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.