Cafe Boulud

This slightly more casual restaurant in Daniel Boulud’s empire is located on the Upper East Side in the Surrey Hotel.  You enter the restaurant to a relatively square room of all earth tones and no bar area.  There is a separate bar by Boulud, Bar Pleiades, located across the hotel lobby.   Maybe it’s the upper east sider in me, but I thought the space was comfortable and inviting with leather banquettes and large mirrors lining most walls.  But, after one of my friends said she felt like she was in the conference room/event space of a hotel rather than in a Michelin star restaurant, I realized that I couldn’t help but agree.  We decided this was fitting, as it was in fact located in a hotel.  The other thing that can’t go without notice is that the clientele is predominantly an older set…We were probably the youngest people dining there by a generation or so, but despite this, it didn’t feel uncomfortable or stuffy. 

I was very pleased with my experience at Café Boulud and would certainly go back for a fancy meal out.   Having said that, it wasn’t my favorite of the Michelin Stars I’ve been to, as not every dish was a wow.  It’s just that there are certain things beyond food that elevate a restaurant above the rest, and Café Boulud gained serious points by doing some of these things as well as delivering a few wow bites.

The menu is categorized into what Boulud views as his four primary culinary inspirations (classic French, seasonal, Farmer’s market, and world cuisines), with multiple options for each course under each category.  The menu is either a la carte or a 7-course tasting menu.  We decided to order a la carte.  I found 3 courses to be the perfect amount of food, but I have heard from other friends who have dined here that they didn’t feel as if they had enough food.   The wine list at Café Boulud includes a wide array of bottles at a nice range of price points.  We selected a reasonable bottle of Gruner Veltliner, which was very good and paired well with our dishes.

As soon as we ordered, our attentive servers arrived with the amuse bouche, a mini sweet pea risotto ball that had hints of meyer lemon zest throughout.  I loved this salty, crunchy, sweet rice ball, but my friends thought the salt level was a bit overwhelming.  The bread basket arrived with a variety of choices including cranberry walnut, olive, and country.  The breads were above average, but I expected them to be more extraordinary, as I had been thoroughly blown away by the bread basket at Daniel.

The three of us decided upon splitting 2 appetizers, but when the appetizer course arrived, they brought an extra dish.  Obviously, this is one of those classy touches I was speaking of earlier.  The two appetizers we ordered were the Hamachi Crudo with edamame, jicama, and pickled ramp and the artichoke tortellini with shaved parmesan and crispy artichokes in a white wine broth.  The free appetizer that arrived was chilled carrot veloute with a carrot fritter and cilantro foam.   The three of us agreed that the Hamachi was our favorite followed by the artichoke.   The Hamachi was beautifully fresh and the pureed edamame, buttery fish, and crunch of the jicama was a perfect pairing of texture and flavor.  Not to mention that the pickled ramp vinaigrette added the perfect mild zing.  The artichoke tortellini was good, but needed more artichoke flavor to it.  It was definitely missing something.  The carrot veloute was wonderfully silky, but I on principal don’t love cold soup and the overall flavor was a bit too bland.  Although, I suppose the thought is to let the carrots speak for themselves I still believe it needed something.  One of my friends described the veloute perfectly when she said she felt like she was eating baby food.

For my main course I had the Vermont poulet with peas in white wine with this really wonderful herb soufflé-like round and velvety chicken jus.  The chicken was one of the tenderest and moist chicken preparations I’ve had and the jus was the perfect richness.  Really delicious and something I’d order again.

Dawn had a wonderfully spicy baked rice (sort of paella like) with sea scallops, octopus, and mussels.  The rice was baked in a pan, which resulted in a variety of textures throughout the rice that added a lot to the dish.  According to Dawn, all the seafood in the dish was cooked beautifully and the scallop I had was no exception.  Jen had the Halibut, which was very simply prepared and a perfectly cooked piece of fish that would satisfy me in how reliably good it is, but would never wow me.

For dessert, we again only ordered two to split but three arrived, which was even more astonishing because that means they brought us two free dishes.  And then to top it all off, I had decided not to order port with dessert because the only port they offered was $30 a glass and that’s just outrageous.  When the after dinner drinks arrived, the waiter had poured me a glass of another aperitif on him.  The desserts we ordered were the salted caramel with milk chocolate brownie and caramelized milk sorbet and black forest cake with dark chocolate mousse, cherries, and nougat ice cream.  The additional dessert they brought was the strawberry vacherin with meringue and macerated strawberries.  I have to say the desserts were all incredibly good, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be the strawberry one.  As they do at Daniel, they brought warm lemon madelienes in addition to the dessert which were amazing.

I had a great experience at Café Boulud and thought the food was delicious and well conceived.  I can see how it earned a Michelin star with its well prepared food and elevated yet comfortable service. 

Del Posto

Located in the far western reaches of Chelsea, Del Posto is a huge, beautiful restaurant with a nice, long bar area. Susan and I were seated at a table in the corner of the front bar area instead of one of the banquets in the main restaurant, which we both found a bit odd given that there were plenty of empty tables. We tried not to take it too personally.

