BryanZ
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Posts posted by BryanZ
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Lunch is three courses, inclusive of dessert. It seems highly unlikely that they'll let you swap in another savory for a dessert. Perhaps with a slight supplement this is possible, however.
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Corton sounds about perfect. EMP, too. One of the new Italian spots, either Convivio or Scarpetta. Maybe one of the four-stars. Come May, maybe one of the haute barnyard spots like Blue Hill or Gramercy Tavern.
I'd skip Ko actually, given your preferences.
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Obviously getting soigne'd at per se is hard to beat, but just because a restaurant cannot or chooses not to be per se doesn't mean that it's less enjoyable (per se).
Then again, there's Alinea...
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Yeah, I've done the Gourmand I think a few times now under Humm, but I wonder if the Eleven, with the price hike and without listed courses is any different or better or what.
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Has anyone done the "Eleven" menu for dinner? At $175 it's far, far from cheap, but some interested parties in my family are curious to see how the place has evolved over the past couple of years and want to go.
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Yeah, the $20 charge was a bit strange to me too, but totally makes sense when you see the difference between the starters and mains with regards to size and complexity. I was told $14 over the phone a few weeks back and your experience suggested similarly, but we actually asked them to pull the john dory off the tasting menu first, were told $28, so then bumped it down to the similar skate which was quoted at $20.
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Corton, EMP, wd~50, BH@SB. I've enjoyed, in the pure happiness sense, my meals at these spots more than ones at Per Se. 'Twas a shame you missed Gilt.
And Alinea if you can fly.
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sickchangeup inspired me to get back to try the new prix fixe lunch offering at EMP today. As usual, I really enjoyed the food, and feel it's a good value, but it lacks some of the extra touches that make lunch at JG feel like such a special dining experience.
So, to begin, with this prix fixe offering they've dropped offering any kind of amuse. On the balance sheet, +1 to JG. The plates at EMP follow a more traditional appetizer then main format, with progressive portion sizes to match. For some, this could be a pro, for others the limited flexibility might be a con. A wash on this point, then. JG always offers various petits fours, but these have also been dropped at EMP. Mignardises are available to order from the dessert menu for $12, but, if the comped trays we received are the same as what is offered on the dessert menu, one order is large enough to share. Another +1 to JG, assuming most diners won't get these sweet bites as part of the prix fixe.
With service, both restaurants are excellent, but I'd have to give the slight nod to EMP, if only because the runners seem to know the food better and are more friendly. I do prefer the room at JG, however, if only because it's smaller. So, among non-food facets, another wash.
What I found interesting at EMP is that the the mains were more enjoyable than the smaller starters. The opposite is usually the case at most restaurants, and is probably even more true at JG where the top and middle sections of the menu reign. The main courses at EMP are more elaborate than those at the bottom of the menu at JG. There are more components, and the presentations of the large dishes are more striking. If, like me, a meal can be made or broken upon receiving just one beautifully orchestrated and arranged plate of food, then the +1 has to go to EMP on the strength of its main dishes alone. Furthermore, EMP is the safer choice. JG's affinity for citrus and spice means that new dishes can be out of balance and even alienating. No such issue here. However, while the lows at JG are lower, the highs are also arguably higher. So, in summary, a bonus +1 to EMP for the obvious effort put into their main dishes, but a wash across the rest of savory board depending on one's mood and how one orders.
With regard to value, another +1 to JG, as any course can be added for $14 and desserts are only $8. Additional entrees here are $20, desserts $12. Don't get me wrong, this is a totally fair price for beautiful plates of food, but from a absolute dollar amount, you'll spend more here than at JG. I did like the cool/gimmicky $28 page in the wine list. Here are a few bottles, half bottles, glasses, and a one-ounce taste of Chateau d'Yquem, each for, you guessed it, $28.
So, in the long run, it looks like JG comes out ahead, and I'd have to agree with (my own, largely subjective) numerical assessment. With that said, there is the intangible warmth that EMP's staff offers and it's more convenient location. The fact that both restaurants now accept Relais and Chateaux dining certificates is just icing on the cake.
Oh, yeah, we ate some food, too. Parnsip veloute with sweetbreads and truffle oil was the favorite of the apps. This was very, very nice. We weren't super impressed with the octopus salad. It bordered on oversalted, and had too much fennel on the plate for me. Suckling pig agnolotti were quite nice; they reminded me of something one might get at Fiamma or a contemporary starred restaurant in Italy. I just wanted a bit more porkiness throughout.
