Weird Wallse

Wallse is Viennese cuisine by Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner located in the far western reaches of the West Village. The space has a definite European feel to it and is bright and bustling. There was something about the evening that made me want to start off the night with one of the delicious sounding cocktails. Most likely it’s my inability to resist Pimms that did it. The Charlie Chaplin with Gin, Vermouth, Pimms and bitters was a fabulous little cocktail that I would definitely order again.

The bread was unremarkable, which as a cardo addict is a huge disappointment for me. Luckily, the appetizer we ordered, Pan seared scallops with bacon and Mache sauce, was ridiculously good. The sauce is a green sauce made from Mache lettuce and it has this almost nutty flavor to it, sort of like a more interesting and richer spinach. The scallops were melt in your mouth tender and the perfect example of exactly how a scallop should be cooked. The only complaint I have was that there wasn’t quite enough bacon but I suppose there will never be enough bacon in the world for me!

For the entrees, my friend had the boiled kavalierspitz (beef shoulder) with root vegetables and apple horseradish and I had the weiner schnitzel with potato-cucumber salad and lingonberries. My friend’s entrée was okay but nothing special. The beef was nice and tender but the flavor had something missing and the horseradish sauce needed somthing as well. The weiner schnitzel was very good and I really liked the potato cucumber salad. The breading was perfect. Funny enough, these dishes were the same orders that my sister and I had placed when we ate at Seasonal Weinbar & Kitchen. So I couldn't help but compare the execution of the dishes between these two places. Hands down, Seasonal won on both.

The post dinner petit fours were probably among my least favorite I’ve ever had. The flavors of both were just not the sort of sweet I like to end my meal.

I’m not so sure that Wallse is worthy of a Michelin star. The service the night we went was very bizarre. Our waitress was incredibly awkward and each time she came to our table it was weird. Also, the food was good but it didn’t have anything that made it extraordinary or worth a return trip. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would maybe go again. But I would not find the need to travel out of my way to go back. I do have to say though that the mache sauce on the scallops was the most memorable part of the meal.

Hopefully this will be the last restaurant on the Michelin list that falls short of my expectations of what a Michelin restaurant should be.

Marc Forgione - Menu as Fiction

Sometimes the descriptions of dishes on menus are more beautiful than the execution in a sort of menu as fiction or embellishment of the truth way. Unfortunately, Marc Forgione is one of those places. I read the menu before I went and fell for the story only to be let down when I went and found out what the true story is. Of all the spots on the Michelin list, this is one that I was whole-heartedly looking forward to and had such high expectations for. So maybe the fact that I didn’t adore it is partly my fault because I had anticipated it becoming one of my favorite restaurants in the city. Here’s the thing…I didn’t hate it and saw enough promise that I would be willing to go back and give it another shot. I’m not going to run and do it immediately, but I do think at some point I may try again. There wasn’t anything we had that wasn’t good, but there wasn’t anything we had that was transcendental and the menu makes the food sound as if it will be.

The space is very cool with cedar wood and brick walls with hanging candles lighting the rather dim dining room. It’s sort of oddly barnyard or cottage cozy in a way. The restaurant has a very fun cocktail list and a great wine list. We picked a nice white wine.

One half of the two piece amuse bouche of the evening was possibly the best bite of the night. The fresh tomato gazpacho was tomato pepper heaven in a way that made me sad it was only one bite. The other half was a stone fruit crumble that tasted rather like a yogurt granola parfait in an unremarkable you feel like you’re eating healthy food way.

The bread rolls arrived and they looked awesome. Warm rolls with herb butter and tops brushed with butter and sprinkled with kosher salt. These were very good but not quite soft and delicious enough to be the best warm dinner rolls I’ve ever had.

We ordered two appetizers to start a Crab, Watermelon, and jalapeno salad and an Eggplant Parmesan with burrata, eggplant, crispy fried bits, and tomato. All the flavorings of the crab salad complemented one another very nicely, but there was something missing from the dish that my friend and I couldn’t pinpoint. The Eggplant parmesan was disappointing. It was decomposed eggplant parmesan with cubes of eggplant that were rather boring and delicious bites of tomato and fun little crunchy fried pieces on the plate and “burrata” that was really mozzarella. And if you know me, you know that telling me I’m going to get burrata but then serving me mozzarella is a big no-no.