Diners at Del Posto chose either a 5 course menu for $115 or a 7 course for $145. Given that it was the middle of the summer and every menu item sounded substantial, we selected the 5 course menu which proved to be more than enough food. Susan and I decided red wine would go best with most of the items on the menu, and as such, selected a lovely bottle of Barrolo. I will say that the Del Posto wine list is very intimidating and very expensive with only a handful of options in what I would call a reasonable range (ie under $100 a bottle). In fairness to the sommelie, he guided us to a nice bottle of wine without any snobbery once we told him our tastes and our price point.

The service at Del Posto was definitely top notch. The waiters weren’t the best at interacting with us, but the plates arrived with great fanfare and our glasses were filled without notice. However, I personally prefer a restaurant where the waiters are taught to have a bit more of a personality and be more helpful in dish selection, etc. The other thing I found odd was that there was a lack of consistency in who seemed to be our primary waiter throughout the night. Generally, the food was all good, but there were no absolute wows in the meal and the service did nothing to eclipse this. Frankly, I would question how this earned a Michelin Star other than having a celebrity chef backer.

The amuse bouche was a three part series with a consommé, a fried rice ball, and a chickpea puree between two toast points. The consommé was unremarkable. But, I really liked the rice ball and the chickpea puree sandwich. The bread basket arrived with two spread selections, a whipped lardo with rosemary and regular butter. The bread selections included a wonderful airy foccacia, an olive roll, and a French style roll. All were delightful. Honestly, I wanted to love the lardo, but I found it to be a bit bland. I LOVED the foccacia and had to restrain myself from taking more.

For appetizers we had the Lobster Fra Diavolo with garlic bread panna cotta and the charred octopus with chickpeas and celery that was drizzled with 25 year balsamic vinegar. I preferred the octopus to the lobster dish, but was not amazed by either. In fact, the most delightful part of the dish was the balsamic vinegar that they drizzled a bit too frugally for my liking!

For our pasta course, we ordered the Risotto with the 25 year balsamic and the veal agnolotti with sweet pea, espresso, and Grana Padano cheese. The risotto was a very good, plain preparation that was highlighted perfectly by the balsamic. The veal agnolotti was good but nothing extraordinary. I will forever compare all veal agnolotti dishes to the one that I had at Ai Fiori, which was quite possibly the best pasta I’ve ever had in my life. The agnolotti at Del Posto didn’t even come close. At this point in our meal, we were extremely full and 100% realized that Del Posto is far better suited for a nice meal out in the winter, rather than the summer. The menu itself doesn’t even seem to reflect any change in the season, being composed almost entirely of heavier dishes with no apparent use of seasonal ingredients. I always find a restaurant not adapting to the season to be a bit disappointing.

For our main courses we had the burnt beef with potato torta and spicy tongue stew and the roast chicken with porcini and beans. The burnt beef was delicious and the most interesting dish we had all night. I really liked the crispy ends and the rich sauce. The chicken was a nicely prepared roast chicken that was good but again not extraordinary.

For dessert, they brought over a little basket of cookies and biscotti which were all average. I’m of the opinion if you’re going to bring free food it should be good! Don’t just bring extras for the sake of giving extras! We ordered the Tartufo with dark chocolate coffee and candied lemon peel the chocolate ricotta tortino. Both of these were very good but we were so full we could barely have more than a bite of each!

Overall, there was nothing wrong with dinner at Del Posto. But in my view, it did not earn the price charged or the Michelin star.

Rouge Tomate

Tucked on 60th street just east of the park, this lovely, large space wowed me at first sight and didn’t stop throughout the whole meal. Rouge Tomate has a sizable bar area with the dining area in the back. There are two distinct sections to the dining room. The front portion has closer tables and seems intended for smaller groups while the rear, which is across glass bridges, has larger tables and booths.

Executive chef, Jeremy Bearman, serves Modern American cuisine using seasonally inspired and locally sourced ingredients with an eye towards capturing the natural flavor of the ingredients. The wine list claims to be designed with a similar goal in mind, and I found that it offered a wide range of nice bottles at good price points. The cocktail and beer list is also quite impressive in a way that makes me want to go back to Rouge Tomate and sit at the bar for a light bite and cocktail. My friend Dawn and I opted to have a wonderful Austrian Gruner Veltliner that went incredibly well with our meal and was just a really nice, crisp white wine at a very nice price.

The menu offers a seasonal tasting menu and an a la carte menu. Dawn and I decided to order a la carte. The a la carte menu is divided a bit differently than a typical menu. There are a series of seasonal toasts, a fish & shellfish section of small appetizer sized seafood dishes, a “for the table” selection of dishes, vegetable plates that are mostly salads, a pasta & grains section, and a seafood, poultry, & meat entrée section. We decided to order something from each section of the menu except the vegetable section and split them all. It turned out to be the perfect plan!