My favorite of the mains was the duo of lamb I ordered. A smart, technically proficient plate of food that showed just enough inspiration to keep it above the masses of other similar lamb dishes in the city. Not as good or innovative as the Corton lamb, but seemingly more rooted in classical cooking. Also, really liked the stuffed skate wing. A Madras curry oil lent a taste of the exotic, as well as some orange, braised endive. Not sure what the color was from. Lobster risotto with a couple slices of black truffle was perhaps the simplest dish but totally satisfying in a lux-comfort food way. Finally, the seafood chowder was topped with a nicely cooked piece of bass, but my favorite parts of the dish were the nuggets of squid and bay scallop strewn throughout. As I'm recalling all these main dishes, they were all excellent and I'd happily eat any of them repeatedly.
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It seems highly unlikely that they'll let one order the chef's tasting and one the prix fixe.
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Needed an interesting but still safe restaurant for a bunch of people last night and Tet fit the bill quite well. We were quite a large group and were able to get a reservation just a couple days in advance; good for us, not so good for the largely empty restaurant.
I don't think the food here is particularly mind blowing, but it's solid and fairly priced. This isn't Chinatown cheap, but still quite affordable. For a pretty light meal, we spent about $25/person. I thought the small plates were better than the noodles and mains. We really liked the ribs and the coconut crepe with shrimp and chicken. The tempura fried vegetables were like little fries and surprisingly addictive.
The mains were, to me, a bit one-note, not usually the case with Southeast Asian cuisines. We had the beef in a spiced brown gravy and the chilean sea bass. They were tasty, just not explosive and complex. The pho was pretty solid, but one can get versions just as good for half the price. There weren't any of the good bits either--tendon, fatty brisket--which was probably good for my group but was a bit sad for me.
Desserts, especially the sorbets and ice creams, felt a bit like throwaways. I wanted to walk over to Milk Bar but I couldn't convince the lazy masses to follow. As far as the limited dessert menu goes, the banana tart and tapioca soup were pretty good, even if both were too mushy.
This report sounds overly negative, I think, because I would certainly go back and that doesn't really come through. I think Tet lacks the excitement of trendier restaurants and the more visceral nature of Chinatown ones. I know many people aren't sold on "high-end" Vietnamese food, and I'm still on the fence. Perhaps a visit to Mai House is in order to further explore the merits of this subset of Vietnamese cooking.
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With the JGV Winter Promotion going on, $35 seemed a fair tariff to sample a few courses at Matsugen. Neither my dining companion nor myself wanted a big meal, so we decided to order one of the $35 prix fixe and a couple of the restaurant's better known dishes to share.
It's surely easy to spend a lot of money here. A couple plated apps, some sushi, maybe a shabu shabu set or a couple grilled items, and a carafe of sake and you've blown past the $100/person threshold. We, however, took advantage of the prix fixe and ordered the bakudan and house special cold soba. To drink a $4 pot of tea that was happily refilled with hot water but too small to hold more than about a mug and a half of tea per refilling. All in, we spent just shy of $50 each.
The food here represents contemporary Japanese cuisine quite well. The flavors are authentic and clean but not so austere as one might find in more traditional schools of Japanese cooking. You won't mistake the food here for Kyoto kaiseki cuisine, but neither is it in the fusion-y vein of Nobu and its spawn.
The prix fixe was solid, but I think we enjoyed the a la carte dishes more. Perhaps this was to be expected. Wasabi nuts and grilled edamame were fine, but more tea snacks than courses. Fluke tataki, completely fine, if a bit one note. The dressing overpowered the fish, but this happens often in tataki preparations. Chicken meatballs were strikingly simple but much better than I thought they would be. Fried to a crisp and quite dense, I'd eat a bowl of these with a couple beers and be happy. Black cod seemed a bit underseasoned but was nicely cooked. Thankfully, this was not as cloying as most versions out there. The bakudan a la carte app--the "stuff" in the bowl you mix and eat with nori--was very, very tasty, though I thought the portion was a little small. It's less an exercise in excess than one in delicate and very Japanese flavors and textures.
The star of the meal, and I was happy this was the case, were the two soba dishes. The hot duck soba was very good, very hearty. The house special soba was right near excellent, however. The variety of flavors and textures, all held together with the hearty, toothsome noodles was quite refreshing and unique. You don't really get this sensation in Western cooking.
