and wonderfully flavorful, but the winner was the apple and cheddar, which was the ideal balance of sweet and salty.
I can’t express enough how beautiful the presentation of each and every course we had was. It began with our amuse bouche which was a square of finely chopped lobster ceviche, which was silky in texture and had a wonderful spice kick to it. My first course was tuna with wasabi avocado mousse. The plate contained three pieces of tuna with different sauces, sudachi (a citrus), black sesame, and shiso. The sesame piece was my favorite with a thin black sesame meringue on it that coupled with the tuna perfectly and was everything in one (sweet, crisp, salty, and earthy). My sister had the autumn salad which was baby root vegetables with carrot vinaigrette. This was okay, but nothing extraordinary. All of the remaining courses were the same for us but they had substituted the salad for the tuna for my sister.
The second course is probably my favorite of the night and it should come as no surprise that it contained a pork product. The dish “bacon and eggs” was just extraordinary with cavier, egg custard, bacon confit with this thin round of crisp brioche and fried cippolini. The bacon confit was basically bacon jam, a salty, sweet condiment that’s heavenly, the egg was airy and light, and the cavier was the salty goodness that it needed to be. All the flavors and textures were perfectly balanced and each bite just tasted better than the one before it. I looked up and saw the sadness on my sister’s face when she was done and I was certain she was seeing the same emotion reflected on my face.
Up next was red snapper with puffed sorghum (sort of like mini popcorn), corn custard, and abalone fish sauce. The sauce on this dish was tad too fishy tasting for me, however, my sister really liked it. Nevertheless the silky, sweet corn custard made the course worth it for me because it was amazing. Our final savory course was dry-aged strip with bone marrow mousse, mushrooms, and beef jus. This was a delicious and absolutely beautiful piece of meat that was very tender. The beef jus was so rich and meaty that I wished there was more of it.
After our main course, our waiter brought us a pre-dessert of yuzu mousse with poached pear. I love a pre-dessert and this only made me love them even more. Our dessert was rocky road, which was squares of chocolate and nuts with marshmallows, and they brought us an extra dessert, ricotta cheesecake with berries. Both desserts were very good, but neither were anything I would crave. Although in fair disclosure, I was a bit obsessed with the marshmallows on the rocky road dessert, as they were coated in graham cracker crumbs in a way that made me want to hold them over the candle on our table. The petit fours were a bit underwhelming, a peanut butter and jelly square, caramel chocolate, fruit gelee, and a mini tart. None of these were standouts for my sister or me.
As a little aside, I’m conflicted with tasting menus that don’t offer options. If you are dining with someone you are both getting all the same thing and I prefer to try the most I can of what a restaurant has to offer. My sister argued that it was nice not to have to share your dishes and perhaps this is a partial motivation for this style. I suppose in retrospect it was rather nice that I didn’t have to share any of my food at Gilt because I was enjoying it so much!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Le Bernardin - Chef "Ripert" the Menu
This was another one that I was really looking forward to and I was so upset that it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. The standout of the night was the wine. Every glass was an absolute delight. We started the evening with a cocktail in the lounge before we went to our table. The cocktails were artful and delicious, and the little trio of bar snacks (popcorn, cheese twists, and candied nuts) were downright addictive. Once we sat down for dinner, we had the sommelier pair each of our courses with wine. All of the glasses we each had were amazing and paired with the food expertly. It was certainly one of those cases in which it was the right move to leave it up to the in-house expert.
The overall feel of the restaurant is a bit on the stuffy side. You walk into the bar/lounge area and the dining room is just on the other side of the hostess stand. The dining room is elegant without being overly grand. But there is still a staid feel to it that doesn’t feel all that comfortable.
The menu choice is between a four course menu, a 7 course tasting menu, or a chef’s tasting menu of 8 courses. We had the four course menu, which allows you choose two appetizers from the almost raw and barely cooked sections, one from the lightly cooked, and then a dessert. The amuse bouche the evening we dined at Le Bernardin was a trio: a little dome of tuna tartare with soy, sea urchin with a soy citrus sauce, and a cup of lobster bisque. The lobster bisque was amazingly delicious and just an absolute standout in this trio. All three of us savored every drop of the rich tomato and lobster flavors. The bread basket was a choice of olive rosemary stick, raisin bread, parker house roll, or sourdough roll. These turned out to all be superb choices, with beautiful texture and flavor.
The appetizers continued what had started as a fabulous dinner. For appetizers, my friends both had the yellowfin tuna, which was thin layers of tuna with foie gras atop a toasted baguette with chives and olive oil. The plating of this was a bit strange and sort of lacked the beauty I would expect. The tuna was wonderfully fresh and the flavors simple and delicious but nothing mind altering. I had the Fluke "Sashimi" with avocado topped with jalapeño-lime broth. The clear winner was the fluke, which melted in your mouth, and the sauce was an awesome tart and hot combination. I loved it and was very happy with my choice.
For our next course, two of us opted to have the butter poached lobster tail with spiced celeriac, earl grey-citrus sauce. The lobster was splendid, but the best part was the heavenly citrus tea sauce, of which I was literally spooning up every last drop. Our other friend had the calamari with fermented black bean sauce, which was a really nice combination of flavors but nowhere near the caliber of the lobster. Sadly, the dishes from these two courses all stood out much more as hits than our entrees did.
For the last savory course, things just didn’t go as well as any of us expected. Each of the entrees was only okay. I had the best of the main courses, which was roasted monkfish with brussels sprouts and pata negra emulsion with a cup of mushroom custard to spoon on top. First off, to say it came with brussels sprouts is a mammoth overstatement since there were only two little leaves on the plate. The fish was cooked to perfection and very flavorful but the flavor was a bit cliqued…nothing earthshattering or worthy of a return trip and frankly spooning the mushroom custard on top was strange despite it adding flavor. One of my friends had the lobster with caramelized endive-pear terrine with whiskey peppercorn sauce. The lobster was not as good as the butter poached lobster appetizer and again was just a bit one dimensional in taste. Our third companion had steamed halibut with a beet sauce and horseradish crème fraiche. This just was so bland and the fish texture just felt over-cooked. Truthfully, there was no excuse for this dish even being on the menu.
For dessert, one friend had the panna cotta with caramelized fig puree and pear quince syrup, which was only okay. My other friend had the salted peanut caramel with milk chocolate and malted milk crunch, which was better but not amazing. I had the winning dessert, banana praline pate feuilletee with caramelized banana and hazelnut praline cream. This was a perfect example of how banana and praline should be combined and lifted my spirits after our disappointing entrees.
The petit fours before we left were a passion fruit macaroon, a caramel chocolate and a little butter cake. The butter cake was really moist and buttery but the other two petit fours were only okay.
Overall, the meal felt a little bit old school, and I suppose that’s exactly what a lot of people go to Le Bernardin and hope to find. The flavors just all felt a little bit been there done that and as if the chef hasn’t thought about updating the flavors or trying to make them better. All three of us agreed that we’d go back for the wine before we returned for the food.
The overall feel of the restaurant is a bit on the stuffy side. You walk into the bar/lounge area and the dining room is just on the other side of the hostess stand. The dining room is elegant without being overly grand. But there is still a staid feel to it that doesn’t feel all that comfortable.
The menu choice is between a four course menu, a 7 course tasting menu, or a chef’s tasting menu of 8 courses. We had the four course menu, which allows you choose two appetizers from the almost raw and barely cooked sections, one from the lightly cooked, and then a dessert. The amuse bouche the evening we dined at Le Bernardin was a trio: a little dome of tuna tartare with soy, sea urchin with a soy citrus sauce, and a cup of lobster bisque. The lobster bisque was amazingly delicious and just an absolute standout in this trio. All three of us savored every drop of the rich tomato and lobster flavors. The bread basket was a choice of olive rosemary stick, raisin bread, parker house roll, or sourdough roll. These turned out to all be superb choices, with beautiful texture and flavor.
The appetizers continued what had started as a fabulous dinner. For appetizers, my friends both had the yellowfin tuna, which was thin layers of tuna with foie gras atop a toasted baguette with chives and olive oil. The plating of this was a bit strange and sort of lacked the beauty I would expect. The tuna was wonderfully fresh and the flavors simple and delicious but nothing mind altering. I had the Fluke "Sashimi" with avocado topped with jalapeño-lime broth. The clear winner was the fluke, which melted in your mouth, and the sauce was an awesome tart and hot combination. I loved it and was very happy with my choice.
For our next course, two of us opted to have the butter poached lobster tail with spiced celeriac, earl grey-citrus sauce. The lobster was splendid, but the best part was the heavenly citrus tea sauce, of which I was literally spooning up every last drop. Our other friend had the calamari with fermented black bean sauce, which was a really nice combination of flavors but nowhere near the caliber of the lobster. Sadly, the dishes from these two courses all stood out much more as hits than our entrees did.
For the last savory course, things just didn’t go as well as any of us expected. Each of the entrees was only okay. I had the best of the main courses, which was roasted monkfish with brussels sprouts and pata negra emulsion with a cup of mushroom custard to spoon on top. First off, to say it came with brussels sprouts is a mammoth overstatement since there were only two little leaves on the plate. The fish was cooked to perfection and very flavorful but the flavor was a bit cliqued…nothing earthshattering or worthy of a return trip and frankly spooning the mushroom custard on top was strange despite it adding flavor. One of my friends had the lobster with caramelized endive-pear terrine with whiskey peppercorn sauce. The lobster was not as good as the butter poached lobster appetizer and again was just a bit one dimensional in taste. Our third companion had steamed halibut with a beet sauce and horseradish crème fraiche. This just was so bland and the fish texture just felt over-cooked. Truthfully, there was no excuse for this dish even being on the menu.
For dessert, one friend had the panna cotta with caramelized fig puree and pear quince syrup, which was only okay. My other friend had the salted peanut caramel with milk chocolate and malted milk crunch, which was better but not amazing. I had the winning dessert, banana praline pate feuilletee with caramelized banana and hazelnut praline cream. This was a perfect example of how banana and praline should be combined and lifted my spirits after our disappointing entrees.
The petit fours before we left were a passion fruit macaroon, a caramel chocolate and a little butter cake. The butter cake was really moist and buttery but the other two petit fours were only okay.
Overall, the meal felt a little bit old school, and I suppose that’s exactly what a lot of people go to Le Bernardin and hope to find. The flavors just all felt a little bit been there done that and as if the chef hasn’t thought about updating the flavors or trying to make them better. All three of us agreed that we’d go back for the wine before we returned for the food.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Oceana
From the outside of Oceana and its name, I wouldn’t guess that it was a Michelin star restaurant. Rather, I’d think it a businessman or tourist trap that would put out clichéd and perhaps a bit overpriced seafood. So, I was pleasantly surprised when on my visit the other night it did neither.
I was on my way to a show and knew Oceana was down the block. So, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to stop in and cross a Michelin star that I wasn’t expecting much from off the list. I was happy to find that I should’ve expected much more. There is no doubt that I want like to return and sit down in the dining room for a full meal rather than just grabbing a quick bite at the bar like I did on this trip.
The space is bright and gorgeous with two levels of bar, one when you walk in and one to the right and down a few steps. This second bar is just in front of the dining room. Both bars are clean, white marble with dark wood and great places to have a drink, some appetizers, or a full meal. The open kitchen is in the back of the restaurant and visible from the bars and the dining room.
Oceana has a good wine and beer list, including Kelso a brewery I’m fond of. The chef of Oceana is Ben Pollinger, and, as would be expected, the menu focuses on seafood. As I said, my friend and I opted to have a quick meal at the bar before our show. I was very happy to find that despite the fact that we were dining at the bar they still brought us amuse bouches, bread, and petit fours. The amuse bouche was chestnut mushroom broth with lobster. It was a really nice earthy broth with a slight hint of seafood and a small little crunch of chestnut. The bread was two mini baguettes and one roll served cold with butter and salt.
For an appetizer, we had oysters Rockefeller that were extremely good. I liked these because they had a nice crunchy, buttery topping that did not overwhelm the flavor of the extremely fresh oysters which is too often the case with this dish.
For one of our main courses we had the Taro wrapped Pompano with baby bok choy, long beans, peanuts and coconut cilantro curry. This was so delicious. The fish was nice and flaky and the taro made a really nice crust on it. The sauce was also remarkably tasty and I was dipping my bread in it every opportunity I had. The other main course we had was the shrimp and grits. The shrimp were exceptionally good. I especially enjoyed the sauce on the shrimp and paid a fair amount of attention to the grit cake as well. My one complaint is that the shrimp had its head on and I would prefer if it hadn’t, because I just don’t like my food looking back at me.
I had the opportunity to walk past the kitchen on my way to the ladies room. I was happy to get a closer look into the open kitchen, which was immaculate and huge.
At the end of our meal, they brought over two mini pops for each of us, one was a chocolate pop and the other was a sweet potato pop with chocolate. These were awesome and a nice sendoff as we ran out the door to our show.
Frankly, as we left I realized that I wanted to rewind and have a proper meal that was less rushed in the dining room. The food at Oceana was incredibly flavorful and definitely worthy of a return trip.