The amuse bouche of the evening was an absolutely divine mini cup of beet soup. It was a truly fabulous little taste of velvety-rich soup. The bread basket offered three choices and appeared with a bowl of olive oil and cauliflower spread. The bread itself was okay and the cauliflower spread was a bit weird in that I didn’t love the flavor of cauliflower in a pureed texture.

We began our meal with a plate of three seasonal toasts: Celery Root Remoulade with cornichon, Quail Egg, & Tarragon; Wild mushroom with ricotta, leek, thyme, and lemon zest; & Spaghetti Squash with crab, apple, and jalapeno. We both found the celery root to be the standout in this group. It tasted like the best egg salad ever and the tarragon really added a nice flavor note. The wild mushroom was also quite nice, but there was a bit too much lemon zest for us. Our least favorite was the spaghetti squash, because the crab flavor overpowered all the other ingredients and just left the toast rather flat (pardon the pun).

These toasts were a very good start to a meal, but the next course had me almost completely forgetting the lovely little toasts. The Hawaiin Walu Crudo with Avocado, Jicama, Radish, and Yuzu was astonishingly delicious. The Walu was melt in your mouth tender and the yuzu sauce with the textures of avocado, radish, and jicama was perfect. This is one of those dishes that make you want to return to a restaurant.

From the “for the table” section of the menu we choose the sautéed Montauk calamari with savoy cabbage, butternut squash, cashews, coconut, and lime. Just when I thought we wouldn’t have a dish better than the Walu Crudo, this dish proved me wrong. Dawn and I agreed that neither of us could remember ever having calamari that was as texturely perfect as this was. The coconut lime sauce was just heaven on the already perfect calamari. Yet another reason to return to Rouge Tomate.

For our entrees, we decided we would do one pasta and one meat dish. This turned out to be ideal. The pasta dish we choose was the cow’s milk ricotta gnuddi with celery root, black truffle, salsify, fines herbs and parmesan. The gnudi were excellent little pillows of dough and the dish as a whole was a really simple feeling, well-executed pasta plate. Our other main dish was the rabbit two ways with rabbit bacon and rabbit fleischnacke (minced rabbit meat wrapped in a fresh noodle) served with toyko turnips, savoy cabbage, maple, and mustard jus. I loved the rabbit bacon on this and the rest of the plate was very good. If the competition the rest of the night hadn’t been so tough, the dish would have been far higher on my list of favorites!

For dessert, we each had an after dinner drink and then we split the Bittersweet Chocolate Sphere with banana, frangipane, and candied almonds. A large cube was brought to our table and then warm chocolate was poured over it and the sphere melted away to reveal the banana and frangipane. This dessert was prettier than it was tasty. I found the almond flavor a bit too strong and felt the dessert was only okay.

Rouge Tomate is definitely worthy of a Michelin Star. The food is incredibly delicious and thoughtful and an evening there feels special. I can’t wait to go back.

Jewel Bako - Not a Jewel I want

Located on the Lower East Side and open since 2001, Jewel Bako (literally “Jewel Box”) is a relatively small space with a u-shaped sushi bar and a separate area with regular tables. The entrance is discrete and unassuming and the space is well designed with light wood walls and wooden slats that curve up to the ceiling. Each and every plate of food presented was equally as beautiful as the space. Unfortunately, the flavor of the food didn’t live up to its looks.

Jewel Bako was one of the Michelin list spots for which I had high expectations. Since I first heard of this place sometime in 2002, I really wanted to go there. As I’m sure you all know, there is nothing more disappointing then looking forward to dining at a restaurant for a long time and then being let down when you finally get a chance to go there. In this case, part of me wonders if Jewel Bako is past its heyday. I’ve heard from people I trust undoubtedly with restaurant opinions that they love this place but haven’t been in a while. Or perhaps Susan is right that no other sushi restaurant will ever compare with Masa. Regardless of the reason, Jewel Bako served just okay food the night I was there. And, in a city that has an ever increasing number of sushi spots both high and low end, a sushi restaurant that earns a coveted spot on the Michelin list should be something extra-special.

Susan and I ordered the chef’s omakase, which I believe is the correct choice at well-respected sushi restaurants because it allows one to relax and not worry about picking a medley of regular dishes as well as sushi and sashimi. The most remarkable part of our meal was what we ordered to drink. When I perused the beer list, I noticed it included a sweet potato fermented beer. We both ordered this beer and found that it was amazing and went incredibly well with every course.

The chef’s omakase at Jewel Bako includes a series of small plates, a sushi course, a sashimi course, a main course, and dessert. In other words, it is more than enough food. Overall, the plate presentations were beautiful, but the flavors were nothing that would inspire me to return there anytime soon.

The amuse bouche the evening we were there was a piece of tuna atop a mini ball of fried rice. This was absolutely fabulous. I loved the texture of the fried rice ball combined with the buttery piece of tuna. It was a very impressive start to the meal and one that I thought promised more than what was ultimately delivered. The next item brought to the table was a wonderful bowl of perfectly cooked and salted edamame.