We split the prix fixe dessert and headed out. It was a very nice, Zen-like experience, especially given how quiet the city was last night.
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This might completely be conjecture, but it seems to me the "old" a la carte lunch offerings were more lunch-y, while the lunch tasting menu was nearly an exact copy of the shorter dinner tasting menu. Now, it seems like the the prix fixe lunch offerings are, perhaps obviously enough, mimicking the style of the lunch plates at JG. We see a mix of dishes that would seem at home on the dinner menu, just slightly tamed by perhaps a half-step with regard to components or complexity.
I'll see if I can stop by in the next week. The last time I tried to go, I was shut out because they don't serve lunch on Saturday.
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Agreed.
What's interesting about this place is that it's really become a full on restaurant. With the recent press, and not to mention great food, it's becoming something of a not-so-sleeper success as a restaurant not as a bar, cocktail or otherwise. I wonder if this was entirely on purpose, or do we have a nearly Ssam Bar-like situation on our hands where a spot that does something decently (Korean wrap fast food/above avg. EV watering hole toying with the idea of serving food) morphs into something quite different and markedly better.
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The fact that they feature the cocktail list prominently seems to suggest that they're trying to be more than just a bar. Also they seem to pride themselves on the classics and new "mixology" on said list. Of course this isn't, as Sneakeater puts it, a Serious Cocktail Lounge but I do wish the list would change more and that more care would be put into the drinks. With that said, perhaps because it was Repeal Day or because I had on my prohibition era outfit, the bartender did measure out my drink for the first time.
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I think five or larger.
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Shanghai Cafe was highly recommended to me, but I couldn't confirm on an online menu that they had tong po pork. I had kind of promised this dish to friends so wanted to go with the sure thing.
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No, this was a different dish. It's literally chunks of fish fillet floating in a sea of dried chilies and spicy broth.
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Roasted Delights at 5 Catherine St. (right off Bowery) has gotten a bit of food board and blog play in recent weeks. Serious Eats gave it a strong review, but it was "Legacy Participant" Daniel who actually piqued my interest to this place. I stopped by on Friday afternoon for a quick bite and found the restaurant empty, but the man I assume to be the owner quickly sat me and brought me some tea with a smile. Perhaps I'm use to gruff C-town service now, but this simple gesture was enough to put me in the right mood. I quickly ordered and received a three-meat combo over rice. The meats were red-cooked pork, crispy pork belly, and soy-garlic chicken.
All in all, I thought that the care in cooking each of these meats was apparent. The chicken was not overcooked and dry but moist and tender. The pork, much the same, and not too sweet either. The highlight of the plate was the crispy bits of fat that adorned the belly slices. Boldly underseasoned, this was all about pure porky goodness. I'm not sure Roasted Delights offers the same variety as some of the better known spots, but what they do have seemed to me to be a half-step above the other roasted items I've had in Chinatown.
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The skin and layer of subcutaneous fat on the baby pig is where the action is. The meat itself is a bit bland, perhaps due to the animal's age, and doesn't quite have the punch that one often expects in roasted staples like duck or red-cooked pork. My ideal roasted plate here would be two parts duck, one part baby pig, and a small dish of raw ginger/scallion to help cut the fat.
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Had dinner here on Friday and quite enjoyed it. Service was about as brusque as one can stand, but the food was tasty and hot and mind-meltingly cheap. I seriously spent more on a cocktail-and-a-half afterward than I did on dinner. Per friends' recommendations we got the cold beef/tripe, spicy eight jewels, scallion pancake, crab-pork soup dumplings, lion's head meatballs, tong po pork, and a vegetable dish of sauteed bok choy and mushrooms in a clear sauce. The only forgettable dish was the scallion pancake, and a couple of my dining companions thought that the meatballs were overwhelming. They're large and a bit coarse, but the dish works as a whole.
The food worked very well for the weather, as it was quite rich, but my friend remarked that he liked a recent meal at Congee Village more. I consider the cuisines significantly different to find comparison not all that helpful and would happily return to either.
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A friend was in town for the weekend, and I felt the need to enjoy a nice lunch with her. Much to my chagrin, EMP doesn't serve lunch on Saturdays, so I was unable to try their new $28 two-course offering. Oh well. Instead, Jean Georges was able to squeeze me in with a same day reservation at the end of service, so at 2:15, after braving the heaving throngs of tourists in midtown, we sat down to an entirely civilized lunch.
