Fishtail

[johnder]

Has anyone been to David Burke's new place? I am finding myself up on the upper east side today and was thinking about stopping in for a goûter this afternoon. From what I read they have a downstairs raw bar, and a more formal space upstairs.

[johnder]

Ended up stopping by tonight early for a drink and a few small bites. Space is comfortable, long bar and seperated raw bar prep station on the first floor along with some booths along the wall and the full kitchen in the back. More tables upstairs.

House cocktail list is nothing to speak of, about 5-6 cocktails that you would expect to see at a place on the UES. Mostly vodka based.

Full menu is available at the bar, which is always nice. We ended up starting with some oysters, Belon and Kuma Kuma. All superb and of great quality, expertly shucked. Then had the taco sampler -- Crab salad taquito - old bay and cumin seed, Tun Tartare, pineapple and macadamia nuts, and the Hamachi with avacado and masago caviar.

Was slightly dissapointed they were served in a fried taco shell similar to and old el paso type as opposed to a nice fresh corn tortilla but otherwise they were fine. Not spectacular just ok. Of the three i thought the tuna was the weakest, the pineapple overwhelmed the tuna.

One of the hits of the night was the Dry roasted "angry" mussels with chili oil, basil and lemon. Great flavor in this dish, a huge portion of mussels served on a sizziling cast iron skillet with a dipping sauce. Nice heat in the sauce and great quality mussels.

The bomb of the evening was the terrine. It was a Foie, Prawn and chicken terrine bound with a lobster gelee. There was something off with the shrimp in the terrine. When tasting the shirmp alone it was extremely bitter and had a general off taste. I should have though more about it before ordering it. The chicken and foie can probably last longer holding in the fridge than the prawn. My guess is this was the end of the terrine and shirmp was suffering from it.

The other hit of the evening was the side order of fries. Really excellent fries, served "persillade" style with a nice house made mayo for dipping.

Overall, I will keep this place on my roster of places to go to when I find myself on the UES, but not going to go out of my way to eat there. When I go back, I will stick with the beer or wine by the glass and probably stick with the raw bar and the mussels/fries combo.

[oakapple]

We dined here last night (blog report here), and we were impressed. I had my doubts about this place, mainly because Burke is so over-extended. Right now, they're getting a lot more right than wrong. Of course, on such a big menu a lot depends on whether you happen to order the right things, and if the taxed kitchen executes them correctly. Last night, they mostly did.

There was something funny about seeing David Burke in street clothes. In the first few days of Bar Boulud, people saw Daniel Boulud there in his chef's whites. Now, everybody knows that Boulud doesn't cook at Bar Boulud—never did and never will—but he was maintaining the illusion. Burke just skips the pretense, and no longer even looks like a chef. But Eric Hara was there too. It's really his restaurant now.