The first course was a microgreen salad with seared salmon skin. I didn’t love this, as I thought the salmon skin overwhelmed the greens with too fishy a flavor. The next plate was a trio of small bites: monkfish liver with a soy dipping sauce, an oyster, and yellowtail tartare with spicy mayo in a tortilla shell round. None of these were wows. The monkfish liver has a bit too much of a foie gras flavor and texture for me, so I didn’t care for it at all. The oyster was average with nothing special to embellish the flavor and no sense of insane freshness that let it speak for itself. The yellowtail tartare was delicious, but I’m a bit suspect that I loved it mostly for the spicy mayo.

The next course was a gorgeous array of sashimi that included mackerel, shrimp, blue tuna, salmon, and a few other fish. These were all very good pieces of sashimi but nothing that blew me out of the water. This was followed by a platter of sushi of about 8 pieces that included tuna, salmon, shrimp, scallop, toro, shiso leaf sushi, mackerel, and jack fish. Most of these pieces of sushi were delightful, but the toro had a bit of a funky taste to it that neither Sue nor I was happy with at all. Honestly, I found this funkiness rather unforgiveable.

For the main course, there are two choices, salmon with miso or scorpion fish. We had one of each and split them. Both entrees were passable, but not extraordinary. In fact, the miso flavor on the salmon was a bit weak, and the scorpion fish was just a plain piece of well cooked fish. Just rather forgettable dishes.

The dessert at least ended the meal on a very positive note. Green tea ice cream sandwiches with chocolate wafer cookies. A very delicious dessert.

For me, Jewel Bako was okay but certainly not worthy of a Michelin star.

Shalezeh - Star Loss

After I set out to conquer the Michelin List, I was on the fence about what to do when the new 2012 list was released when I was halfway through finishing the mission. After much deliberation, I decided that the best course of action would be to complete all the places on the 2011 list, and when finished with those, go to the new restaurants on the 2012 list. Shalezeh was the only one that was completely removed from the list in 2012. Shalezeh’s removal from the list and the fact that it has always seemed to me to be just a random restaurant in my neighborhood, had me showing up there for dinner with low expectations. Overall, I was content with my experience there…the food was good and the service was fine. However, I totally agree with the removal of Shalezeh from the list, as there was nothing in my experience dining there that would merit a Michelin star.

Shalezeh is a Persian restaurant on the Upper East thats owned by a former captain of Café Boulud. I went to Shalezeh with my sister on a random weeknight. We were seated immediately without any reservations. The service was fine, but there was nothing that made it special or remarkable. The wine and cocktail lists similarly get the job done with nothing above and beyond.

After we ordered, a plate of warm pita with hummus arrived. Such an exciting thing to get for free! Sadly, when I dipped some pita in and took a bite, I was disappointed to find that the pita was stale and the hummus flavorless.

For an appetizer, we had the baba, which is baked eggplant puree with goat cheese, walnut, and onion. There was a lovely mint flavor to this warm eggplant appetizer and I really loved it. It was a really wonderful recovery from the mediocre hummus and pita plate.

I had done a lot of research on what one should order here. Everywhere I read, it said that the thing to have was the koofteh tabrizi. The koofteh is a huge Persian meatball that is stuffed with prunes, potato, and fava beans covered in a curried tomato sauce with peas. This was fabulous. The meat itself wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the sauce was outrageously good. I wish I had had something more worthy to dip in this sauce. We figured we would also get a chicken kebab to try something standard. We ordered the ground chicken kebab which was served with a choice of rice. This was also good but nothing compared to the meatball.

I will say that the food was served very quickly, in a non-leisurely you are just there to have a fast meal way. Overall, I thought that it was a perfectly fine meal at a good neighborhood spot that since I live near I’d maybe go to again. But again, I think it is right that it lost its Michelin star this year.

Corton

Corton, which has been opened since late 2008, is located in Tribeca and is co-owned by Chef Paul Liebrandt and restauranter Drew Nieporent. Chef Liebrandt is known for preparing classic French cuisine using new, envelope-pushing techniques. He is one of those chefs that fancies himself an artist with presentation being just as important as taste. Last summer, HBO aired a documentary “A Matter of Taste” that chronicles Chef Liebrandt’s career in NYC, his desire for perfection, his artistry, and his insistence on trying to create new and interesting presentations of food.

The restaurant is named after the largest area of Grand Cru in Burgundy. It has a simple décor of white monotone walls with shadowed flowers painted upon them that give an illusion of texture. The simplicity of the décor lends a certain elegance and to me must be an intentional effort to ensure that the true art, the food, can shine without distraction. The kitchen is to the right of the dining room and there is a thin line of windows that provide a limited view of the tops of the chef’s heads working away.

Diners have a choice of either a five course seasonal menu or an eight course chef’s tasting menu. My friend and I opted for the five course menu, which is set except that it offers a choice between duck and beef for the main course. I’m glad we choose this menu. It was the perfect amount of food for both of us and the couple that ordered the 8 course menu next to us said that they saw what we had and it was more food than they had and they were still hungry when finished.

