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.

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.

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!