I was on my way to a show and knew Oceana was down the block. So, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to stop in and cross a Michelin star that I wasn’t expecting much from off the list. I was happy to find that I should’ve expected much more. There is no doubt that I want like to return and sit down in the dining room for a full meal rather than just grabbing a quick bite at the bar like I did on this trip.
The space is bright and gorgeous with two levels of bar, one when you walk in and one to the right and down a few steps. This second bar is just in front of the dining room. Both bars are clean, white marble with dark wood and great places to have a drink, some appetizers, or a full meal. The open kitchen is in the back of the restaurant and visible from the bars and the dining room.
Oceana has a good wine and beer list, including Kelso a brewery I’m fond of. The chef of Oceana is Ben Pollinger, and, as would be expected, the menu focuses on seafood. As I said, my friend and I opted to have a quick meal at the bar before our show. I was very happy to find that despite the fact that we were dining at the bar they still brought us amuse bouches, bread, and petit fours. The amuse bouche was chestnut mushroom broth with lobster. It was a really nice earthy broth with a slight hint of seafood and a small little crunch of chestnut. The bread was two mini baguettes and one roll served cold with butter and salt.
For an appetizer, we had oysters Rockefeller that were extremely good. I liked these because they had a nice crunchy, buttery topping that did not overwhelm the flavor of the extremely fresh oysters which is too often the case with this dish.
For one of our main courses we had the Taro wrapped Pompano with baby bok choy, long beans, peanuts and coconut cilantro curry. This was so delicious. The fish was nice and flaky and the taro made a really nice crust on it. The sauce was also remarkably tasty and I was dipping my bread in it every opportunity I had. The other main course we had was the shrimp and grits. The shrimp were exceptionally good. I especially enjoyed the sauce on the shrimp and paid a fair amount of attention to the grit cake as well. My one complaint is that the shrimp had its head on and I would prefer if it hadn’t, because I just don’t like my food looking back at me.
I had the opportunity to walk past the kitchen on my way to the ladies room. I was happy to get a closer look into the open kitchen, which was immaculate and huge.
At the end of our meal, they brought over two mini pops for each of us, one was a chocolate pop and the other was a sweet potato pop with chocolate. These were awesome and a nice sendoff as we ran out the door to our show.
Frankly, as we left I realized that I wanted to rewind and have a proper meal that was less rushed in the dining room. The food at Oceana was incredibly flavorful and definitely worthy of a return trip.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
I'm Sho Sure Sho Shaun Hergatt is Worthy of Two Stars
Sho Shaun Hergatt is located just down the street from the NY Stock Exchange in the Setai Hotel. You take an elevator from the lobby up to the second floor and when you exit you have this awkward walk down to the hostess stand as you both stare at one another until you’re at the right distance to say something. The space is beautifully designed with a bar at the entry and tables to the left. The night we went it was practically empty and every bite we had made me more and more confused as to how this could possibly be the case. Chef Shaun Hergatt’s style is Asian inspired French cuisine with a focus on local ingredients and interesting techniques. In this venture, Chef Hergatt managed to present some of the most interesting and spot on flavor combinations I have had in a while. So much so that my sister and I left our dinner here saying that it deserved two stars on the 2012 list that had yet to be released at the time we ate there. So when the new list was released a few weeks later, neither of us was surprised that it had been upgraded to two.
The night we went was the debut night of the new five course tasting menu. The chef came out after our third course to ask us about portion size and whether we thought it was too much, too little, or just perfect and whether we were enjoying the food. It’s nice when you have that special touch of a restaurant caring what people think about their food. The service at Sho was very good and seamless.
The amuse bouche was two parts. The first was a pea puree with this fabulous coconut foam on top. The fresh pea flavor just popped with the coconut and tasted like spring. The second part was these fried potato balls rolled in black truffle and stuffed with a tiny bit of foie gras. These balls were amazing, which shocked me because I’m typically not a huge fan of foie gras.
The bread was this extremely nice rustic country bread that they made in-house. It has that crisp, crunchy crust and soft airy interior that rustic breads should. This came with a choice between plain butter and a sage butter. I wanted to love the sage butter, but it was not as flavorful or stunning as it looked and sounded.
Karen’s first course was a beet roulade with a horseradish “marshmallow” that was really more the consistency of a crème fraiche and had this wonderful tangy/spicy horseradish bite. The beet roulade was a puree covered in a dehydrated beet and served with baby roasted beets. I love beets and this was such a new and refreshing twist on beet preparation. My first course was the salt pressed ocean trout with pear. This was a very nice presentation of raw fish with very nice flavors. Definitely something I would order again.
For her second course, Karen had the celeriac espuma with crispy potato, black truffle powder, and truffle cream. I had the coxcomb, which was veal tongue ribbons, chicken skin, and mushrooms. Both dishes arrived with the garnishes in a bowl and then waiters ceremoniously spooned a foam atop each. The celeriac was very good but it was very rich. The mushrooms on the coxcomb plate were unremarkable. But the veal tongue ribbons were so tender, deliciously salty, and rich that I was totally blown away and didn’t even pay any attention to anything else.
For the third course, Karen had the nova scotia lobster with garlic chives and a chili coconut sauce. The lobster was cooked earth-shatteringly perfect, but the component that really won on the plate was the coconut chili sauce. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the best coconut curry sauce I’ve ever had, managing to find the ideal balance between heat and sweet. I had the sous vide amadai with baby clams and turnips. The amadai was a beautiful piece of white fish that was simply prepared and wonderful. But, there was no question that Karen’s dish won this round.
For the fourth course, Karen had the beef cheek wrapped in ham with leeks. I couldn’t believe how meaty, rich, and fabulous this was. It tasted like the most perfectly braised piece of meat ever. My fourth course was cracked soba risotto with an egg yolk, parmesan, and these delightful crumbs sprinkled over it. The egg yolk oozed all over the perfect risotto. I can’t remember ever having such delicious risotto.
For the firth course, Karen had the caramelia custard with dark chocolate and buttermilk sorbet. This was extremely good but it couldn’t come close to my strawberry dessert with fresh strawberries and strawberry meringue. My dessert was no where near big enough but the flavor was so amazing I couldn’t complain. The meringues dissolve on your tongue with a slight snap when you bite into them and the strawberries were perfectly sweet.
After our meal, they brought carrot cake French macaroons with a cream cheese center and warm donuts covered in cardamom sugar. These absolutely sealed Karen’s and my vote for this restaurant to have 2 Michelin stars. The carrot cake macaroon was spicy, tangy, and just AMAZING. The cardamom donuts, which tasted like fall, were extremely good.
I’m sure you couldn’t fail to notice that there were a lot of “bests” in this meal. It was truly amazing and well worth a trip. I think I’ll try to go for the three course prix fixe lunch sometime. I was happy to see that in the 2012 guide Sho Shaun received 2 Michelin stars. There is no doubt in my mind that it completely deserves these.
The night we went was the debut night of the new five course tasting menu. The chef came out after our third course to ask us about portion size and whether we thought it was too much, too little, or just perfect and whether we were enjoying the food. It’s nice when you have that special touch of a restaurant caring what people think about their food. The service at Sho was very good and seamless.
The amuse bouche was two parts. The first was a pea puree with this fabulous coconut foam on top. The fresh pea flavor just popped with the coconut and tasted like spring. The second part was these fried potato balls rolled in black truffle and stuffed with a tiny bit of foie gras. These balls were amazing, which shocked me because I’m typically not a huge fan of foie gras.
The bread was this extremely nice rustic country bread that they made in-house. It has that crisp, crunchy crust and soft airy interior that rustic breads should. This came with a choice between plain butter and a sage butter. I wanted to love the sage butter, but it was not as flavorful or stunning as it looked and sounded.
Karen’s first course was a beet roulade with a horseradish “marshmallow” that was really more the consistency of a crème fraiche and had this wonderful tangy/spicy horseradish bite. The beet roulade was a puree covered in a dehydrated beet and served with baby roasted beets. I love beets and this was such a new and refreshing twist on beet preparation. My first course was the salt pressed ocean trout with pear. This was a very nice presentation of raw fish with very nice flavors. Definitely something I would order again.
For her second course, Karen had the celeriac espuma with crispy potato, black truffle powder, and truffle cream. I had the coxcomb, which was veal tongue ribbons, chicken skin, and mushrooms. Both dishes arrived with the garnishes in a bowl and then waiters ceremoniously spooned a foam atop each. The celeriac was very good but it was very rich. The mushrooms on the coxcomb plate were unremarkable. But the veal tongue ribbons were so tender, deliciously salty, and rich that I was totally blown away and didn’t even pay any attention to anything else.
For the third course, Karen had the nova scotia lobster with garlic chives and a chili coconut sauce. The lobster was cooked earth-shatteringly perfect, but the component that really won on the plate was the coconut chili sauce. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it was the best coconut curry sauce I’ve ever had, managing to find the ideal balance between heat and sweet. I had the sous vide amadai with baby clams and turnips. The amadai was a beautiful piece of white fish that was simply prepared and wonderful. But, there was no question that Karen’s dish won this round.
For the fourth course, Karen had the beef cheek wrapped in ham with leeks. I couldn’t believe how meaty, rich, and fabulous this was. It tasted like the most perfectly braised piece of meat ever. My fourth course was cracked soba risotto with an egg yolk, parmesan, and these delightful crumbs sprinkled over it. The egg yolk oozed all over the perfect risotto. I can’t remember ever having such delicious risotto.
For the firth course, Karen had the caramelia custard with dark chocolate and buttermilk sorbet. This was extremely good but it couldn’t come close to my strawberry dessert with fresh strawberries and strawberry meringue. My dessert was no where near big enough but the flavor was so amazing I couldn’t complain. The meringues dissolve on your tongue with a slight snap when you bite into them and the strawberries were perfectly sweet.
After our meal, they brought carrot cake French macaroons with a cream cheese center and warm donuts covered in cardamom sugar. These absolutely sealed Karen’s and my vote for this restaurant to have 2 Michelin stars. The carrot cake macaroon was spicy, tangy, and just AMAZING. The cardamom donuts, which tasted like fall, were extremely good.
I’m sure you couldn’t fail to notice that there were a lot of “bests” in this meal. It was truly amazing and well worth a trip. I think I’ll try to go for the three course prix fixe lunch sometime. I was happy to see that in the 2012 guide Sho Shaun received 2 Michelin stars. There is no doubt in my mind that it completely deserves these.
Weird Wallse
Wallse is Viennese cuisine by Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner located in the far western reaches of the West Village. The space has a definite European feel to it and is bright and bustling. There was something about the evening that made me want to start off the night with one of the delicious sounding cocktails. Most likely it’s my inability to resist Pimms that did it. The Charlie Chaplin with Gin, Vermouth, Pimms and bitters was a fabulous little cocktail that I would definitely order again.
The bread was unremarkable, which as a cardo addict is a huge disappointment for me. Luckily, the appetizer we ordered, Pan seared scallops with bacon and Mache sauce, was ridiculously good. The sauce is a green sauce made from Mache lettuce and it has this almost nutty flavor to it, sort of like a more interesting and richer spinach. The scallops were melt in your mouth tender and the perfect example of exactly how a scallop should be cooked. The only complaint I have was that there wasn’t quite enough bacon but I suppose there will never be enough bacon in the world for me!
For the entrees, my friend had the boiled kavalierspitz (beef shoulder) with root vegetables and apple horseradish and I had the weiner schnitzel with potato-cucumber salad and lingonberries. My friend’s entrée was okay but nothing special. The beef was nice and tender but the flavor had something missing and the horseradish sauce needed somthing as well. The weiner schnitzel was very good and I really liked the potato cucumber salad. The breading was perfect. Funny enough, these dishes were the same orders that my sister and I had placed when we ate at Seasonal Weinbar & Kitchen. So I couldn't help but compare the execution of the dishes between these two places. Hands down, Seasonal won on both.
The post dinner petit fours were probably among my least favorite I’ve ever had. The flavors of both were just not the sort of sweet I like to end my meal.
I’m not so sure that Wallse is worthy of a Michelin star. The service the night we went was very bizarre. Our waitress was incredibly awkward and each time she came to our table it was weird. Also, the food was good but it didn’t have anything that made it extraordinary or worth a return trip. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would maybe go again. But I would not find the need to travel out of my way to go back. I do have to say though that the mache sauce on the scallops was the most memorable part of the meal.
Hopefully this will be the last restaurant on the Michelin list that falls short of my expectations of what a Michelin restaurant should be.
The bread was unremarkable, which as a cardo addict is a huge disappointment for me. Luckily, the appetizer we ordered, Pan seared scallops with bacon and Mache sauce, was ridiculously good. The sauce is a green sauce made from Mache lettuce and it has this almost nutty flavor to it, sort of like a more interesting and richer spinach. The scallops were melt in your mouth tender and the perfect example of exactly how a scallop should be cooked. The only complaint I have was that there wasn’t quite enough bacon but I suppose there will never be enough bacon in the world for me!
For the entrees, my friend had the boiled kavalierspitz (beef shoulder) with root vegetables and apple horseradish and I had the weiner schnitzel with potato-cucumber salad and lingonberries. My friend’s entrée was okay but nothing special. The beef was nice and tender but the flavor had something missing and the horseradish sauce needed somthing as well. The weiner schnitzel was very good and I really liked the potato cucumber salad. The breading was perfect. Funny enough, these dishes were the same orders that my sister and I had placed when we ate at Seasonal Weinbar & Kitchen. So I couldn't help but compare the execution of the dishes between these two places. Hands down, Seasonal won on both.