I ordered the Buddhist Duck Breast with LeBak Farms Corn Emulsion, Bacon, and Smoked Sea Salt and my friend had the Halibut with Lobster emulsion. The duck was perfectly cooked with a nice crispy skin and the dish overall had very nice components to it. But it felt as if it was sort of any easy throw together weeknight meal that I could’ve easily made at home. The Halibut was also perfectly cooked and the lobster sauce was very good, but it was almost exactly the same as a sauce that we learned to make in our second semester of culinary school. So again, it seemed a bit elementary. There’s nothing wrong with elementary food, but the menu reads at a higher level than the delivered food.

We ordered one dessert to split, the Banana Cream Pie Sundae with Salted Caramel. This was very delicious and a nice little way to finish the evening.

Like I said, the meal was good, but I expected amazing.

A Voce Columbus

I love good Italian food. But, there seem to be a high number of “okay” Italian places and very few amazing ones. In other words, an Italian restaurant really has to wow me to receive anything close to a rave review. Frankly, there are far too many Italian restaurants around to be okay with dining at a mediocre one. In my pre-dining research on A Voce, I heard very mixed reviews about various people’s experience dining there. Some people told me that they had a fabulous dish there, while others said they were underwhelmed. Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind and hopes that I would find a “wow”-worthy Italian restaurant.

A Voce Columbus is in the Time Warner Center, which lays claim to three restaurants with Michelin stars. The restaurant overlooks Central Park and as such most tables offer beautiful park views. The kitchen has windows that are a bit higher than eye level when you’re seated, but on your way to your seat these windows offer nice views into the pristine kitchen. Honestly, I have no idea how any of the chefs get anything done as they also have windows overlooking the park.

The space is very sleek and the weeknight we were there it was populated with a large number of couples with their teenage kids and a few tables of businessmen that matched the sleek design. We were seated by the big window in a booth overlooking the park. The view alone makes a trip to the restaurant worthwhile (did I say that already? Sorry, but we went there on a gorgeous summer evening just as the sun was setting and it was an “I love New York” type view).

The housemade cocktails were quite interesting sounding so my friend opted for one of those, while I went with a delightful glass of Nebbiolo. After we placed our order, a plate of focaccia with ricotta with mint, olive oil and fresh cracked black pepper arrived. The focaccia had a gorgeous texture and the ricotta and mint was lovely smeared on top of it.

We had two appetizers, Cassoncini and Pancetta. The Cassoncini are listed on the menu as swiss chard and crescenza cheese filled fried dough, prosciutto de parma. I thought the prosciutto would be in the pockets and warm but it was actually cold and layered on top. I would have preferred that the prosciutto be inside the pockets because the way they were made the overall flavor of the dish was overwhelmed by the swiss chard. Basically, these were just a disappointment in a way that fried dough pockets should never be. The pancetta was a long strip of pork belly with figs, balsamic vinegar, and pistachios. This was okay but also a bit underwhelming. The pork flavor was mild and it just didn’t have the salty smoke flavor of pork belly that I adore nor did it have the texture that I prefer in pork belly.

For her entrée, my friend decided on the special ravioli with goat cheese and pistachios. I had the trofie with clams, ramps, lemon, and taggiasca olives. Both of these were good pasta dishes but neither of them knocked my socks off. The ravioli had a mild goat cheese flavor and was in a nice butter sauce. The texture was very good, and the dish won best entrée of the table. The trofie looked like little devils and the clams in them were cooked perfectly, but there weren’t enough clams or ramps and the lemon flavor was far too mild. It tasted more of butter than anything else. In other words, I agreed with my friends that had only okay experiences with A Voce. This experience made me wonder whether the other A Voce would disappoint me equally or whether it is superior to this location. I’m willing to give it a chance and have hopes it will win a “wow”.

My friend had a number of raviolis left, so she decided to take them to go. The waiter cleared our plates away and then instead of returning with the doggie bag, he returned with a coat check ticket and told her she could pick up her leftovers at the coat check on the way out. This was definitely one of the classiest ways to handle doggie bags that I’ve ever seen. I kind of loved it…maybe even more then the food I had that night.

For dessert, it’s difficult to resist doughnuts with bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce so we didn’t even try. These were pretty good, but sadly not the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. The bittersweet chocolate was awesome though.

All in all, I think A Voce has scene/atmosphere going for it. Sadly, the food just doesn’t live up to the view.

