My girlfriend and I decided to come here this past Friday for a blowout meal as we are moving away New York in a couple weeks. We opted for a 4-course prix fixe since a number of dishes from the gourmand menu did not appeal to my girlfriend's tastes(she has a very sharp palette, but has a number of dislikes) and I like bigger and more complex dishes. I thought the food was excellent overall, with a couple of dishes that weren't quite superb (but one can't expect every dish to be spectacular). I know a number of dishes have been described before, so I'll refrain from description unless there was a new dish. Hors D'oeuvres This has been described upthread, so I don't have much to add other than I thought the black truffle/foie macaroon (which was sweet, but worked very well with the foie and truffle) and goat cheese/meyer lemon galatin were excellent and the different flavors matched very harmoniously. Amuse Bouche Strawberry gazpacho with Hawaiian prawn I was worried that the gazpacho would be too sweet, but luckily it was not. It was very mild and the cripsy and salty prawn at the bottom of the bowl offered a nice twist. One of the best amuse bouches I've encountered in some time. Course 1 Foie Gras The structure of the foie is the same as FG described earlier, except the torchon was replaced by a mille feuilles with bing cherries and pistachios. The mille feuilles was excellent, with a very mild foie flavor that matched well with the cherries. The foie brulee, however, was the star of the show. The sweet top of the brulee made the creamy and slightly salty foie gras that much better. I thought this was a great rearrangement of a dessert for a savory course and the best foie I've ever had. My gf had the heirloom beet salad, which I assumed was quite good because I wasn't able to try it. Course 2 Chilean Turbot The plating was quite whimsical, as a filet of turbot was covered with circles of squash (in the tuna hors d'oeuvre) to recreate scales. The filet was cooked perfectly, but the flavor was too mild and was not very inspiring. My gf had the nova scotia lobster which I was able to try, which was okay. The lobster unfortunately was overcooked and a bit tough, but the jus on the bottom (I think it was fennel and chamomille, but I'm not sure) was excellent (especially with bread). Course 3 Muscovy Duck Superb. The servers presented the whole duck to both of us prior to carving (which I hoped was tableside, but alas, it was not to be), and then plated in 3/4-inch slices after carving. It was everything you could ask for in a duck, crispy skin, tender meat. The sweet skin (glazed in honey) was a perfect harmony with the slightly salty inside. One of the best duck dishes I've had in some time (and I eat duck all the time). There was a side dish of duck confit, but I thought it was overcooked and a touch too salty. Overall, I thought the savories were superb. The word that came to my mind when eating everything was harmony; there are different flavor combinations, but everything seems to work as a cohesive whole. The only thing that wasn't cooked well was the lobster, but it wasn't awful, and the highs were definitely outweighed the lows. I had a "Araguani Grand Cru Chocolate symphony" and my gf had a peach souffle which were pretty good, but nothing to write home about and certainly did not match the savories. What I found surprisingly bad at EMP was the service, which I found odd because I've received excellent service at GT and Tabla. Here's a list of service gaffes I found and a theory about the cause which you can debunk below. 1.) Originally I had a 7:30 reso, but had to work late, so my gf tried to change it about 15 minutes a few hours before. They couldn't change (which wasn't a big deal), but throughout out meal the restaurant was no more than 60% full. Maybe the tables were for VIPs, but not a big deal. 2.) when we were seated, we were taken to a back-right alcove, which was empty save a party for 8 and a B&T crew of 4. I was expecting to sit in one of the two-tops in the corner but we got a flat-bench chair in the middle, with the cushion bench being a bit too worn. Again, this is not a big deal, but once as they started filling the restaurant, other (middle-aged) couples were seated first in the corner seats. 3.) We asked for wine pairings from our server with our meal and he obliged, but he didn't a) ask for the sommelier to come over, b) didn't ask to specify a price range and c) didn't ask us our preferences. He merely walked away and after chatting with the sommelier returned few minutes later stated that pairings had been made. The wine/pp ended up about half what I would have spent had our server asked about a price range, but that's neither here nor there (except maybe getting a sommelier). I'm not sure if I really would have minded, except both of the corner tables were greeted by the sommelier and asked about their preferences. Granted, the other tables were ordering bottles, so maybe I'm expecting a bit too much in this regard 4.) Along the same lines, the sommelier never asked if we liked the pairing, but he asked other tables if they liked his selections. 5.) The server did not come with the serving of the courses to describe the courses, but would come at odd times in the middle of the course to say "Buon Appetito". I tried not to watch the other tables too much (and spoil my meal), but from what I could tell, the server seemed more prompt at other tables. 6.) The wine glasses were presented to us prior to the dessert course, but the wine did not come with desserts. We waited until the server came, who promptly realized the mistake, but I thought after all the other problems, I thought this gaffe was sloppy. I feel that the problem with a number, but not all, of these problems was that my girlfriend and I were significantly younger than the rest of the crowd (we are in our early 20s). We were dressed above average for the people in the dining room and I think we were nice to the staff. I don't think the service was atrocious, but compared with another restaurant at the same price point (say JG), I found the service not only to be inattentive, but willing to cut corners given my age. I was wondering if other members of the eG community (especially younger members like tupac) think if the problems are related to age. I am loath to say that dinner was awful, but I did feel that the lack of care did bring the experience down a few notches.
