edo
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Posts posted by edo
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Good to hear the menu has changed somewhat. I'm going Thursday night and I also went a couple weeks ago. Not that I didn't love it then, but I like variety. On another note, I do feel like it has been easier in the last few weeks to get a reservation. I had been trying for a while to get one to take a friend who I knew would really enjoy it, but last time I got one he was out of town so I went with someone else, but it didn't take much time to snag another one for this week. But I know uni and beef cheek are two of his (and my) favorites, so I'm even more excited about the upcoming meal. I'll let you know what I think of the service this time, I've never been unhappy with it, but have enjoyed it more times than others.
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I got in last night as well, and it was quite fun. I got the just before 5, and just barely made it into the first seating. They actually held me and 5 or so other people back from seating right away, keeping a handful of seats open, just to give the kitchen a smaller initial rush, but I was seated with half my beer left, so not long. I got sat next to another lone diner, and was about to ask if he wanted to share a few things so we could try more items, but he beat me to it, so that was fortuitous. I agree with the previous poster that the plates were smaller than I expected, but I was actually delighted this was the case, since it allowed us to do another round and order even more. We ended up getting everything on the special menu with the exception of the potatoes and the celeric.
Curiously, right from the start they said they didn't have the marrow bones and would let us know when and if they arrived. Luckily they did, and they were awesome. But that wasn't surprising since I've made the recipe from his book and it was also awesome, but I couldn't resist trying the real thing.
My next favorite was the lamb brains. I've had sweetbreads plenty of times, but this was my first opportunity for brains, and they were great. Flavor similar to sweetbreads, but exquisitely creamy, much more so than sweetbreads. It would be hard if I had to declare a favorite of the two.
My third favorite I think was the rabbit. The legs were like really good fried chicken but with a mild gaminess, but the loin was the best part. Perfectly cooked and still soft and pink in the center. That's a fine line to walk and you really need the oil and the uncooked meat at the right temp and the timing right (I assume).
I will echo the last comment's claim of lack of diversity. Not really as a criticism, but I would agree. The fried preps of the rabbit, brains, and pig tails were very similar. The end results were quite distinct because the ingredients are so dissimilar, but I can easily see how it would all look like just a bunch of fried stuff on the table. Also, the snail, trotter, sausage and chickpea dish and the pig head and bean salad, while both good, were perhaps redundant. I liked the flavorful broths with the tatst bites in them, but I didn't get a different sensation from the second one. But I thought the chitterlings, the marrow, and the pigs cheek were their own beasts.
It was the first time I've had both chitterlings pigs feet. The chitterlings were tasty, especially the parts that were quite charred. The parts that hadn't been kissed by the flame as much were ok but I preferred the crispy charred parts to the more slimy parts. As I suspected, the pigs feet were not my thing. They were cooked very well, but I'm not very into things quite that gelatinous, but I enjoyed trying it very much.
All in all, a very fun, especially taking the experience in it's entirety.
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Would love it if anyone having dinner there in the near future can sneak a couple of questions in to the chefs.
I actually asked when I was there, but unfortunately I don't remember the specifics. I can say that it was just one of your simple alternatives like a little splash as it finishes cooking, I think. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered if it was something more notable.
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fyi, I believe they open the reservations for 6 weeks from today tomorrow at 10am. At least that was the plan when they started.
And I agree it is not better than ko or per se, but different. In fact I prefer both ko and per se, but I'd still go back to Tuesday dinner. The food was still great and interesting, and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. I'm not always in the mood for the formality of per se, so something more casual has its place. (not that I've ever turned down going to per se...)
Well, I tried to get in this morning for the 12/09. Besides the busy/circuits busy stuff, I also got a "this phone number is not in service" bs. After 5 minutes of all this, I get thru and get the answering machine saying I have to talk to a rep.WTF with that "not in service" crap??
Forget it; it's sour grapes I suppose but I can get into Ko and PerSe, I can't imagine this to be better.
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just checked the receipt, the pairings were $85 each.
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Thanks for the review -- have been very interested in this since hearing about it. The menu looks great! Two quick questions:
1) With the sturgeon the "Horseradish Confit" caught my eye. Can you describe it, and how was it?
2) I assume the wine pairings were in addition to the $150 price point? If so, do you recall how much they charged?
I actually don't remember noticing the horseradish confit, come to think of it. It also caught my eye one the menu, and I remember thinking about it when I got the dish, but all I noticed were the radishes and since I didn't have my menu out thought I must have misremembered it and the sliced radishes were what I was thinking of. Maybe there was a puree under the fish? Sorry I can't remember, but the overall dish was fantastic so I assume it contributed.
Yeah, the wine pairing were extra, but I think they must have been a great deal. I just looked up my favorite wine, the Torbrek, and it's $210 at astor, but the total bill for the 4 of us was only just over $1000 including tax, so that makes the wine pairing $80ish? (I had a cocktail to start as well.) Sounds very reasonable, if not a steal. I'll try to remember to check the receipt at home. I hope they didn't accidentally undercharge us and I failed to notice.
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Were there multiple seatings, one seating with staggered start times, or one seating at one time?
I think there was just one seating, but they were definitely staggered. We sat at 7:30 and most if not all of the tables were filled when we got there. We didn't have to wait for our table, and considering we were not done until after 11 I think we must have been the only one at that table all night. I believe they serve 32 diners a night. (actually, this forbes article says 28: http://www.forbes.com/wineandfood/2008/10/...15winefood.html ) At least two tables finished well before us, and I had assumed that the first one would have a seating at around 9 or 9:30 but it in fact never did. I'm pretty sure they had 9pm available for the later dates, but maybe they had slightly fewer people for the first night to make sure things run smoothly?