For beverages, we each started with a cocktail and then for dinner we had the sommelier pair wines with each course, which was done with as much artistry as the food. The cocktails were also very good. I had the Colonista which was Dark Rum, Pimms, and Pineapple and my friend had the Spencer which was Vodka, Elderflower liquor and Grapefruit. I truly can’t begin to explain how well each wine paired with our different courses. It was one of those instances in which both the food and wine highlighted the best features of one another.

Our first bites from the kitchen were a trio of one bite items. A house-made cracker stuffed with a mole sauce and placed on a tiny pedestal on the center of our plate. The mole was the perfect heat and totally deserving of the pedestal upon which it was placed. Just in front of our plate were pickled quail eggs and to the left of that in a bowl of uncooked black rice was a potato croquette with a molten center and turmeric crackers. The pickling of the quail egg was mild and the texture of the yolk was akin to a soft-boiled egg. Very good. On the third bite, I loved the turmeric cracker, but I could’ve done without the potato because it oozed a bit too much molten-ness when I bit into it.

The bread basket, which included a choice of potato focaccia, olive, country white, French bread, and thin slices of raisin bread, was accompanied by a seaweed butter and a regular butter. I wasn’t wowed by any of the bread. The next dish, the kitchen amuse bouche, was an egg shell with no top that was filled with sunchoke custard. This was paired with our first wine, a lovely glass of champagne. There was nothing amazing about the custard and it felt a bit one dimensional, but thankfully it was the only true disappointment of the night.

The first course arrived and we got our first glimpse into how multi-layered each course would be. For every course, there were a series of plates that were presented. The first course included a plate with a tiny round of foie gras wrapped in beet paper atop a poblano pepper puree and a tiny piece of pistachio crusted salsify. On our right, our waiter placed a bowl with potato ice cream upon which he ceremoniously poured a chestnut soup with kaffir lime. Now I’m not a huge foie gras fan, but this was amazing. The richness of the foie gras combined with the soup and beet was one of the most interesting and perfectly flavor-layered dishes I’ve ever had. And on top of that, the sommelier had paired it with an Alsatian Reisling. It all just kind of rocked my world.

Our next glass of wine arrived and was an incredibly buttery white that I didn’t love on its own. But then our fish course arrived and the wine was reinvented for me. The fish course was black bass with mussels, black garlic gnocchi, and a black garlic sauce that had a flavor that hinted at worchestire sauce. On the plate to the right of us was gnudi atop a round of kumquat in a bowl of clam broth. The dish was fabulous. I loved the rich clam broth but would’ve preferred it without the kumquat.

The main course was the only one in which we had a choice. Since there were only two options, we decided we’d have one of each and split them evenly. The beef dish was a blackened wagyu beef with black truffle, burnt eggplant, short rib, and beef jus. On a separate plate was a potato filled with a creamy liquid. The potato was eh and the only thing we didn’t finish from all of the courses. The other option was duck with pork belly, salsify, country pate, a duck confit puff, and duck jus. On the side was one of the most amazing things we had the entire night and for lack of a better description was essentially duck chili topped with pumpkin puree. It was out of this world. Exceptional is the only way to truly describe it. Both the beef and duck were extremely good. The wagyu was so tender and full of fatty richness and the burnt eggplant beef jus gave the dish an almost teriyaki sauce hint that made so much sense with the beef but didn’t overwhelm the flavor. The duck plate had so much going for it as well. There were wonderful bits of pork belly that paired nicely with the duck and gave the dish a perfect salt feature. And then the country pate! I was so sad that it was such a small piece on the plate because it was sensational. The one item I wish wasn’t on the duck plate was this smear of meyer lemon that just didn’t go with anything. I quickly removed it from the plate and pretended like it never appeared as part of the dish. These dishes were both paired with fabulous reds that once again highlighted all the right flavors in the dish. Did I mention the duck chili with pumpkin?!

There were two dessert courses. The first was a passion fruit pudding with tapioca pearls, beet sticks, berry sorbet, and passion fruit marshmallows. A really fabulous dessert that had the ideal balance of passion fruit flavor and felt like a nice, light and refreshing course. The second dessert was an equally impressive apple vol au vent with vanilla bean pastry cream, coffee cream, raisins, and oat crumble bits. I would have to say that this was the dessert I preferred if for no other reason than it had oat crumble on it.

The petit fours included two different flavors of French Macaroons (olive with hazelnut and caramel), four different flavors of chocolate truffles (salted caramel, chocolate, lemon rosemary, and one I couldn’t quite figure), and 4 hand rolled pumpkin truffles. Our waiter told us to save the pumpkin ones for last because they’re his favorite and sure to be ours. The olive and hazelnut macaroons were good but neither flavor of macaroon won my heart. The salted caramel truffle was my favorite of the four. But, the waiter was spot-on with his advice. I could’ve done without all the other items for more of the pumpkin truffles. They were amazing.