The post dinner petit fours were probably among my least favorite I’ve ever had. The flavors of both were just not the sort of sweet I like to end my meal.
I’m not so sure that Wallse is worthy of a Michelin star. The service the night we went was very bizarre. Our waitress was incredibly awkward and each time she came to our table it was weird. Also, the food was good but it didn’t have anything that made it extraordinary or worth a return trip. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would maybe go again. But I would not find the need to travel out of my way to go back. I do have to say though that the mache sauce on the scallops was the most memorable part of the meal.
Hopefully this will be the last restaurant on the Michelin list that falls short of my expectations of what a Michelin restaurant should be.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Marc Forgione - Menu as Fiction
Sometimes the descriptions of dishes on menus are more beautiful than the execution in a sort of menu as fiction or embellishment of the truth way. Unfortunately, Marc Forgione is one of those places. I read the menu before I went and fell for the story only to be let down when I went and found out what the true story is. Of all the spots on the Michelin list, this is one that I was whole-heartedly looking forward to and had such high expectations for. So maybe the fact that I didn’t adore it is partly my fault because I had anticipated it becoming one of my favorite restaurants in the city. Here’s the thing…I didn’t hate it and saw enough promise that I would be willing to go back and give it another shot. I’m not going to run and do it immediately, but I do think at some point I may try again. There wasn’t anything we had that wasn’t good, but there wasn’t anything we had that was transcendental and the menu makes the food sound as if it will be.
The space is very cool with cedar wood and brick walls with hanging candles lighting the rather dim dining room. It’s sort of oddly barnyard or cottage cozy in a way. The restaurant has a very fun cocktail list and a great wine list. We picked a nice white wine.
One half of the two piece amuse bouche of the evening was possibly the best bite of the night. The fresh tomato gazpacho was tomato pepper heaven in a way that made me sad it was only one bite. The other half was a stone fruit crumble that tasted rather like a yogurt granola parfait in an unremarkable you feel like you’re eating healthy food way.
The bread rolls arrived and they looked awesome. Warm rolls with herb butter and tops brushed with butter and sprinkled with kosher salt. These were very good but not quite soft and delicious enough to be the best warm dinner rolls I’ve ever had.
We ordered two appetizers to start a Crab, Watermelon, and jalapeno salad and an Eggplant Parmesan with burrata, eggplant, crispy fried bits, and tomato. All the flavorings of the crab salad complemented one another very nicely, but there was something missing from the dish that my friend and I couldn’t pinpoint. The Eggplant parmesan was disappointing. It was decomposed eggplant parmesan with cubes of eggplant that were rather boring and delicious bites of tomato and fun little crunchy fried pieces on the plate and “burrata” that was really mozzarella. And if you know me, you know that telling me I’m going to get burrata but then serving me mozzarella is a big no-no.
I ordered the Buddhist Duck Breast with LeBak Farms Corn Emulsion, Bacon, and Smoked Sea Salt and my friend had the Halibut with Lobster emulsion. The duck was perfectly cooked with a nice crispy skin and the dish overall had very nice components to it. But it felt as if it was sort of any easy throw together weeknight meal that I could’ve easily made at home. The Halibut was also perfectly cooked and the lobster sauce was very good, but it was almost exactly the same as a sauce that we learned to make in our second semester of culinary school. So again, it seemed a bit elementary. There’s nothing wrong with elementary food, but the menu reads at a higher level than the delivered food.
We ordered one dessert to split, the Banana Cream Pie Sundae with Salted Caramel. This was very delicious and a nice little way to finish the evening.
Like I said, the meal was good, but I expected amazing.
The space is very cool with cedar wood and brick walls with hanging candles lighting the rather dim dining room. It’s sort of oddly barnyard or cottage cozy in a way. The restaurant has a very fun cocktail list and a great wine list. We picked a nice white wine.
One half of the two piece amuse bouche of the evening was possibly the best bite of the night. The fresh tomato gazpacho was tomato pepper heaven in a way that made me sad it was only one bite. The other half was a stone fruit crumble that tasted rather like a yogurt granola parfait in an unremarkable you feel like you’re eating healthy food way.
The bread rolls arrived and they looked awesome. Warm rolls with herb butter and tops brushed with butter and sprinkled with kosher salt. These were very good but not quite soft and delicious enough to be the best warm dinner rolls I’ve ever had.
We ordered two appetizers to start a Crab, Watermelon, and jalapeno salad and an Eggplant Parmesan with burrata, eggplant, crispy fried bits, and tomato. All the flavorings of the crab salad complemented one another very nicely, but there was something missing from the dish that my friend and I couldn’t pinpoint. The Eggplant parmesan was disappointing. It was decomposed eggplant parmesan with cubes of eggplant that were rather boring and delicious bites of tomato and fun little crunchy fried pieces on the plate and “burrata” that was really mozzarella. And if you know me, you know that telling me I’m going to get burrata but then serving me mozzarella is a big no-no.
I ordered the Buddhist Duck Breast with LeBak Farms Corn Emulsion, Bacon, and Smoked Sea Salt and my friend had the Halibut with Lobster emulsion. The duck was perfectly cooked with a nice crispy skin and the dish overall had very nice components to it. But it felt as if it was sort of any easy throw together weeknight meal that I could’ve easily made at home. The Halibut was also perfectly cooked and the lobster sauce was very good, but it was almost exactly the same as a sauce that we learned to make in our second semester of culinary school. So again, it seemed a bit elementary. There’s nothing wrong with elementary food, but the menu reads at a higher level than the delivered food.
We ordered one dessert to split, the Banana Cream Pie Sundae with Salted Caramel. This was very delicious and a nice little way to finish the evening.
Like I said, the meal was good, but I expected amazing.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
A Voce Columbus
I love good Italian food. But, there seem to be a high number of “okay” Italian places and very few amazing ones. In other words, an Italian restaurant really has to wow me to receive anything close to a rave review. Frankly, there are far too many Italian restaurants around to be okay with dining at a mediocre one. In my pre-dining research on A Voce, I heard very mixed reviews about various people’s experience dining there. Some people told me that they had a fabulous dish there, while others said they were underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind and hopes that I would find a “wow”-worthy Italian restaurant.
A Voce Columbus is in the Time Warner Center, which lays claim to three restaurants with Michelin stars. The restaurant overlooks Central Park and as such most tables offer beautiful park views. The kitchen has windows that are a bit higher than eye level when you’re seated, but on your way to your seat these windows offer nice views into the pristine kitchen. Honestly, I have no idea how any of the chefs get anything done as they also have windows overlooking the park.
The space is very sleek and the weeknight we were there it was populated with a large number of couples with their teenage kids and a few tables of businessmen that matched the sleek design. We were seated by the big window in a booth overlooking the park. The view alone makes a trip to the restaurant worthwhile (did I say that already? Sorry, but we went there on a gorgeous summer evening just as the sun was setting and it was an “I love New York” type view).
The housemade cocktails were quite interesting sounding so my friend opted for one of those, while I went with a delightful glass of Nebbiolo. After we placed our order, a plate of focaccia with ricotta with mint, olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper arrived. The focaccia had a gorgeous texture and the ricotta and mint was lovely smeared on top of it.
We had two appetizers, Cassoncini and Pancetta. The Cassoncini are listed on the menu as swiss chard and crescenza cheese filled fried dough, prosciutto de parma. I thought the prosciutto would be in the pockets and warm but it was actually cold and layered on top. I would have preferred that the prosciutto be inside the pockets because the way they were made the overall flavor of the dish was overwhelmed by the swiss chard. Basically, these were just a disappointment in a way that fried dough pockets should never be. The pancetta was a long strip of pork belly with figs, balsamic vinegar, and pistachios. This was okay but also a bit underwhelming. The pork flavor was mild and it just didn’t have the salty smoke flavor of pork belly that I adore nor did it have the texture that I prefer in pork belly.
For her entrée, my friend decided on the special ravioli with goat cheese and pistachios. I had the trofie with clams, ramps, lemon, and taggiasca olives. Both of these were good pasta dishes but neither of them knocked my socks off. The ravioli had a mild goat cheese flavor and was in a nice butter sauce. The texture was very good, and the dish won best entrée of the table. The trofie looked like little devils and the clams in them were cooked perfectly, but there weren’t enough clams or ramps and the lemon flavor was far too mild. It tasted more of butter than anything else. In other words, I agreed with my friends that had only okay experiences with A Voce. This experience made me wonder whether the other A Voce would disappoint me equally or whether it is superior to this location. I’m willing to give it a chance and have hopes it will win a “wow”.
My friend had a number of raviolis left, so she decided to take them to go. The waiter cleared our plates away and then instead of returning with the doggie bag, he returned with a coat check ticket and told her she could pick up her leftovers at the coat check on the way out. This was definitely one of the classiest ways to handle doggie bags that I’ve ever seen. I kind of loved it…maybe even more then the food I had that night.
For dessert, it’s difficult to resist doughnuts with bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce so we didn’t even try. These were pretty good, but sadly not the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. The bittersweet chocolate was awesome though.
All in all, I think A Voce has scene/atmosphere going for it. Sadly, the food just doesn’t live up to the view.
A Voce Columbus is in the Time Warner Center, which lays claim to three restaurants with Michelin stars. The restaurant overlooks Central Park and as such most tables offer beautiful park views. The kitchen has windows that are a bit higher than eye level when you’re seated, but on your way to your seat these windows offer nice views into the pristine kitchen. Honestly, I have no idea how any of the chefs get anything done as they also have windows overlooking the park.
The space is very sleek and the weeknight we were there it was populated with a large number of couples with their teenage kids and a few tables of businessmen that matched the sleek design. We were seated by the big window in a booth overlooking the park. The view alone makes a trip to the restaurant worthwhile (did I say that already? Sorry, but we went there on a gorgeous summer evening just as the sun was setting and it was an “I love New York” type view).
The housemade cocktails were quite interesting sounding so my friend opted for one of those, while I went with a delightful glass of Nebbiolo. After we placed our order, a plate of focaccia with ricotta with mint, olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper arrived. The focaccia had a gorgeous texture and the ricotta and mint was lovely smeared on top of it.
We had two appetizers, Cassoncini and Pancetta. The Cassoncini are listed on the menu as swiss chard and crescenza cheese filled fried dough, prosciutto de parma. I thought the prosciutto would be in the pockets and warm but it was actually cold and layered on top. I would have preferred that the prosciutto be inside the pockets because the way they were made the overall flavor of the dish was overwhelmed by the swiss chard. Basically, these were just a disappointment in a way that fried dough pockets should never be. The pancetta was a long strip of pork belly with figs, balsamic vinegar, and pistachios. This was okay but also a bit underwhelming. The pork flavor was mild and it just didn’t have the salty smoke flavor of pork belly that I adore nor did it have the texture that I prefer in pork belly.
For her entrée, my friend decided on the special ravioli with goat cheese and pistachios. I had the trofie with clams, ramps, lemon, and taggiasca olives. Both of these were good pasta dishes but neither of them knocked my socks off. The ravioli had a mild goat cheese flavor and was in a nice butter sauce. The texture was very good, and the dish won best entrée of the table. The trofie looked like little devils and the clams in them were cooked perfectly, but there weren’t enough clams or ramps and the lemon flavor was far too mild. It tasted more of butter than anything else. In other words, I agreed with my friends that had only okay experiences with A Voce. This experience made me wonder whether the other A Voce would disappoint me equally or whether it is superior to this location. I’m willing to give it a chance and have hopes it will win a “wow”.
My friend had a number of raviolis left, so she decided to take them to go. The waiter cleared our plates away and then instead of returning with the doggie bag, he returned with a coat check ticket and told her she could pick up her leftovers at the coat check on the way out. This was definitely one of the classiest ways to handle doggie bags that I’ve ever seen. I kind of loved it…maybe even more then the food I had that night.
For dessert, it’s difficult to resist doughnuts with bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce so we didn’t even try. These were pretty good, but sadly not the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. The bittersweet chocolate was awesome though.
All in all, I think A Voce has scene/atmosphere going for it. Sadly, the food just doesn’t live up to the view.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Sushi Azabu
Sushi Azabu is located in the basement of Greenwich Grill and boasts a modest eight seat counter sushi bar with a few banquettes lining the opposite wall. You enter through the Greenwich Grill’s main entrance and when you inform the hostess you’re there for the sushi bar she radios down to find out if they’re ready for you. You’re led down the stairs to the basement and through a series of curtains to arrive at Sushi Azabu and you’re welcomed with the typical sushi bar greeting from the itamaes behind the bar. The small space is modestly decorated and there are three itamaes behind the counter.
The gimmick worked on me and I was immediately in love. I honestly don’t know if it’s feeling like I know something that others don’t or basement hideouts that appeal to me more. We ordered the omakase that they’re willing to alter the content and price of according to your needs. We decided to go with the recommended $100 price point and a side of Sapporo. I personally far prefer beer over sake with sushi, but if you’re into sake they have quite a list.