Amuse is a cumin-cauliflower soup with hibiscus tea, soy-cured salmon with Asian pear, and a segment of tangerine with a crispy sugar coating and chili salt. The tangerine felt like a bit of a throwaway, but it was a diverse set of opening bites.
Skate, foie. Yeah, you know they're good. Instead of the cod with lemongrass consomme and honshimeji they were featuring halibut so we got that. The dish is more delicate with this substitution but in a couple bites the herbs overpowered the fish. Sweetbreads, yeah, they were very good as usual, but I can see how people would find the lemon puree overpowering if you're not careful. Finally, the chicken is a bit of a drab plate but about the tastiest chicken nugget you'll ever have. Confited thigh is topped with a parmesan crust. This is served atop salsify and a citrus butter jus.
No desserts, as we had a big dinner coming up, too. Service was totally fine. We sat in one of the two "nooks," and while those might be the most private tables, I feel as though they're too removed from the energy of the dining room. My dining companion, whose previous visit was in the summer of '07, found the renovation a bit sterile if more in tune with modern design aesthetics.
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There's a new number system in place at Milk Bar that, theoretically, makes the ordering and pick-up process a bit more organized. The issue, however, is that one can take a number, say, 1, and not know what to order. If someone else comes up and grabs 2, knows what to order immediately, and does so, the whole sequential nature of the number system and the accompanying deli-style number counter behind the register goes out the window. Go when it's busy, and I think you'll see what I'm talking about.
Thankfully, the pastries still remain delicious. The brown-butter cinnamon roll no longer has a cream cheese filling, making it less sweet (good) but also less decadent (bad). The egg pork bun has also gone up in size by about 50%. When I had it, it was simply the normal pork bun, with an egg. You were effectively paying a $4.50 premium for a fried, poached egg. This was lame, and I said as much. Now, the thing has more pork and a bigger bun. Not exactly a great value, but better and nearer to a full-sized sandwich.
The new item I had yet to try was the English muffin. A bit too gloppy perhaps but very tasty. The smoke from the bacon permeates the entire sandwich and even into one's fingers.
And no pistachio cake. Sadness.
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Needed a quick and affordable dinner in the EV last weekend, so a friend and I decided that GSI was an obvious choice. Was at Redhead the night before, didn't feel like falafel or ramen, no to burgers or American food; it was was as if the answer was made for us.
Since we were only two we couldn't order a ton of food, but managed to put away the cumin beef, fish in chili pepper broth (don't know what it's actually called), the green beans with pork, and the pickled cabbage. No complaints, this is very solid Sichuan food, and perfect for a cold night. The fish dish was particularly sinus-clearing, and I liked the contrast in the beef dish with the sweet bun, assertive spice, and bite of the onion and cilantro. I think I prefer Szechuan Gourmet, but given the location, GSI is a completely viable option. Spent less than $30/person and had food to take home even after gorging ourselves.
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Stopped by The Redhead last Friday for a little Repeal Day supper. Drinks remain passable and, ironically enough for a "cocktail bar," not the reason one should visit.
First, a bit of an off-note. Although we made a reservation, my party of five was made to wait over 40 minutes for our table. We arrived exactly on time, checked in, and were effectively ignored. No updates, no offer to buy us a drink while we waited, so we just camped around the bar and continued down the long, sweet road to inebriation. I realize this is a small dining room, but, seriously, at least apologize for the delay and send me some of that brittle to soak up the drinks I'm purchasing from your bar.
Anywho, the food remains delicious and affordable. With Bruni's recent piece on dining out on a budget, I have to imagine it will become even more crowded. With a good deal of drinking, a main for everyone, a bunch of sides, and one dessert, I think we spent around $45 after tax and tip. Not bad for seriously tasty comfort food. This actually marked the first time I had tried the fried chicken. It's pretty awesome, though stylistically I prefer mine spicier. Our one dessert, some kind of toffee cake-pudding thing was fine but too sweet.
So, eat here, don't drink here (though I do like the cheap cans of PBR), and go at an off-hour so you won't have to wait too long.
Bouley
in New York: Dining
Posted
This was mentioned before, but it's just a bit expensive in these times for the usual array of trusted food bloggers and board posters to visit. It's kind of like why there hasn't been much from the Oak Room or, to a lesser extent, Veritas. People went ga-ga over Corton, rightfully, and then spend the rest of their money eating at cheaper spots.