Our little send-away cookies were a disappointment the next morning, but after the amazing meal the night before I couldn’t complain.

Corton is certainly worthy of two Michelin stars and definitely a restaurant to return to. A big part of the allure to me is that next time it’ll be a completely different menu that’s created with equal thought, care, and passion.

Masa

There aren’t many people you can tell that you spent $750 per person on one dinner out that would understand. I mean everyone’s first question is was it worth it. For me, there are two ways to answer this question. Without a doubt the most obvious answer is no. It’s virtually impossible for one meal to be worth $750 per person because no one can eat enough comfortably for it to be “worth” that much. But, the answer I save for those that would get it is absolutely it was worth it to me. I loved Masa from the second I walked in the door and I still think of how much I enjoy that night now and I am positive I will for many years. See, dinner at Masa isn’t just dinner. It’s a dinner that includes a show by your own personal chef. There was certainly a bit of awkwardness in the waitress service. It was that service that you always feel the presence of, which is likely attributable to the fact that the night we were there the restaurant was relatively empty. I mean the seemingly huge space only has 26 seats.

The restaurant is located in the Time Warner Center and the entrance is down a hallway through a curtain. The door is a gorgeous gnarled natural plank of tree that doesn’t fully fill the door frame. When you enter, the sushi bar is ahead on the right and there are some tables in small rooms off the main room. But don’t even bother with the tables. If you’re going to shell out the money for Masa, you HAVE to sit at the sushi bar. The sushi bar is a wide piece of hinoki wood from japan that apparently cost $60,000. It’s a gorgeous light brown wood that was chosen because it is highly rot resistant.

The menu is omakase and Chef Masa Takayama aims to serve seasonal ingredients. In addition to the menu offered the night we were there, they offered an additional dish for an extra supplement. We sat at one end of the sushi bar, behind which work three sushi chefs preparing the night’s dishes. The night we were there Chef Masa was preparing in center stage and serving the group next to us.

We ordered a bottle of Masa’s own private label sake, which was so smooth and amazing. It complemented each and every one of our dishes and I will likely compare all future sakes I drink to it. I loved the way they served the sake as well. The sake is decanted into a hand crafted carafe that is presented in a large bowl of ice then and poured into bamboo cups that were all designed by Masa, who is apparently an avid potter. I suppose here is where I say I loved Chef Masa. He came over after our meal and shook both of our hands and said he hoped we enjoyed everything. Just watching him behind the sushi bar was such a joy.

I will never get tired of the warm hand towels that you receive at the start of your meal at a Japanese restaurant. After our hand towels, our first dish arrived. It was a refreshing Japanese crab salad in a light citrus dressing. A really nice welcome to the meal. The next plate was toro tartare with caviar and these delicious toast points that they grilled to order on the small grill behind the left side of the sushi bar. The toro tartare tasted so fresh like it was just this second brought in and prepared and I always love the briny addition of caviar to a plate.

In my research prior to dining at Masa, I had read that many nights Chef Masa serves pufferfish, aka Fugu. Fugu contains poisons in its organs and is deadly if cleaned improperly. The regulations around serving blowfish are very strict, as you can imagine. There is only one source in Japan that US regulators allow restaurants here to use and the factory there has been preparing blowfish for years. Being at Masa, I didn’t feel any hesitation in having it. Since so many people put their lives on the line to consume fugu in other parts of the world, I was expecting it to be the most buttery, melt in your mouth delicious sashimi I’ve ever had. It wasn’t. The texture wasn’t anywhere close to what I anticipated. It was actually far chewier in texture than your average sushi. The first dish of blowfish we had was fugu sashimi salad with a spicy vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was delicious and the fugu grew on me after the second bite. But what sold me on fugu being worth it was the next dish, a fried fugu “wing”. This was perfectly battered and fried and the meat so tender. Susan and I both loved it and decided we wanted these instead of all our future chicken wings.

The fifth course was grilled langoustine with the head on. They kindly had split the shells so the meat was easy to get at. The flavor of the langoustine was wonderful and the meat incredibly tender. This was a great, simple dish.

At this point, one of the waitresses came over and explained that there was a supplemental dish of wagyu beef, seaweed salt, and shaved white truffles for an additional $150. We figured go big or go home, so we ordered just one to split. The chef put the wagyu on a searing hot grill for just a second and then served it with the salt and a hefty hand of freshly shaved white truffles. This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. The beef was just crazy tender and rich and the white truffles gave it an even meatier flavor.

The next dish was yellowfin tuna sashimi with a hot broth and a dipping sauce. The chef explained that you dip it in the hot broth for just a few seconds to lightly cook it and then in the soy sauce to flavor it. After the tuna was done, the waitresses took the broth away, strained it into a new bowl, and served the remaining broth to us. This was the perfect course to transition into the sushi portion of the meal.