Our first bite was octopus and daikon radish in a miso and soy glaze. I loved the daikon in this and parts of the octopus were delightful while others were a tad too chewy. This bite was followed by the largest oysters I have ever seen in my entire life. A series of 3 giant Japanese oysters were arranged on this mammoth oyster shell with a minced, slightly hot pepper and Japanese sauce atop it. The oysters were a delight and unexpectedly were oddly creamier then their smaller, US brethren.
At the start, the food was arriving at a much faster pace then I prefer. It’s a very delicate science as to the right speed for food to arrive. I don’t like when you start looking around wondering why you haven’t gotten anything, but I despise when one plate is removed and another immediately placed in front of you. I’m not a competitive eater and I like to slowly enjoy my food otherwise I don’t have room for my dessert! I really wish they had been a bit slower with the food.
Next up was the sashimi plate, which had two or three pieces of four different types of fish. My favorite was this white fish that was buttery heaven. My next favorite was the fatty tuna. I didn’t love either the clam or the mackerel, the latter of which tasted a tad bit fishy to me and had the skin still on.
The theme throughout the night was without a doubt Fatty Tuna. We had many different preparations of it and most had different levels of fattiness. I loved each piece of fatty tuna we tried, but I would’ve liked a bit more variety in the fish because it seemed like they had a good selection on the regular menu. I couldn’t help but wonder whether they were putting forth their best fish or trying to get rid of something they had in large supply.
After our sashimi, a piping hot ramekin of egg custard was placed in front of us. It was so steaming that we had to wait a good 5 minutes before it was cool enough to try. This was an interesting little dish with mushrooms and egg. It was tasty, but nothing special.
The next dish was a cold crab and cucumber salad in vinaigrette. This was very good fresh crab in a really nice rice wine vinaigrette with crisp cucumber. But again, it was nothing that blew me out of the water. The following dish was fatty tuna marinated in sweet miso sauce. To me there is absolutely nothing as delightful as fish in miso. It’s just a match made in flavor heaven. So it was no surprise that I loved this, but I will say I prefer black cod miso.
Then the main event and my absolute favorite part began. The itamae made us single sushi pieces and placed them ceremoniously on the board in front of each of us. I loved watching him mold the rice for each piece and delicately place the fish atop it. Each piece contained the proper balance of flavor on the rice (we were not given soy sauce to dip the pieces in but rather the chef included the proper flavorings on each individual piece whether that be soy and wasabi or something else). We began with a fatty tuna piece that was fabulous. Our next sushi was scallop. I’ve never had scallop sushi, and I’m sad I haven’t because this was really delightful. The thinly sliced scallop was layered over the rice, and the bite just melted in your mouth. The next was salmon roe roll, which was okay but a bit too much roe flavor that to me should have been offset by something else being in the roll. Then there was a piece of mackerel that was far better than the sashimi mackerel. And then our itamae pulled out a blow torch and seared a piece of fatty tuna that had been brushed with a soy-miso glaze atop rice. Holy cow…it was awesome. Next was my favorite, the horse mackerel (Aji) that was just buttery goodness. Then, he passed us a cone of fatty tuna that was excellent. Our final role was a miso black cod roll that was fish candy heaven on rice. After we had digested for a few minutes, he came over and said I am going to make you each one more of whatever was your favorite roll. I picked the Aji and Susan opted for the miso black cod. This entire portion of the night sold me on this place.
The gimmick worked on me and I was immediately in love. I honestly don’t know if it’s feeling like I know something that others don’t or basement hideouts that appeal to me more. We ordered the omakase that they’re willing to alter the content and price of according to your needs. We decided to go with the recommended $100 price point and a side of Sapporo. I personally far prefer beer over sake with sushi, but if you’re into sake they have quite a list.
Our first bite was octopus and daikon radish in a miso and soy glaze. I loved the daikon in this and parts of the octopus were delightful while others were a tad too chewy. This bite was followed by the largest oysters I have ever seen in my entire life. A series of 3 giant Japanese oysters were arranged on this mammoth oyster shell with a minced, slightly hot pepper and Japanese sauce atop it. The oysters were a delight and unexpectedly were oddly creamier then their smaller, US brethren.
At the start, the food was arriving at a much faster pace then I prefer. It’s a very delicate science as to the right speed for food to arrive. I don’t like when you start looking around wondering why you haven’t gotten anything, but I despise when one plate is removed and another immediately placed in front of you. I’m not a competitive eater and I like to slowly enjoy my food otherwise I don’t have room for my dessert! I really wish they had been a bit slower with the food.
Next up was the sashimi plate, which had two or three pieces of four different types of fish. My favorite was this white fish that was buttery heaven. My next favorite was the fatty tuna. I didn’t love either the clam or the mackerel, the latter of which tasted a tad bit fishy to me and had the skin still on.
The theme throughout the night was without a doubt Fatty Tuna. We had many different preparations of it and most had different levels of fattiness. I loved each piece of fatty tuna we tried, but I would’ve liked a bit more variety in the fish because it seemed like they had a good selection on the regular menu. I couldn’t help but wonder whether they were putting forth their best fish or trying to get rid of something they had in large supply.
After our sashimi, a piping hot ramekin of egg custard was placed in front of us. It was so steaming that we had to wait a good 5 minutes before it was cool enough to try. This was an interesting little dish with mushrooms and egg. It was tasty, but nothing special.
The next dish was a cold crab and cucumber salad in vinaigrette. This was very good fresh crab in a really nice rice wine vinaigrette with crisp cucumber. But again, it was nothing that blew me out of the water. The following dish was fatty tuna marinated in sweet miso sauce. To me there is absolutely nothing as delightful as fish in miso. It’s just a match made in flavor heaven. So it was no surprise that I loved this, but I will say I prefer black cod miso.
Then the main event and my absolute favorite part began. The itamae made us single sushi pieces and placed them ceremoniously on the board in front of each of us. I loved watching him mold the rice for each piece and delicately place the fish atop it. Each piece contained the proper balance of flavor on the rice (we were not given soy sauce to dip the pieces in but rather the chef included the proper flavorings on each individual piece whether that be soy and wasabi or something else). We began with a fatty tuna piece that was fabulous. Our next sushi was scallop. I’ve never had scallop sushi, and I’m sad I haven’t because this was really delightful. The thinly sliced scallop was layered over the rice, and the bite just melted in your mouth. The next was salmon roe roll, which was okay but a bit too much roe flavor that to me should have been offset by something else being in the roll. Then there was a piece of mackerel that was far better than the sashimi mackerel. And then our itamae pulled out a blow torch and seared a piece of fatty tuna that had been brushed with a soy-miso glaze atop rice. Holy cow…it was awesome. Next was my favorite, the horse mackerel (Aji) that was just buttery goodness. Then, he passed us a cone of fatty tuna that was excellent. Our final role was a miso black cod roll that was fish candy heaven on rice. After we had digested for a few minutes, he came over and said I am going to make you each one more of whatever was your favorite roll. I picked the Aji and Susan opted for the miso black cod. This entire portion of the night sold me on this place.
After our sushi board was cleared, our waitress brought us shrimp head miso. This was far too strong of a shrimp taste for either of us and we were forced to feign complete and utter fullness to avoid any awkward we don’t like this at all conversations.
All in all, a wonderful experience at the sushi bar. I would have definitely enjoyed seeing a greater variety of fish, but adored the majority of what they served us. It hasn’t stolen my heart as my favorite sushi bar in the city, but it is a cool place that serves excellent quality sushi.
All in all, a wonderful experience at the sushi bar. I would have definitely enjoyed seeing a greater variety of fish, but adored the majority of what they served us. It hasn’t stolen my heart as my favorite sushi bar in the city, but it is a cool place that serves excellent quality sushi.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Laut is LOUD
Like I’ve said many times, there is nothing quite as wonderful as a city weekend in the middle of summer. A few weekends ago I went to two Michelin star restaurants, ran 12 miles, and cooked up a storm. And I ADORED every second of the city.
The second Michelin star I attained on my city weekend was a random spot that I wanted to cross off due to the fact that I had so-so expectations. I therefore had no intention of saving it for a special occasion. When I mentioned to a group of my favorite foodie friends that Laut had a star, I was met with a number of astonished faces. According to many of these friends, the food at Laut is good Thai/Malaysian cuisine but there is nothing extraordinary about it. After dining there, I am inclined to agree. I do think I’ll go back in cooler weather and try one of the noodle soups or even head there for some of their very affordable lunch deals. After all, the food is good and affordable. But from my dinner there the other night and with my limited expertise as a want-to-be Michelin critic (I’ve now dined at 22 of the 54 total spots), I just don’t think Laut has what it takes to merit a star. I feel that the food and overall experience of a Michelin restaurant should make it worthy of going on a special evening.
For starters, when I walked into Laut I was inundated with blasting top 40 music. I would seriously consider asking them for their playlist for my iPod run mix, as it would definitely have made my 12-miler more enjoyable. But for a restaurant, I HATE fast paced music because I tend to eat and drink to tempo. If it is intentional to keep the tables moving, I would at least appreciate if it were a bit more subtle than it was at Laut.
The service is okay at Laut. Things arrive but not necessarily with any mind to timing or presentation. It took a while to get our beers on each round…just about long enough both rounds to leave us wondering whether or not our waitress forgot our drinks. Laut is no-frills dining…no amuse bouche, no complimentary bread starter, and only a ginger candy as a send-off after the bill is settled. I’m not trying to say that any of these things are required to merit a Michelin star, but to me the food better be earth-shatteringly fabulous if there is no element of dinner-theatre type style and no extras. Call me crazy but I prefer to go out for the full experience.
The menu is rather long at Laut (Appetizers, Salads, Noodle soups, Noodles, Rice Dishes, and Entrees). I had read online that the must-haves were Roti Canai and Coconut Rice. We started with the Roti Canai and after my first bite I thought “Well this place might just prove me wrong…if everything else tastes this good than I’m 100% for their Michelin star”. The Roti Canai comes with a thin roti pancake to dip in a chicken curry sauce. The roti pancake at Laut is sweeter and slightly more crisped than any I’ve ever had before and it had this Belgian waffle-like aroma and flavor hint. I LOVED it. And then I tried it dipped in the chicken curry, and I ABSOLUTELY ADORED IT. The coconut undertone in the sweet and mildly spicy curry resulted in a dip made in heaven.
My favorite thai dish is definitely Pad See Ew. So I figured I would try out Laut’s version with beef and see how it stood up. The noodles were just the way I like them and the sauce was very good as was the beef. But one of my favorite parts of Pad See Ew is the broccoli and there was nowhere near enough in this dish. Also, the flavor was good but nothing better than I’ve had at any other thai restaurant. We also ordered the Malaysian Chicken with Coconut Rice. The chicken curry was good but nothing close to how good the chicken with the canai was. The chicken was nice and moist but nothing so amazing that I would order it again. The coconut rice was perfectly light with a lovely coconut flavor. I was delighted to find that it was not stodgy at all like some other versions I’ve had and been disappointed in.
I’m wondering if I need to find more things on the huge menu that wow me as much as the roti canai, but I can’t help think that everything on the menu of a Michelin star restaurant should warrant a wow.
I guess I just don’t see what all the noise is about.
The second Michelin star I attained on my city weekend was a random spot that I wanted to cross off due to the fact that I had so-so expectations. I therefore had no intention of saving it for a special occasion. When I mentioned to a group of my favorite foodie friends that Laut had a star, I was met with a number of astonished faces. According to many of these friends, the food at Laut is good Thai/Malaysian cuisine but there is nothing extraordinary about it. After dining there, I am inclined to agree. I do think I’ll go back in cooler weather and try one of the noodle soups or even head there for some of their very affordable lunch deals. After all, the food is good and affordable. But from my dinner there the other night and with my limited expertise as a want-to-be Michelin critic (I’ve now dined at 22 of the 54 total spots), I just don’t think Laut has what it takes to merit a star. I feel that the food and overall experience of a Michelin restaurant should make it worthy of going on a special evening.
For starters, when I walked into Laut I was inundated with blasting top 40 music. I would seriously consider asking them for their playlist for my iPod run mix, as it would definitely have made my 12-miler more enjoyable. But for a restaurant, I HATE fast paced music because I tend to eat and drink to tempo. If it is intentional to keep the tables moving, I would at least appreciate if it were a bit more subtle than it was at Laut.
The service is okay at Laut. Things arrive but not necessarily with any mind to timing or presentation. It took a while to get our beers on each round…just about long enough both rounds to leave us wondering whether or not our waitress forgot our drinks. Laut is no-frills dining…no amuse bouche, no complimentary bread starter, and only a ginger candy as a send-off after the bill is settled. I’m not trying to say that any of these things are required to merit a Michelin star, but to me the food better be earth-shatteringly fabulous if there is no element of dinner-theatre type style and no extras. Call me crazy but I prefer to go out for the full experience.
The menu is rather long at Laut (Appetizers, Salads, Noodle soups, Noodles, Rice Dishes, and Entrees). I had read online that the must-haves were Roti Canai and Coconut Rice. We started with the Roti Canai and after my first bite I thought “Well this place might just prove me wrong…if everything else tastes this good than I’m 100% for their Michelin star”. The Roti Canai comes with a thin roti pancake to dip in a chicken curry sauce. The roti pancake at Laut is sweeter and slightly more crisped than any I’ve ever had before and it had this Belgian waffle-like aroma and flavor hint. I LOVED it. And then I tried it dipped in the chicken curry, and I ABSOLUTELY ADORED IT. The coconut undertone in the sweet and mildly spicy curry resulted in a dip made in heaven.