Sushi Azabu

Sushi Azabu is located in the basement of Greenwich Grill and boasts a modest eight seat counter sushi bar with a few banquettes lining the opposite wall. You enter through the Greenwich Grill’s main entrance and when you inform the hostess you’re there for the sushi bar she radios down to find out if they’re ready for you. You’re led down the stairs to the basement and through a series of curtains to arrive at Sushi Azabu and you’re welcomed with the typical sushi bar greeting from the itamaes behind the bar. The small space is modestly decorated and there are three itamaes behind the counter.

The gimmick worked on me and I was immediately in love. I honestly don’t know if it’s feeling like I know something that others don’t or basement hideouts that appeal to me more. We ordered the omakase that they’re willing to alter the content and price of according to your needs. We decided to go with the recommended $100 price point and a side of Sapporo. I personally far prefer beer over sake with sushi, but if you’re into sake they have quite a list.

Our first bite was octopus and daikon radish in a miso and soy glaze. I loved the daikon in this and parts of the octopus were delightful while others were a tad too chewy. This bite was followed by the largest oysters I have ever seen in my entire life. A series of 3 giant Japanese oysters were arranged on this mammoth oyster shell with a minced, slightly hot pepper and Japanese sauce atop it. The oysters were a delight and unexpectedly were oddly creamier then their smaller, US brethren.

At the start, the food was arriving at a much faster pace then I prefer. It’s a very delicate science as to the right speed for food to arrive. I don’t like when you start looking around wondering why you haven’t gotten anything, but I despise when one plate is removed and another immediately placed in front of you. I’m not a competitive eater and I like to slowly enjoy my food otherwise I don’t have room for my dessert! I really wish they had been a bit slower with the food.

Next up was the sashimi plate, which had two or three pieces of four different types of fish. My favorite was this white fish that was buttery heaven. My next favorite was the fatty tuna. I didn’t love either the clam or the mackerel, the latter of which tasted a tad bit fishy to me and had the skin still on.

The theme throughout the night was without a doubt Fatty Tuna. We had many different preparations of it and most had different levels of fattiness. I loved each piece of fatty tuna we tried, but I would’ve liked a bit more variety in the fish because it seemed like they had a good selection on the regular menu. I couldn’t help but wonder whether they were putting forth their best fish or trying to get rid of something they had in large supply.

After our sashimi, a piping hot ramekin of egg custard was placed in front of us. It was so steaming that we had to wait a good 5 minutes before it was cool enough to try. This was an interesting little dish with mushrooms and egg. It was tasty, but nothing special.

The next dish was a cold crab and cucumber salad in vinaigrette. This was very good fresh crab in a really nice rice wine vinaigrette with crisp cucumber. But again, it was nothing that blew me out of the water. The following dish was fatty tuna marinated in sweet miso sauce. To me there is absolutely nothing as delightful as fish in miso. It’s just a match made in flavor heaven. So it was no surprise that I loved this, but I will say I prefer black cod miso.

Then the main event and my absolute favorite part began. The itamae made us single sushi pieces and placed them ceremoniously on the board in front of each of us. I loved watching him mold the rice for each piece and delicately place the fish atop it. Each piece contained the proper balance of flavor on the rice (we were not given soy sauce to dip the pieces in but rather the chef included the proper flavorings on each individual piece whether that be soy and wasabi or something else). We began with a fatty tuna piece that was fabulous. Our next sushi was scallop. I’ve never had scallop sushi, and I’m sad I haven’t because this was really delightful. The thinly sliced scallop was layered over the rice, and the bite just melted in your mouth. The next was salmon roe roll, which was okay but a bit too much roe flavor that to me should have been offset by something else being in the roll. Then there was a piece of mackerel that was far better than the sashimi mackerel. And then our itamae pulled out a blow torch and seared a piece of fatty tuna that had been brushed with a soy-miso glaze atop rice. Holy cow…it was awesome. Next was my favorite, the horse mackerel (Aji) that was just buttery goodness. Then, he passed us a cone of fatty tuna that was excellent. Our final role was a miso black cod roll that was fish candy heaven on rice. After we had digested for a few minutes, he came over and said I am going to make you each one more of whatever was your favorite roll. I picked the Aji and Susan opted for the miso black cod. This entire portion of the night sold me on this place.

After our sushi board was cleared, our waitress brought us shrimp head miso. This was far too strong of a shrimp taste for either of us and we were forced to feign complete and utter fullness to avoid any awkward we don’t like this at all conversations.

All in all, a wonderful experience at the sushi bar. I would have definitely enjoyed seeing a greater variety of fish, but adored the majority of what they served us. It hasn’t stolen my heart as my favorite sushi bar in the city, but it is a cool place that serves excellent quality sushi.

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.