Our waitresses brought another warm cloth and then for our sushi course ginger, soy sauce, a black platter, and a dipping bowl for our fingers. Our own personal sushi chef then began to prepare and serve us individual pieces of sushi. The sushi course lasted about an hour and included Bluefin tuna, white tuna, Japanese butter fish, grilled scallop, two temaki (cones) one of uni and the other toro, two vegetable rolls one of mushroom and the other lotus leaf with ume shiso (plum paste and shiso leaf), an entire roll of shaved white truffle, two eel rolls the better of which was grilled with miso, grilled bluefin collar that was amazing, clam, shrimp, two different squid rolls the better of which was with yuzu, fluke with daikon radish, and mackerel. Besides the uni, because I’m just not an uni fan, every piece of sushi was outrageously delicious. Definitely some of the best sushi either Sue or I have ever had. I love omakase. Having all your sushi just handed to you by your own personal chef is definitely something that plays a part in my version of heaven. We overheard the person next to us asking the chef the amount of time between the fish being caught and it being served. Chef replied about 14 hours. From the freshness in each bite, I’ve no doubt that’s true.

For dessert, they served a persimmon that I certainly could have done without.

Overall, the evening was one of those that just felt special and to me that made it worth it. So much so that I think Sue and I may go again next year!

Saul

Saul is located in Boerum Hill Brooklyn along a quaintly hip, restaurant packed stretch of Smith St. The restaurant has a small bar in the back of the restaurant but it doesn’t have a comfortable “come sit and have a drink” vibe. So since I was a bit early, I had no real choice but to sit at our table right away. I’m a really big proponent of a cozy bar in a restaurant for situations in which you need to kill a bit of time, so I was a bit let down by the lack of one at Saul. However, the restaurant’s vibe in general is warm. You enter into a medium-sized room of tables with the tiny bar at the back. There’s no hostess stand so you aren’t 100% sure where to go. But as I sat at the table and read the menu, I was instantly at ease.

Chef Saul Bolton opened this restaurant in 1999 after training under David Bouley and Eric Ripert. The restaurant offers a 3-course prix fixe $40 option, a tasting menu for $85, and an a la carte menu. We decided to order off the a la carte menu. We kicked off our evening with cocktails, because neither of us could resist the delightful options on the cocktail list at Saul. Both of our cocktails were wonderful winter warmers that used different flavors than your typical cocktails. The amuse bouche of the evening was celery root soup with curried apples. The combination of the rich celery root with the sweetness of the apples and the spice of the curry was a fantastic first bite for our meal.

We split two appetizers, the crudo of Japanese yellowtail with citrus and peppers and the grilled octopus salad. The yellowtail was okay but I wouldn’t order it again. Some bites were a bit too fishy for my taste, because it came with the skin on. The marinade was extremely flavorful and the bites without the skin were much better. But the clear winner of our appetizers was the grilled octopus salad with red onions in a citrus dressing that had a slight hint of sweetness. The char on the octopus balanced perfectly with the tartness of the dressing and bite of the onions. We scooped up every last piece.

My friend ordered the roasted squab with squab confit, roasted Brussels, farro and a sunchoke puree for his main dish. The squab was cooked perfectly and the skin nicely crisped. The flavors were all very, very good but we both agreed that my dish was better. I ordered the pork which was roasted pork and pulled pork with a series of pureed winter vegetables and a rich pork jus. I couldn’t get over how amazing the pulled pork was. The pork loin was very good and the sauce on it was amazing but the pulled pork was out of this world. I mean so amazing that I gave my friend two bites of pork loin but only one bite of the pulled pork.

We decided not to have dessert because none of the desserts really appealed to us. But for baked Alaska fans, the one at Saul is supposedly amazing.

Definitely worth a trip out to Brooklyn!

The Spotted Pig

The Spotted Pig is another one of those trendy type spots that gets a Michelin star partly for the vibe and celebrity draw it has. It is not a spot where you go and expect to be waited on hand and foot or receive any type of frills like an amuse bouche or a pastry on your way out. This is a pub…albeit one with a fabulous menu. One Michelin star equates to very good food in its category, and I would agree that the Spotted Pig lives up to this accolade. But, I do think there are a few dishes on the menu that are a slight disappointment.

The food is one hundred percent comfort food and presented as simple food a bit elevated. Chef April Bloomfield is from England and spent several years working in restaurants there before moving to the US working at Chez Panisse and then sometime thereafter coming to NYC and opening the Spotted Pig.

I’ll start with the disappointing menu items and move to the ones that really earned the star. The burger with Roquefort and shoestring fries is okay but not an amazing burger that I would go out of my way to order again. Despite it being cooked medium it somehow just didn’t feel juicy enough. And I hate shoestring fries. They just make me angry, because I want real fries.

Okay so onto the menu items that I enjoy. I dined at the bar recently and I have to say I love the bar snacks. Deviled Eggs, Devils on Horseback! You can’t really go wrong with either. But then there’s the sheeps milk ricotta gnudi with brown butter and sage. For me, this is the perfect sort of dish to split because it’s far too rich and sinful to have all to oneself. But it’s a must order, because it’s downright delightful. I think gnudi is a bit of a misnomer here, because I find it texturally more like ricotta ravioli than gnudi. But I’m not going to complain. The silky ricotta pasta just melts in your mouth with a heavenly buttery sage flavor.