My favorite thai dish is definitely Pad See Ew. So I figured I would try out Laut’s version with beef and see how it stood up. The noodles were just the way I like them and the sauce was very good as was the beef. But one of my favorite parts of Pad See Ew is the broccoli and there was nowhere near enough in this dish. Also, the flavor was good but nothing better than I’ve had at any other thai restaurant. We also ordered the Malaysian Chicken with Coconut Rice. The chicken curry was good but nothing close to how good the chicken with the canai was. The chicken was nice and moist but nothing so amazing that I would order it again. The coconut rice was perfectly light with a lovely coconut flavor. I was delighted to find that it was not stodgy at all like some other versions I’ve had and been disappointed in.
I’m wondering if I need to find more things on the huge menu that wow me as much as the roti canai, but I can’t help think that everything on the menu of a Michelin star restaurant should warrant a wow.
I guess I just don’t see what all the noise is about.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Seasonal Restaurant and Weinbar - A Definite Star
The chef duo behind Seasonal, Wolfgang Ban and Eduard Frauneder, dish up Austrian cuisine with some modern twists. The restaurant is located on a random stretch of West 58th St and holds a modest number of seats in a sleek dining room. There’s a small bar in front with some two tops and then some booths and tables in the back.
The wine list has a number of pricey options, with some more reasonable choices sprinkled throughout, and an impressive showing of Austrian wines. Karen and I like to go with the “when in Rome, drink as” mindset, so we chose a reasonable bottle of 2008 Roter Veltliner by Leth, Hofweingarten, Wagram. We both loved this nice, medium bodied white that went very well with everything we ate.
Seasonal offers a 3-course Taste of Austria, a 5-course tasting, or an ala carte menu. We went with the Taste of Austria menu, which is a relatively reasonable $52. Our Taste of Austria began with an amuse bouche that was a really flavorful bite of smoked mackerel and tomato topped with a leek emulsion sauce. I really liked the light smokiness combined with the leek, a nice start.
When our amuse plates were removed, the bread basket arrived. The bread basket had a choice of a brown bread and then a lighter rye/pumpernickel type bread and was accompanied by two different spreads, paprika and pumpkin seed. Strike one was that the bread was cold. But then I slathered a piece with the paprika spread and forgave this minor misstep. The paprika spread was slightly smoky and just absolutely delicious on the brown bread. The pumpkin seed spread was also very good but couldn’t come close to how wonderful the paprika was. Although, since both were completely gone when they came to clear the bread basket and bring the appetizers, no one would believe we had a favorite!
There are three choices for each course on the Taste of Austria menu. For her appetizer, Karen ordered the Pocherietes Ei, which is a soft poached egg, lobster, hen of the woods mushrooms, and pumpernickel bread crumbs. The mushrooms and bread crumbs were lightly fried and crispy, which added so much depth and paired perfectly with the velvety poached egg and delicate lobster meat. It was such a gorgeous dish, with a nice salty and earthy mushroom flavor. For my appetizer, I ordered the schweinebauch, pork belly with romaine, anchovy, and potato. The pork belly was of the melt in your mouth without a crisp skin variety, and was perhaps the best version of this type of pork belly I’ve ever had. It was served over a meat jus along with a sweet green puree of romaine, some herbs and spinach and mini little potatoes with crispy salty anchovies on top. I LOVED this fabulous pork dish and the rich meat jus.
For my entrée I ordered the weiner schnitzel. When it arrived, I was in awe of the puffy batter on the thin veal. It was the ideal dish of salty, crispy batter surrounding gorgeously moist veal with some sweet lingonberries to spread on top. Oh and the Austrian potato salad was AMAZING...served warm with a vinegary-mustard undertone. The only complaint I have about this potato salad was that there wasn’t enough on my plate! The presentation of the accompanying shredded cucumber salad in a little oval was beautiful but it was difficult to take a bite of. The flavor was good but not worth the hassle! I would’ve taken double the potato salad in its place. Karen chose the Tafelspitz, which was flatiron steak, oxtail consommé with a trio of sauces (apple, horseradish, and spinach) and a side of rosti (potato pancake). The waiter explained that the steak actually comes in a soup type dish covered in the consommé. He said they feel the need to explain this, as some people order it and are not expecting the outcome. Despite the fact that it was a soup-type presentation, Karen opted to stick with her order. I’m glad she did because the steak was excellent. The steak had a good deal of fat on it, in a good way, and the broth and sauces were perfect pairings. I liked the sweetish apple and the spicy horseradish sauces the most. The potato pancake was delicious, as all fried potatoes should be. I also ordered a side of the spaetzle, because I just love the stuff. Seasonal’s version did not disappoint. It had a buttery herb flavor and soft texture that brought back childhood memories of my favorite pasta roni noodles!
For dessert, Karen ordered the blaubeeren-topfentorte, which is blueberry, topfen (a soft cheese), and chocolate crumbs. It was sort of a trifle of blueberry cheesecake and was extremely good. I had the Kaiserschmarrn, which is crumbled caramelized pancakes with apple compote. These were so amazing. I loved the crispy sweet pancakes and have already looked up a recipe to recreate these at home!
With our check, a mini jelly sour and a raspberry square arrived. Neither of us were wowed by either of these.
Seasonal was a delightful meal that is worthy of a Michelin star. I think the fact that I would like to go back to Seasonal and also try out its sister restaurant Edi and the Wolf says it all.
The wine list has a number of pricey options, with some more reasonable choices sprinkled throughout, and an impressive showing of Austrian wines. Karen and I like to go with the “when in Rome, drink as” mindset, so we chose a reasonable bottle of 2008 Roter Veltliner by Leth, Hofweingarten, Wagram. We both loved this nice, medium bodied white that went very well with everything we ate.
Seasonal offers a 3-course Taste of Austria, a 5-course tasting, or an ala carte menu. We went with the Taste of Austria menu, which is a relatively reasonable $52. Our Taste of Austria began with an amuse bouche that was a really flavorful bite of smoked mackerel and tomato topped with a leek emulsion sauce. I really liked the light smokiness combined with the leek, a nice start.
When our amuse plates were removed, the bread basket arrived. The bread basket had a choice of a brown bread and then a lighter rye/pumpernickel type bread and was accompanied by two different spreads, paprika and pumpkin seed. Strike one was that the bread was cold. But then I slathered a piece with the paprika spread and forgave this minor misstep. The paprika spread was slightly smoky and just absolutely delicious on the brown bread. The pumpkin seed spread was also very good but couldn’t come close to how wonderful the paprika was. Although, since both were completely gone when they came to clear the bread basket and bring the appetizers, no one would believe we had a favorite!
There are three choices for each course on the Taste of Austria menu. For her appetizer, Karen ordered the Pocherietes Ei, which is a soft poached egg, lobster, hen of the woods mushrooms, and pumpernickel bread crumbs. The mushrooms and bread crumbs were lightly fried and crispy, which added so much depth and paired perfectly with the velvety poached egg and delicate lobster meat. It was such a gorgeous dish, with a nice salty and earthy mushroom flavor. For my appetizer, I ordered the schweinebauch, pork belly with romaine, anchovy, and potato. The pork belly was of the melt in your mouth without a crisp skin variety, and was perhaps the best version of this type of pork belly I’ve ever had. It was served over a meat jus along with a sweet green puree of romaine, some herbs and spinach and mini little potatoes with crispy salty anchovies on top. I LOVED this fabulous pork dish and the rich meat jus.
For my entrée I ordered the weiner schnitzel. When it arrived, I was in awe of the puffy batter on the thin veal. It was the ideal dish of salty, crispy batter surrounding gorgeously moist veal with some sweet lingonberries to spread on top. Oh and the Austrian potato salad was AMAZING...served warm with a vinegary-mustard undertone. The only complaint I have about this potato salad was that there wasn’t enough on my plate! The presentation of the accompanying shredded cucumber salad in a little oval was beautiful but it was difficult to take a bite of. The flavor was good but not worth the hassle! I would’ve taken double the potato salad in its place. Karen chose the Tafelspitz, which was flatiron steak, oxtail consommé with a trio of sauces (apple, horseradish, and spinach) and a side of rosti (potato pancake). The waiter explained that the steak actually comes in a soup type dish covered in the consommé. He said they feel the need to explain this, as some people order it and are not expecting the outcome. Despite the fact that it was a soup-type presentation, Karen opted to stick with her order. I’m glad she did because the steak was excellent. The steak had a good deal of fat on it, in a good way, and the broth and sauces were perfect pairings. I liked the sweetish apple and the spicy horseradish sauces the most. The potato pancake was delicious, as all fried potatoes should be. I also ordered a side of the spaetzle, because I just love the stuff. Seasonal’s version did not disappoint. It had a buttery herb flavor and soft texture that brought back childhood memories of my favorite pasta roni noodles!
For dessert, Karen ordered the blaubeeren-topfentorte, which is blueberry, topfen (a soft cheese), and chocolate crumbs. It was sort of a trifle of blueberry cheesecake and was extremely good. I had the Kaiserschmarrn, which is crumbled caramelized pancakes with apple compote. These were so amazing. I loved the crispy sweet pancakes and have already looked up a recipe to recreate these at home!
With our check, a mini jelly sour and a raspberry square arrived. Neither of us were wowed by either of these.
Seasonal was a delightful meal that is worthy of a Michelin star. I think the fact that I would like to go back to Seasonal and also try out its sister restaurant Edi and the Wolf says it all.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Daniel - If Michelin had more stars Daniel would too!
I find it is so shocking when I anticipate an experience for many years and it still manages to live up to my expectations. So imagine my amazement when my dinner at Daniel managed to surpass the hype and even earned it a coveted spot in my heart right next to Gramercy Tavern and Dovetail. I couldn’t help but sit there and think how stupid I was for not getting there sooner. The setting of Daniel is gorgeous…Upper East side townhouse on a tree lined block. Honestly, as a 30-something that still feels like they’re in their 20s, I was incredibly intimidated walking through the grand entrance and down to the hostess stand while the brigade of staff stared at our party as we approached.
The dining room is breathtaking, with a series of tables in the slightly lower level and a mezzanine of tables around the edge. There are columns all around the perimeter and grand chandeliers over the lower level. As we sat down, they brought additional seats for our handbags. Yes, fancy very fancy.
Since it was a special occasion (well and because I love cocktails), we decided we’d start with one of the fabulous sounding house cocktails. I ordered the Basil Haven which is gin, St. Germain, basil, lime juice, cucumber and a dash of pepper. Susan had the Tarragon Tipple with Pisco, white vermouth, yuzu juice and tarragon. Karen had the white cosmo with vodka, St. Germain, lime juice, and white cranberry juice. Karen’s cocktail totally won…A cosmo glass with a round ice cube with a hibiscus flower inside arrived and the fabulous white cosmo was ceremoniously poured over it. The ice in each of the cocktails was very obviously uniquely cut and all of the cocktails were so delicious that they totally deserved the special, custom ice.
The great thing about a restaurant that is established, fine dining like Daniel is that they usually let you sit and enjoy a leisurely full night of dinner out. Our waiter didn’t approach to take our orders until we neared the finish of our cocktails. Oh and when I say waiter I mean the person that seems the most in charge of service for the table. There were multiple people that served our table.
As it’s the middle of the summer and appetites and clothing are much smaller, we decided to go with the three-course option and wine pairing. Minutes after we placed our order, our amuse bouche was brought and in perfect synchronization placed on each of the plates in front of us. This synchronized waiting would continue all evening. The evening’s amuse was a homage to cauliflower with three separate bites. The first was lemon marinated shrimp with cauliflower, the second was pureed cauliflower with curry and apple, and the final bite was a cube of smoked salmon with pickled cauliflower. The other two bites didn’t stand a chance versus the curried cauliflower puree that was just a velvety delight.
As you know, I LOVE bread baskets. Daniel’s blows away the competition….I think there were somewhere in the ballpark of 6 choices. All three of the ones we had (olive, nut, and sourdough) were excellent. But knowing we had a lot of food ahead of us, we tried to avoid further eye-contact with Mr. Bread basket because we knew if he returned none of us would be able to refuse the opportunity to try another of the options.
All of the wine pairings we each were given with our dishes were perfect. The pours were a little smaller than I like for the price of three glasses. I mean, sue me I wanted more wine. I think perhaps the better choice at Daniel is a full bottle rather than the pairing option.
I have to say for each course I couldn’t pick a clear winner. Everything was fantastic and every bite revealed a new depth of flavor that the previous bites hadn’t. Karen began with the Peekytoe Crab with avocado, cumin-carrot coulis, crab craquelin and ginger. The crab was so fresh and the silky avocado and mildly spiced carrot cumin sauce was spectacular. The crispy fried crab craquelin added another layer of texture to the dish. I was rather jealous of Karen’s ordering. Susan had the special duo of octopus with olives, cheese, and hearts of palm. I’m such a sucker for hearts of palm that this dish immediately had my love. My appetizer was the lobster ravioli with vadovan spice. The ravioli was served in a thin broth with that slightly curried flavor and a buttery finish. The ravioli was wonderful but since there was a supplemental charge to order it I felt it should’ve been even better. Regardless, all the first courses were just fabulous.
