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.

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.

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.