Now I do a lot of crazy things and ordering the $24 plate of five vegetables ranks up there. It’s just that sometimes these things are worth it. And this plate of vegetables is so worth it! The serving size leaves a lot to be desired, but the flavor of these veggies is just outrageous. I couldn’t get enough of them and was basically fighting my friend for the last few bites.

I’ve never had dessert at the Spotted Pig, but I would like to try the banofee pie. I guess I just have to go back and while I’m there I might as well have some gnudi and veggies!

The Modern

The scene at the modern was far more bustling than I anticipated. I guess it was just one of those things that I assume…a restaurant at a museum will be quiet and, well, museum-like. So the fact that I couldn’t hear a pin drop, was a welcome surprise. In fact, I really liked the vibe. The entrance is through a long white hallway that opens into the bar area that has a number of tables and was quite packed the night my friend and I were there. The dining room is just past the bar and has floor to ceiling windows that have a lovely view out onto the museum’s courtyard and 54th street. The service was impeccable and the level of bonus bites was impressively overwhelming; however, the food itself was sadly too inconsistent for me to give the restaurant a rave review. But, I would like to go back and sit in the bar area for a light dinner sometime.

Just after we were seated, we were brought a series of three bites from the kitchen: Brussels sprouts with roasted squash (very good), smoked trout rillette (also very good), and popcorn that I can’t remember what it was flavored with (I think they said lemon verbena but I didn’t taste the lemon). A short while after we finished these our waiter presented us each with a test tube of chestnut soup that had some sort of red puree down the bottom. The soup was so delicious and rich…just an absolutely winning experiment! The bread basket offered the typical choice of olive, French, or whole grain rolls and both goats milk and cows milk butters are placed on the table. The bread selection was typical but in that warm and delicious way that’s so reliable you adore it.

Silly me thought these were it for the amuse bouche, but then our waiters brought what they referred to as the amuse bouche, a beef carpaccio in a cockles sauce. The beef was so tender and wonderful and the sauce was extraordinary. The broth had a slight sea flavor and there were little crunchy bits on top. We both got every last drop of sauce from the bowl with our bread. For my first course, I had Alaskan king crab salad cannelloni with Sea Urchin Coulis. I love crab but couldn’t taste it at all because the sea urchin was FAR too overpowering. It was quite a shame because the crab looked amazing. My friend had the oven-roasted trumpet royale mushrooms with Mussels, Toasted Almonds, Jamón Iberico and Harissa Vinaigrette which was also very disappointing in that it was very bland. With all those ingredients I couldn’t understand how that was possible.

For the second course, I had the tempranillo risotto with Crispy Duck Breast, Radicchio and oregano. The risotto was delicious and served with this really flavorful foam that I want to say was parmesan. BUT I didn’t see or taste any duck and nothing was crispy which I found a bit confusing. My friend had the sturgeon and sauerkraut tart with American Caviar Mousseline and Applewood Smoke. This came over with a huge lid on it and when our waiter lifted the lid the aroma of applewood was gorgeous. I loved the applewood smoke flavor, but it was just a tad too strong leaving us unable to taste any sauerkraut or caviar. A sad, sad waste. I did like the texture and everything but I think they need to slightly cut the smoke.

The entrees were the crowning glory of the night. My friend had chorizo-crusted cod with White Coco Bean Purée and Harissa Oil. This was really good – the fish was cooked perfectly and was so tender and the coco bean puree and white beans served along with it were very good. Mine was better though! I had the roasted heritage pork tenderloin with Sauerkraut, Pumpkin and Parsnip Purée and Soy-Caramel Jus. I don’t even know where to start here. The pork tenderloin was insane and it was so tender I didn’t even need to use my knife to cut it. The pumpkin and parsnip purees were both incredibly flavorful but it was the soy caramel jus that won my heart. It was sweet and salty and absolutely amazing.

My friend won the best dessert hands down with the lemon napoleon with Exotic Fruit Brunoise and Fromage Blanc Sorbet. This was awesome. The napoleon layers were super crisp and the lemon cream was tart and just delicious. I had the fig tart and there was not one thing that either of us liked about it.

Just when I thought we were nearing the end, the chocolate cart arrived! Three levels of chocolate, cookies, and candy from which to choose. We had our waiter do a mixture, and found that sadly the chocolates were unimpressive. After this, they brought over a little tiny ice cream cone of maple ice cream that we LOVED. I would rather just that and no chocolate cart. Our parting gift was a trio of mini caramel cakes, which made a nice little breakfast appetizer the next morning.

So overall, I would go and eat in the bar, but I don’t think I would go back and eat in the dining room again. There was something about the place and vibe though that I really liked. I just wish they had every course be as good as the main courses.