Susan stuck with the duo theme and chose the duo of beef for her entrée. The duo was a black angus short rib with beet marmalade and seared wagyu beef tenderloin with braised cabbage, chickpea panisse and bordelaise jus. Holy cow…Literally! Both pieces of meat were insanely tender and the sauces on each had such a rich, deep flavor. Karen ordered the slow-baked black sea bass with sumac, figs, fennel mousse and syrah sauce. This is one of Daniel’s signature dishes and I could understand why the second I tried a bite. The bass melted in your mouth and the flavors were so perfect. And surprise of all surprises, I ordered the Trio of Pork that was a roasted chop with glazed turnips, braised shoulder, and smoked ribs with fennel apple coleslaw. The plating was spectacular, with the pork surrounded by a thin crown of shaved cucumber. I mean, after all, all pork should be treated like royalty, right?! But enough about the plating, because the important part was how incredible and moist the pork was. It wasn’t the best pork I’ve ever had but the flavor combinations were impressive and gorgeously harmonious as was all else about the restaurant.
The dessert menu was divided into fruit and chocolate options. The three of us all chose something from the chocolate side and joked with our waiter about our table’s chocolate addiction. I guess they thought perhaps we should be a little more open minded because when our desserts arrived there was one additional one from the fruit side of the menu. I ordered the warm guanaja chocolate coulant with liquid caramel, fleur de sel, and milk sorbet. This was a classic study in how molten chocolate cakes are supposed to be…a delightfully rich melted chocolate interior and a slightly crisp chocolate cake shell. I was in heaven. Karen had the caramelized hazelnut sable with dulce de leche cream, caribe chocolate mousse and horchata ice cream. Susan had the caramelia chocolate mousse, brown sugar biscuit, Haitian coffee cream and toffee muscavado ice cream. The extra dessert that they brought was vanilla slow cooked rhubarb with yogurt mousse, caramelized phyllo and acacia honey ice cream. I loved all the desserts but I’m glad we stuck to the chocolate side because I far preferred them over the rhubarb one.
After dessert (since we clearly hadn’t had enough food!), they brought a basket of warm pillowy lemon madeleines dusted with powdered sugar (amazing and so good they were addictive despite how full I was), a plate of six different petit fours (little cherry tart, panna cotta, passion fruit macaroon, caramel chocolate bite, and a peanut butter chocolate bite), and trays of six different chocolates for us to choose from (Peanut Butter, Passion Fruit, Lemon Verbena, Caramel were the ones we choose).
We had such a lovely, leisurely dinner that evening and it made my birthday so special. I will definitely not wait too long before I find a special occasion worthy of going back to Daniel. It is undoubtedly worthy of each and every one of the three Michelin stars it has.
The dining room is breathtaking, with a series of tables in the slightly lower level and a mezzanine of tables around the edge. There are columns all around the perimeter and grand chandeliers over the lower level. As we sat down, they brought additional seats for our handbags. Yes, fancy very fancy.
Since it was a special occasion (well and because I love cocktails), we decided we’d start with one of the fabulous sounding house cocktails. I ordered the Basil Haven which is gin, St. Germain, basil, lime juice, cucumber and a dash of pepper. Susan had the Tarragon Tipple with Pisco, white vermouth, yuzu juice and tarragon. Karen had the white cosmo with vodka, St. Germain, lime juice, and white cranberry juice. Karen’s cocktail totally won…A cosmo glass with a round ice cube with a hibiscus flower inside arrived and the fabulous white cosmo was ceremoniously poured over it. The ice in each of the cocktails was very obviously uniquely cut and all of the cocktails were so delicious that they totally deserved the special, custom ice.
The great thing about a restaurant that is established, fine dining like Daniel is that they usually let you sit and enjoy a leisurely full night of dinner out. Our waiter didn’t approach to take our orders until we neared the finish of our cocktails. Oh and when I say waiter I mean the person that seems the most in charge of service for the table. There were multiple people that served our table.
As it’s the middle of the summer and appetites and clothing are much smaller, we decided to go with the three-course option and wine pairing. Minutes after we placed our order, our amuse bouche was brought and in perfect synchronization placed on each of the plates in front of us. This synchronized waiting would continue all evening. The evening’s amuse was a homage to cauliflower with three separate bites. The first was lemon marinated shrimp with cauliflower, the second was pureed cauliflower with curry and apple, and the final bite was a cube of smoked salmon with pickled cauliflower. The other two bites didn’t stand a chance versus the curried cauliflower puree that was just a velvety delight.
As you know, I LOVE bread baskets. Daniel’s blows away the competition….I think there were somewhere in the ballpark of 6 choices. All three of the ones we had (olive, nut, and sourdough) were excellent. But knowing we had a lot of food ahead of us, we tried to avoid further eye-contact with Mr. Bread basket because we knew if he returned none of us would be able to refuse the opportunity to try another of the options.
All of the wine pairings we each were given with our dishes were perfect. The pours were a little smaller than I like for the price of three glasses. I mean, sue me I wanted more wine. I think perhaps the better choice at Daniel is a full bottle rather than the pairing option.
I have to say for each course I couldn’t pick a clear winner. Everything was fantastic and every bite revealed a new depth of flavor that the previous bites hadn’t. Karen began with the Peekytoe Crab with avocado, cumin-carrot coulis, crab craquelin and ginger. The crab was so fresh and the silky avocado and mildly spiced carrot cumin sauce was spectacular. The crispy fried crab craquelin added another layer of texture to the dish. I was rather jealous of Karen’s ordering. Susan had the special duo of octopus with olives, cheese, and hearts of palm. I’m such a sucker for hearts of palm that this dish immediately had my love. My appetizer was the lobster ravioli with vadovan spice. The ravioli was served in a thin broth with that slightly curried flavor and a buttery finish. The ravioli was wonderful but since there was a supplemental charge to order it I felt it should’ve been even better. Regardless, all the first courses were just fabulous.
Susan stuck with the duo theme and chose the duo of beef for her entrée. The duo was a black angus short rib with beet marmalade and seared wagyu beef tenderloin with braised cabbage, chickpea panisse and bordelaise jus. Holy cow…Literally! Both pieces of meat were insanely tender and the sauces on each had such a rich, deep flavor. Karen ordered the slow-baked black sea bass with sumac, figs, fennel mousse and syrah sauce. This is one of Daniel’s signature dishes and I could understand why the second I tried a bite. The bass melted in your mouth and the flavors were so perfect. And surprise of all surprises, I ordered the Trio of Pork that was a roasted chop with glazed turnips, braised shoulder, and smoked ribs with fennel apple coleslaw. The plating was spectacular, with the pork surrounded by a thin crown of shaved cucumber. I mean, after all, all pork should be treated like royalty, right?! But enough about the plating, because the important part was how incredible and moist the pork was. It wasn’t the best pork I’ve ever had but the flavor combinations were impressive and gorgeously harmonious as was all else about the restaurant.
The dessert menu was divided into fruit and chocolate options. The three of us all chose something from the chocolate side and joked with our waiter about our table’s chocolate addiction. I guess they thought perhaps we should be a little more open minded because when our desserts arrived there was one additional one from the fruit side of the menu. I ordered the warm guanaja chocolate coulant with liquid caramel, fleur de sel, and milk sorbet. This was a classic study in how molten chocolate cakes are supposed to be…a delightfully rich melted chocolate interior and a slightly crisp chocolate cake shell. I was in heaven. Karen had the caramelized hazelnut sable with dulce de leche cream, caribe chocolate mousse and horchata ice cream. Susan had the caramelia chocolate mousse, brown sugar biscuit, Haitian coffee cream and toffee muscavado ice cream. The extra dessert that they brought was vanilla slow cooked rhubarb with yogurt mousse, caramelized phyllo and acacia honey ice cream. I loved all the desserts but I’m glad we stuck to the chocolate side because I far preferred them over the rhubarb one.
After dessert (since we clearly hadn’t had enough food!), they brought a basket of warm pillowy lemon madeleines dusted with powdered sugar (amazing and so good they were addictive despite how full I was), a plate of six different petit fours (little cherry tart, panna cotta, passion fruit macaroon, caramel chocolate bite, and a peanut butter chocolate bite), and trays of six different chocolates for us to choose from (Peanut Butter, Passion Fruit, Lemon Verbena, Caramel were the ones we choose).
We had such a lovely, leisurely dinner that evening and it made my birthday so special. I will definitely not wait too long before I find a special occasion worthy of going back to Daniel. It is undoubtedly worthy of each and every one of the three Michelin stars it has.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Minetta Tavern
Minetta definitely made the Michelin list with a big “sceney” vote. Minetta is one of Keith McNally’s restaurant empire and the kitchen is led by Executive Chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr who both worked at Daniel. It’s a redo of a Tavern from the 1930s and it’s designed to carry that old tavern feel and a bit a speakeasy charm with no windows. When you walk in, there’s a long bar with a mirror behind it and big red stools lining it. The floor is black and white checkered and the walls are dark wood paneling with a sepia haze atop that makes you feel like the restaurant has been around for years. The menu is very much classic French Brasserie, which you’ll never hear me complain about. The cocktail list is well conceived with classic cocktails redone with modern twists. They’re a bit on the pricey side at $15 a pop, but at least the ones we had carried a potent mix of booze that gives you a sense that you’re getting a bit more bang for your buck.
I arrived before my friend and found the bar to be a bit more bustling and crowded than I would like. I fought through the crowds though and ordered a Rhubarb Sophie. After my first sip, the crowd simply melted away. This absolutely delightful cocktail of cucumber, vodka, rhubarb bitters, agave syrup and lime was pure refreshment that reminded me of a hot summer day sipping limeade.
When my friend arrived and we were led back to our table in the main dining room, we realized that the tables were packed ridiculously tight. So tightly in fact that there was someone whose job it was to pull the table completely out of the lineup of two tops and let one guest in to the booth side and then push the table back in. So not only is one of you pretty much stuck for the whole meal, but you both can hear the conversations on either side of you. Sometimes the eavesdropping in these situations makes the evening much more entertaining but on this night the couple next to us were on an anniversary dinner and the wife complained about EVERYTHING which was not entertaining in the least.
The waitress came by and offered an impressive list of delicious sounding specials. However, my heart was set on the summery sounding crab salad appetizer on the main menu. So we started our meal by splitting this as an appetizer. The crab salad was awesome – beautifully fresh crab with slices of avocado, wedges of grapefruit and hearts of palm. The flavors and textures were just wonderful with the citrus, crab, and avocado. A fabulous summer salad.
For my main, there was no way I could order anything other than the infamous custom blended black label burger from the meat purveyor La Frieda. The burger is a blend of dry-aged beef (supposedly a mix of dry aged ribeye, skirt steak, and brisket) with caramelized onions on top of a brioche bun. They apparently cook it over relatively low heat until it develops a crust and drizzle it with some clarified butter while it cooks. As the burger rests, the onions are cooked in the burger juices left on the griddle. The waitress delivered the burger with a “the chef recommends you try the burger without any condiments first”. I’m a huge ketchup fan so this was quite a request. But since I love chefs just as much, I heeded their advice. The aged beef gives it this really cool funky, rich flavor and the sweetness of the light smear of caramelized onions contrasts really nicely. The burger had a nice crust on it and was the perfect juiciness that oozed into the bun that captured all the delicious drippings. It wasn’t the best burger or bun I’ve ever had but it scored some serious points for the interesting flavor. And if it’s any sign of how much I enjoyed it, I finished it completely condiment free. Now, one thing you must be aware of that I almost missed…About halfway through my burger, I paused and looked down at my plate only to notice a pickle I hadn’t seen before. I will passionately urge all of you to eat this pickle. It is definitely homemade with a hint of spiciness that you get at the tail end and delicious dill and fennel flavors. Just awesome. And the thin cut fries were crispy for the entire time my plate was on the table.
My friend ordered the beef tartare for her dinner which came with thin, waffle cut fried potatoes. The beef tartare was fabulous. The fresh beef was perfectly seasoned and had the right balance of capers and lovely egg that oozed over the tartare.
I enjoyed the food at Minetta. There truly were only good bites and the food deserves the accolades it receives. The scene was perhaps a bit too bustling and the dining area a bit too tight for me. But I suppose some people really enjoy this type of atmosphere. Is it worthy of a Michelin? I'm not completely convinced. But it is worthy of a visit.
I arrived before my friend and found the bar to be a bit more bustling and crowded than I would like. I fought through the crowds though and ordered a Rhubarb Sophie. After my first sip, the crowd simply melted away. This absolutely delightful cocktail of cucumber, vodka, rhubarb bitters, agave syrup and lime was pure refreshment that reminded me of a hot summer day sipping limeade.
When my friend arrived and we were led back to our table in the main dining room, we realized that the tables were packed ridiculously tight. So tightly in fact that there was someone whose job it was to pull the table completely out of the lineup of two tops and let one guest in to the booth side and then push the table back in. So not only is one of you pretty much stuck for the whole meal, but you both can hear the conversations on either side of you. Sometimes the eavesdropping in these situations makes the evening much more entertaining but on this night the couple next to us were on an anniversary dinner and the wife complained about EVERYTHING which was not entertaining in the least.
The waitress came by and offered an impressive list of delicious sounding specials. However, my heart was set on the summery sounding crab salad appetizer on the main menu. So we started our meal by splitting this as an appetizer. The crab salad was awesome – beautifully fresh crab with slices of avocado, wedges of grapefruit and hearts of palm. The flavors and textures were just wonderful with the citrus, crab, and avocado. A fabulous summer salad.
For my main, there was no way I could order anything other than the infamous custom blended black label burger from the meat purveyor La Frieda. The burger is a blend of dry-aged beef (supposedly a mix of dry aged ribeye, skirt steak, and brisket) with caramelized onions on top of a brioche bun. They apparently cook it over relatively low heat until it develops a crust and drizzle it with some clarified butter while it cooks. As the burger rests, the onions are cooked in the burger juices left on the griddle. The waitress delivered the burger with a “the chef recommends you try the burger without any condiments first”. I’m a huge ketchup fan so this was quite a request. But since I love chefs just as much, I heeded their advice. The aged beef gives it this really cool funky, rich flavor and the sweetness of the light smear of caramelized onions contrasts really nicely. The burger had a nice crust on it and was the perfect juiciness that oozed into the bun that captured all the delicious drippings. It wasn’t the best burger or bun I’ve ever had but it scored some serious points for the interesting flavor. And if it’s any sign of how much I enjoyed it, I finished it completely condiment free. Now, one thing you must be aware of that I almost missed…About halfway through my burger, I paused and looked down at my plate only to notice a pickle I hadn’t seen before. I will passionately urge all of you to eat this pickle. It is definitely homemade with a hint of spiciness that you get at the tail end and delicious dill and fennel flavors. Just awesome. And the thin cut fries were crispy for the entire time my plate was on the table.
My friend ordered the beef tartare for her dinner which came with thin, waffle cut fried potatoes. The beef tartare was fabulous. The fresh beef was perfectly seasoned and had the right balance of capers and lovely egg that oozed over the tartare.
I enjoyed the food at Minetta. There truly were only good bites and the food deserves the accolades it receives. The scene was perhaps a bit too bustling and the dining area a bit too tight for me. But I suppose some people really enjoy this type of atmosphere. Is it worthy of a Michelin? I'm not completely convinced. But it is worthy of a visit.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Soto Is Sorta Michelin
Some girls like to collect diamonds, but I prefer to collect Michelin stars. The benefit of having a mission of collecting all the Michelin stars NYC has to offer is that friends really embrace and support the goal. In fact, many friends have taken my birthday as an opportunity to contribute to the mission and I truly can't think of a better gift!
The birthday stars began with a trip to Soto a few weeks ago. Soto is a rather intimidating restaurant. The exterior is unmarked, with only a number and a window of odd white cutouts to assure you that you're at the right spot. When you enter, the dining room is austere and you partly feel like you just barged in on someone's private affair. On the left side, there's a sushi bar and on the right there are a series of tables. My friend and I were seated at one of the tables, but if I return, I'll likely aim to sit at the bar.
Sake lovers will appreciate Soto's impressive sake list. But personally, when I have sushi, I prefer to stick with beer. The menu is four sections of different styles of preparation. The first is a series of small, mostly raw fish preparations. Then there are the items from the sushi bar, from the kitchen dishes, and finally the sushi, sashimi, and sushi rolls. Soto offers two omakase options, one that spans the entire menu and the other that focuses on sashimi. Typically at a sushi restaurant, I would opt for the omakases; however, Soto has an endless supply of dishes that highlight the chef's love of uni (sea urchin). I don't share this love in the slightest. In fact, sea urchin is on my list of top three things I never want to eat EVER again. Since neither my friend nor I felt comfortable with the idea of leaving our meal selection completely in the hands of an uni lover, we decided to order off the menu a la carte. We selected two items from each of the four sections and awaited the beginning of our star acquisition.
After we ordered, complimentary edamame was brought to the table. I love edamame, but often it's unremarkable from place to place. This was some of the best edamame I've ever had. It was coated in almost a syrupy salt flavor and cooked perfectly. For the small bites, we chose a lightly grilled salmon with a mustard sauce and thinly sliced fluke with lime and yuzu. The salmon was thin squares that had a beautiful texture and flavor. And I loved the yuzu on the fluke. The small bites were definitely a nice lead-in to the meal. I would order both when I return to Soto.
For the next options, we had the wild snapper carpaccio, salmon citrus, and aji tataki. The aji tataki was chopped mackerel with ginger shoots, chives, scallions, and shiso leaves. Really just a delicious raw fish salad with a nice, light ginger flavor, slight oniony kick, and herbal shiso finish. The wild snapper carpaccio was served with chopped ginger and it was very good, but nothing special. What totally stole the show from this course and the whole meal was the salmon citrus. My friend took one bite and declared she could eat it every day and would if given the option. The salmon was beautifully fresh and slightly cured with a very soft citrus sauce. Absolutely fantastic.
For our items from the kitchen, we had a platter of tempura and langoustine with shiitake sauce. The tempura was really nicely fried and the dipping sauce was delicious. But it was simply a well executed tempura that was nothing I would feel inclined to order again. The langoustine itself was the perfect texture, but it was covered in this creamy mushroom mixture that was reminiscient of campbell's cream of mushroom soup. The mushroom flavor overpowered the whole dish and I just didn't love it.
We ordered a few pieces of sushi and sashimi as well and each was melt in your mouth fresh. When I return, I'd definitely order more off the sushi menu.
The one problem I had with Soto was how quickly the dishes arrived. As soon as we put down our chopsticks, the dishes were cleared and the next ones arrived. I prefer a much more leisurely meal and tend to believe a Michelin restaurant should be the type of place in which you don't feel rushed.
Soto has two michelin stars and the quality of food definitely is deserving of at least one. I'm not certain if it merits two stars. Perhaps if I was into uni, it would be two stars. Regardless of whether it is one or two stars, with all the delicious, fresh sushi bar preparations, Soto is certainly a place to return. Especially to have that salmon citrus again!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Aldea - Chef Mendes's Perfect Little Village
Aldea means village in Spanish and its cuisine, by Chef George Mendes, is inspired by the Iberian Peninsula. The restaurant space is long and narrow, with the bar area in the front and the kitchen in the back of the first floor. The decor is that vibrant mix of blues and whites that evokes the feeling of being on the coast somewhere. I instantly fell for it, as I love anything that feels like you're on vacation. The bar area is certainly one fit for bar dining, although the large white chairs are packed a bit tighter than I would like.
We were seated on the first floor, allowing me to peer down the hallway to the kitchen and get glimpses of Chef Mendes in action. I'm sure you all appreciate the actual Chef of a restaurant being in the kitchen, and seeing this Top Chef Masters contestant at work was a pleasant surprise (NB - he is far more handsome and younger looking in person than on tv).
As seems to be the trend at these Michelin restaurants, the bread basket offered three options. If available, I try to choose the bread that is the most unlike ones I've had at other places. So you can imagine that I jumped all over the bacon cornbread, while my more conservative friend opted for the plainer looking roll. I was saddened to find that the cornbread didn't actually have any bacon in it, but rather, it tasted as if it was bathed in cold bacon grease. This resulted in a wierd textured cornbread that was chewy and nothing like the crunchy, soft, and buttery cornbread that I crave. I presume my friend's roll was far better, as she devoured it and praised how delightful it was.
Aldea has a nightly 5-course tasting menu. The evening my friend and I went there was only one item on the tasting, the soft shell crab, that held my interest. Since we couldn't rationalize ordering a tasting menu that was batting only 20%, we ordered off the main menu. The regular menu is divided into the sections little bites, charcuterie, appetizers, entrees and sides. There was something about the menu that lead us both to focus on seafood appetizers and meat entrees. We ordered one "little bite", the bonita tuna rillette with caper and tomato on charred bread. Fact is, just writing the name of this wonderful little bite, makes me contemplate when I can fit going back to Aldea in my schedule just to have it again. The thin slice of perfectly toasted bread with a coating of olive oil was topped with the most tender flaked tuna. The flavor just popped with the salty capers and a mild tomato essense. Little bite also doesn't quite do it justice. It was a thankfully generous serving.
For appetizers, my friend ordered the shrimp alhinho with garlic, coriander, pimento and pressed jus and I had the warm maine lobster with artichoke, vadouvan butter, and vanilla pineapple. The shrimp had a bold spiced flavor and was very well cooked, but in the battle of the crustacean appetizers, the lobster just blew the shrimp clear out of the water. The tender lobster just melted in your mouth and the pineapple and vanilla made a very interesting addition to the plate that really worked well. Vandouvan is a french curry spice that is typically a combination of onions, shallots, and garlic with indian spices like cardamom, curry leaves, and fenugreek. In other words, it results in a hint of indian-spiced flavor with sweet and smoky notes. Yes, the vandouvan butter on the lobster was just perfect. And with the sweetness of the vanilla and pineapple the whole dish really burst with flavor. The lobster is absolutely another dish to add to the list of return visit musts!
I know I always order the pork dish on every menu. But after Public's disappointing pork performance the week before, I was a bit put-off and I was made more skeptical by Aldea's inclusion of clams on its pork dish. Luckily, my friend decided she wanted the pork, which made me feel more comfortable ordering the hanger steak. The hanger steak was served with smoked eggplant puree, garlic broccoli rabe and maitake mushrooms. The steak was nicely charred on the outside and tender and pink inside. I loved the smoked eggplant puree that leant such a rich, smoky flavor to every bite of steak. The broccoli rabe was sort of an afterthought to me. As it is, I'm not a huge fan of this bitter green, but I thought it was pretty generic in character. And for a restaurant that puts forth a lot of inventive garnishes, this seemed too obvious a side. Then, I tried the hertigage breed pork chop with manila clams, vinho verde, and caramelized turnip. With one bite, I realized that I would go back to ordering the pork almost everywhere I dine. This pork chop is not for those who are afraid of a little pink on their pork. Its cooked medium and is juicy and tender. Simply put, the flavor borders on the insane.
Towards the end of our meal, we found that we over-ordered on the savory front, which is much to the contrary of my normally dessert-focused mindset. In all honesty, at that point I felt like I made the ultimate rookie mistake, because all the desserts sounded marvelous. Well that and I didn't order the pork! But as I recapped all the food in my mind, I couldn't imagine cutting any of it from the evening's line-up. It truly is a restaurant deserving of a Michelin star.
I can't wait to return to Aldea and try out the dessert! And of course have the tuna rillette and pork chop! Seriously...I've been thinking about it All-dea.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
With food like this, I wouldn't go Public
It's not that I didn't expect some disappointments on this Michelin journey. It's just that I was truly hoping to be only mildly disappointed. Perhaps its best that I got one disappointment out of the way. After all, Susan smartly brought up the fact that I probably should save a restaurant that I was really looking forward to for last so that finishing up doesn't feel anticlimactic. Like ending the mission at Kajitsu, the all vegetarian buddhist restaurant, might just be an ill-conceived plan. Anyway, that's besides the point. Let me tell you about my first and hopefully only disappointment on this michelin mission of mine.
Like all the restaurants designed by the AvroKo Restaurant Group (to name a few Stanton Social, Quality Meats, Park Avenue and Double Crown), the design of Public is a very detailed, well thought out concept. The concept is supposed to remind you of public institutions, but think much hipper library that you'd want to hang out at because it has adult beverages and good food. I didn't get that public institution feel from the design, but I did really think the space was beautiful. And, as the night I dined at Public was one of those gorgeous spring nights, I adored the garage-like sliding doors that are open on such lovely nights.
Public has some interesting sounding cocktails and I was really excited to try the one with Ribena. But, after I ordered it, the waitress told me they were no longer making that cocktail. I was too disappointed to pick another one, so I settled for a very nice glass of cava. The bread basket had some interesting choices. My culinary school friend that I went with opted for the dried cherry and aleppo pepper roll and I had focaccia. Both of the breads were the sort that made you thankful that bread was ever created and we both quickly finished our pieces. The cherry aleppo bread didn't have a strong flavor of either pepper or cherries but still had a nice texture. It was a very nice way to start off the meal, but sadly these were one of the most memorable parts of our meal.
Public is a global fusion restaurant with a focus on New Zealand and Australian foods. To start, I ordered the special appetizer of lavender cured ham with a frisee salad, candied pecans, and truffle oil. Both my friend and I tried very hard to get any sort of lavender flavor from the ham but after many bites realized we weren't tasting it because it just wasn't there. The ham on its own was tasteless, and a bite of all the components together was only saved by the truffle oil. There was nothing remarkable about this plate. It wasn't bad but it wasn't something I would feel any pull to order again. My friend had the grilled kangaroo on a coriander falafel with lemon tahini sauce and green pepper relish. The kangaroo was cooked perfectly. It had a very tender texture and just melted in your mouth. But, the coriander falafel overwhelmed the flavor of everything on the plate. As my classmate said, it just tasted like she got a decent falafel from a cart for lunch. In other words, just another unremarkable appetizer.
For my main, I showed my true pork loving ways and followed my pork appetizer with a pork main consisting of confit pork belly and roasted pork tenderloin with salsify, apple puree, and a sage shortbread. The pork belly was a big disappointment. I like pork fat and all but my pork belly was almost entirely skin and fat with maybe only a thin slice of meat to speak of. The tenderloin was the perfect pink color and gorgeously tender but it lacked any significant flavor. I was really looking forward to the salsify, because I so rarely get to have this root that I love. The salsify had a really nice caramely sweet flavor to it, but I found it to be a bit undercooked for my tastes. When all hope was lost on my plate, I found the saving grace. Below my tenderloin, was this absolutely delightful sage shortbread that just popped with buttery sage goodness. It provided the tenderloin that missing flavor it needed. My classmate ordered the lamb with caper piquillo salsa and cauliflower puree and said it was good but not amazing. She offered me a bite with the warning that it was very lamby tasting. In other words, she knew I would try it, shrug my shoulders, and say the same thing I always do when I have a bite of lamb..."tastes like lamb and nope I still don't like lamb". I figured that I would save both of us from this deju vu and declined a taste of her dish knowing it would not be the one that would convert me to lamb lover.
For dessert we had the yuzu-lime tart with coconut meringue ice cream and lemongrass sauce. It was a refreshing fruit dessert that was very good but again failed to elicit a wow from either of us.
As we finised our meal, my classmate mentioned that she's had brunch at Public and it was much better than our dinner. I just don't know if I can get over the disappointment of the dinner to go back and try another meal here. The menu sounded so promising to me, with lots of different global flavors paired to make lovely sounding dishes, but the execution of the plates did not deliver what I believed was promised on the menu. Huh...perhaps the restaurant did remind me more of a public institution than I first realized.
Like all the restaurants designed by the AvroKo Restaurant Group (to name a few Stanton Social, Quality Meats, Park Avenue and Double Crown), the design of Public is a very detailed, well thought out concept. The concept is supposed to remind you of public institutions, but think much hipper library that you'd want to hang out at because it has adult beverages and good food. I didn't get that public institution feel from the design, but I did really think the space was beautiful. And, as the night I dined at Public was one of those gorgeous spring nights, I adored the garage-like sliding doors that are open on such lovely nights.
Public has some interesting sounding cocktails and I was really excited to try the one with Ribena. But, after I ordered it, the waitress told me they were no longer making that cocktail. I was too disappointed to pick another one, so I settled for a very nice glass of cava. The bread basket had some interesting choices. My culinary school friend that I went with opted for the dried cherry and aleppo pepper roll and I had focaccia. Both of the breads were the sort that made you thankful that bread was ever created and we both quickly finished our pieces. The cherry aleppo bread didn't have a strong flavor of either pepper or cherries but still had a nice texture. It was a very nice way to start off the meal, but sadly these were one of the most memorable parts of our meal.
Public is a global fusion restaurant with a focus on New Zealand and Australian foods. To start, I ordered the special appetizer of lavender cured ham with a frisee salad, candied pecans, and truffle oil. Both my friend and I tried very hard to get any sort of lavender flavor from the ham but after many bites realized we weren't tasting it because it just wasn't there. The ham on its own was tasteless, and a bite of all the components together was only saved by the truffle oil. There was nothing remarkable about this plate. It wasn't bad but it wasn't something I would feel any pull to order again. My friend had the grilled kangaroo on a coriander falafel with lemon tahini sauce and green pepper relish. The kangaroo was cooked perfectly. It had a very tender texture and just melted in your mouth. But, the coriander falafel overwhelmed the flavor of everything on the plate. As my classmate said, it just tasted like she got a decent falafel from a cart for lunch. In other words, just another unremarkable appetizer.
For my main, I showed my true pork loving ways and followed my pork appetizer with a pork main consisting of confit pork belly and roasted pork tenderloin with salsify, apple puree, and a sage shortbread. The pork belly was a big disappointment. I like pork fat and all but my pork belly was almost entirely skin and fat with maybe only a thin slice of meat to speak of. The tenderloin was the perfect pink color and gorgeously tender but it lacked any significant flavor. I was really looking forward to the salsify, because I so rarely get to have this root that I love. The salsify had a really nice caramely sweet flavor to it, but I found it to be a bit undercooked for my tastes. When all hope was lost on my plate, I found the saving grace. Below my tenderloin, was this absolutely delightful sage shortbread that just popped with buttery sage goodness. It provided the tenderloin that missing flavor it needed. My classmate ordered the lamb with caper piquillo salsa and cauliflower puree and said it was good but not amazing. She offered me a bite with the warning that it was very lamby tasting. In other words, she knew I would try it, shrug my shoulders, and say the same thing I always do when I have a bite of lamb..."tastes like lamb and nope I still don't like lamb". I figured that I would save both of us from this deju vu and declined a taste of her dish knowing it would not be the one that would convert me to lamb lover.
For dessert we had the yuzu-lime tart with coconut meringue ice cream and lemongrass sauce. It was a refreshing fruit dessert that was very good but again failed to elicit a wow from either of us.
As we finised our meal, my classmate mentioned that she's had brunch at Public and it was much better than our dinner. I just don't know if I can get over the disappointment of the dinner to go back and try another meal here. The menu sounded so promising to me, with lots of different global flavors paired to make lovely sounding dishes, but the execution of the plates did not deliver what I believed was promised on the menu. Huh...perhaps the restaurant did remind me more of a public institution than I first realized.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Aureole - Angels in the kitchen...
Aureole means halo in French and after eating there the other night I'd be astonished if each and every one of the chefs in that kitchen wasn't an angel. It was the ideal first restaurant on the road to visiting all the New York City Michelin starred restaurants. It is sadly so rare these days to leave a restaurant and think over and over again that the dining experience you just had is exactly what eating out is meant to be.
Aureole is located in the Bank of America building diagonally across from Bryant Park. The front of the restaurant is a bright bar room with floor to ceiling windows and the main dining room is in a separate area in the back. The dining room at Aureole feels comfortable at the same time as instilling a sense that the evening is a special one in a very nice restaurant.
There are a few different tasting menu options in the dining room, including a very affordable early bird, three course pre-theatre special for $55. The other two options are a regular three course meal, which has more choices than the pre-theatre special, or the six course tasting menu. I insisted that Karen and I have the regular three course option, because the pork dish wasn't available on the pre-theatre menu. I am sure it comes as no shock to you that I was willing to pay a premium to have the pork chop.
The amuse bouche was a potato vichyssoise with a thin slice of roasted peasant in the bottom and a tiny corn panna cotta on top. This was a brilliant start to the meal. A rich soup with a silky texture. The corn garnish carried the promise of both the delicious meal and the summer soon to come. And like both a fabulous meal and summer, I wanted more.
Then, one of my favorite parts...the bread basket. There was a sourdough, a foccaccia and a cranberry and walnut roll. I chose the cranberry and walnut roll and loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I found a recipe on Epicurious for cranberry walnut rolls and made them this past weekend!
Karen started with the peekytoe crab with soy gelee, lime and pomegranate. I've never had crab paired with soy before and both Karen and I were amazed at how well these two paired. The crab was delicate and sweet leaving me insanely jealous of Karen's order. My first course was white asparagus with parmesan crumble, poached quail egg, ramp bearnaise, and iberico ham. Unfortunately, I have a few complaints about the dish...The quail egg was completely unnecessary and lacked flavor and I would have liked the asparagus to be a bit more tender. But the rest of the dish was a very good. I was literally vacuuming the salty parmesan crumble and the rich ramp bearnaise off the plate. There wasn't a speck of either left...all that was left was some of the useless quail egg. It was a bit of a shame that the asparagus wasn't a bit more tender, because had it been, the dish would have been a total wow.
For our second courses, Karen ordered the Alaskan Halibut with endive apple marmalade, parmesan, and vin jaune and I had the suckling pork with ramps and a mustard glaze. Both were absolutely amazing. The halibut was perfectly cooked and the tart apple flavor with the salty parmesan was genius on the fish. But to pig-obsessed me, it just couldn't come close to the heavenly pork dish. The pork dish consisted of two parts, pulled pork cheeks with a mustard sauce and crispy pork belly. The pork cheeks were melt in your mouth tender and the mustard sauce was insanely flavorful. The pork belly was the way pork belly should be, that is crispy and moist with a rich pork bacon flavor. All Aureole's sauces on its appetizer and main courses were stellar. If they bottled them up and sold them, I'd be first in line.
It was as if someone sent a note to Aureole on how to win my praise (hint it involves not only fabulous pork but marvelous desserts). Before we ordered dessert, a pre-dessert of fresh strawberry jam and creme fraiche was whisked to our table. The dessert choice of chocolate trio was an easy choice for me. After seeing how well the pastry kitchen treated fruit, Karen chose the muscat poached pineapple with coconut and passion fruit. First of all, the plating of the desserts, and every other course for that matter, was gorgeous. The chocolate trio was a milk chocolate mille-feuille, white chocolate mousse, and chocolate fondant. These were all very good, but the one that stood out as memorable to me was the mille-feuille. It was almost candy-bar like in its richness and crunch. Karen's pineapple was good, with the coconut sorbet being my absolute favorite part of the dish.
Then came the petit fours. The chocolate, pate de fruit, and macaroon on the plate were good but they didn't stand a chance against the caramel apple candy, which was by far one of the best candies I have had in a very long time.
Oh and it gets better. After we paid the bill, they brought each of us little chocolate and lemon loaves for breakfast the next day.
See...I told you they were angels.
Michelin Count - 15 down, 38 to go!
Aureole is located in the Bank of America building diagonally across from Bryant Park. The front of the restaurant is a bright bar room with floor to ceiling windows and the main dining room is in a separate area in the back. The dining room at Aureole feels comfortable at the same time as instilling a sense that the evening is a special one in a very nice restaurant.
There are a few different tasting menu options in the dining room, including a very affordable early bird, three course pre-theatre special for $55. The other two options are a regular three course meal, which has more choices than the pre-theatre special, or the six course tasting menu. I insisted that Karen and I have the regular three course option, because the pork dish wasn't available on the pre-theatre menu. I am sure it comes as no shock to you that I was willing to pay a premium to have the pork chop.
The amuse bouche was a potato vichyssoise with a thin slice of roasted peasant in the bottom and a tiny corn panna cotta on top. This was a brilliant start to the meal. A rich soup with a silky texture. The corn garnish carried the promise of both the delicious meal and the summer soon to come. And like both a fabulous meal and summer, I wanted more.
Then, one of my favorite parts...the bread basket. There was a sourdough, a foccaccia and a cranberry and walnut roll. I chose the cranberry and walnut roll and loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I found a recipe on Epicurious for cranberry walnut rolls and made them this past weekend!
Karen started with the peekytoe crab with soy gelee, lime and pomegranate. I've never had crab paired with soy before and both Karen and I were amazed at how well these two paired. The crab was delicate and sweet leaving me insanely jealous of Karen's order. My first course was white asparagus with parmesan crumble, poached quail egg, ramp bearnaise, and iberico ham. Unfortunately, I have a few complaints about the dish...The quail egg was completely unnecessary and lacked flavor and I would have liked the asparagus to be a bit more tender. But the rest of the dish was a very good. I was literally vacuuming the salty parmesan crumble and the rich ramp bearnaise off the plate. There wasn't a speck of either left...all that was left was some of the useless quail egg. It was a bit of a shame that the asparagus wasn't a bit more tender, because had it been, the dish would have been a total wow.
For our second courses, Karen ordered the Alaskan Halibut with endive apple marmalade, parmesan, and vin jaune and I had the suckling pork with ramps and a mustard glaze. Both were absolutely amazing. The halibut was perfectly cooked and the tart apple flavor with the salty parmesan was genius on the fish. But to pig-obsessed me, it just couldn't come close to the heavenly pork dish. The pork dish consisted of two parts, pulled pork cheeks with a mustard sauce and crispy pork belly. The pork cheeks were melt in your mouth tender and the mustard sauce was insanely flavorful. The pork belly was the way pork belly should be, that is crispy and moist with a rich pork bacon flavor. All Aureole's sauces on its appetizer and main courses were stellar. If they bottled them up and sold them, I'd be first in line.
It was as if someone sent a note to Aureole on how to win my praise (hint it involves not only fabulous pork but marvelous desserts). Before we ordered dessert, a pre-dessert of fresh strawberry jam and creme fraiche was whisked to our table. The dessert choice of chocolate trio was an easy choice for me. After seeing how well the pastry kitchen treated fruit, Karen chose the muscat poached pineapple with coconut and passion fruit. First of all, the plating of the desserts, and every other course for that matter, was gorgeous. The chocolate trio was a milk chocolate mille-feuille, white chocolate mousse, and chocolate fondant. These were all very good, but the one that stood out as memorable to me was the mille-feuille. It was almost candy-bar like in its richness and crunch. Karen's pineapple was good, with the coconut sorbet being my absolute favorite part of the dish.
Then came the petit fours. The chocolate, pate de fruit, and macaroon on the plate were good but they didn't stand a chance against the caramel apple candy, which was by far one of the best candies I have had in a very long time.
Oh and it gets better. After we paid the bill, they brought each of us little chocolate and lemon loaves for breakfast the next day.
See...I told you they were angels.
Michelin Count - 15 down, 38 to go!
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