They were packing up the kitchen and Chef Tom was out of the kitchen and apparently by the bar while we were still on our dessert, so perhaps that night we were the latest seating? I don't recall anyone sitting after us, but I was facing the kitchen and wouldn't have seen anyone at the tables behind me.
So I guess short answer is one seating but staggered.
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There's an odd post on Eater:
Fergus Henderson Takes NY
Wednesday, October 15, 2008, by BL
Dave Chang writes in with this crucial update to Furgus Henderson's New York itinary: "Fergus Henderson has added another date to his New York tour. After his show at the Spotted Pig, Fergus will be cooking dinner at Momofuku Noodle Bar, Monday, November 3rd. No reservations."
If that's true I imagine it will be a madhouse.
Yeah, I was just about to post about that as well. Anyone have any idea what might be the best strategy to try to get in for that? Sounds like something I might want to try.
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I had the pleasure of eating at the opening night of Colicchio's new project on Tuesday, and thought I'd give you my two cents. I was busy when I first got wind of the reservation number and didn't call right away, but was able to get on the wait list and luckily for me they had a cancellation so I got a 4 top at 7:30, and i was not disappointed. We got menus (individually signed) to take home, but it's easiest to look at the one online at:
http://www.tomtuesdaydinner.com/menus
I'll give you my impressions of the courses.
The amuse is unlisted, but it was great. Two actually, one was a very tasty and interesting duck heart with fig sauce. The other was very a simple but most excellent bite of marrow and truffle panini. This was actually maybe my favorite thing, but I'm a sucker for decadent bone marrow, and there were plenty more hits to come.
The porchetta was a nice started, presented in a cold thinly sliced terrine, reminiscent of mortadella (pistachios and all.) The scattered garnishes had a very nice textural diversity that gave each bite a different taste, depending on which bits you got. The sweet raisins and the briny capers, and there was something crunchy and salty in the mix as well, I suspect it was little bits of the pork skin.
The sea bass was a perfectly delicate presentation with nicely crisp skin, and the texture and subtle flavor of the fish was not overpowered but nicely complemented by the garnishes and the broth.
The risotto was very interesting, the flavor really focused on the squid ink. I'm not sure I really noticed the cocoa nibs, maybe they just gave a hint of bitter to go with the squid. I'm not sure what the squid was stuffed with, but it was very tender and everything worked very well together when you got a bit of everything on your fork. Oh yeah, one of those things was a crisped slice of pancetta.
A bit of an interlude about the wine pairing. I don't recall many of the specifics, but they were matched very well with the courses, and the diversity of selections was impressive. We had a Riesling that was not too sweet, I think with the Porchetta. There was a drier white for the sea bass. With the squid there was an intriguing white wine, it was very dry with lots of mineral, almost reminded me of a dry sherry. This brings me to perhaps my only slight negative of the night. There were some longish delays between a couple of our courses, I assume because it was opening night and I believe they didn't ever have any dry runs before opening. I didn't terribly mind since I was with good company, but thought I would be remiss in gushing about everything else and not mentioning it. I'm sure at later dinners they'll have those kinks worked out. In any case, the squid was one of the delayed courses, and I kept sipping the wine trying to understand it and figure out how much I liked it, so I didn't have much left for the food. But what I had left really did go amazingly well with the dish.
The next course was the sturgeon. It was one of my favorites, the fish was very meaty and the saltiness of the speck it was sheathed in was a great match. We had a nice pinot noir with this.
We next had a barbaresco, I think, with the squab. Both were delicious. The breast was very rare and the whole clove of black garlic gave a great tang to a bite when a bit of it was included. The squab leg didn't have much meat to get off it, but it did come included with the entire taloned foot.
The lamb was my favorite. Can't think of how to elaborate, but yum. The wine here was my favorite as well, a Torbreck Runrig Shiraz. They did come around and refill our glasses when the food arrived this time, although I don't think the glasses were not full due to a delay in the food, but simply due to our love of the wine and the fact that we already had downed many glasses in the earlier courses. All the wine pours were quite generous for a 9 course meal also, come to think of it.
The gnocchi were not the rich dense ones I had guessed they would be, but light little fried pillows and served as a cheese course. They were quite tasty, and were better suited at this point in the meal than something else heavy would have been.
The grape soda was a playful and pleasing little shot and made for a good palate cleanser before the dessert.
And the dessert was more like 5 or 6 tiny little mini desserts, each a bite or two. Most notable to me was a little puff of brioche you dipped in a caramel sauce, but all were good.
Despite the number of courses, I didn't at all feel overfull, but perfectly sated, which is a difficult task for such a feast. On our way out the chef was in the front by the bar chatting a bit so we got to thank him for the great meal. I'm curious to see how much the menu changes at subsequent dinners. If, as I suspect, it changes a lot, I'll definitely try to go back a time or two for the 26 dinners he's doing for the year before he's done. But I also suspect that it will be difficult to get in going forward, but we'll see.
btw, if anyone is interested in trying to go, last I heard they open up the Tuesday 6 weeks in advance at 10 am the Wed after each tuesday dinner.
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I don't think I have enough data to determine if it changed (and I try nearly every day), since the success rate is so low. It seems like every time you can usually see a green check but when you click on it, it has already been taken. I was able to go last night after getting a res around 10 am last week, but I got it at 10:01 after refreshing a few times because someone let the time expire or something. Catching the second wave a minute or two after 10:00 is how I've gotten my two most recent hits.
My casual observation, not scientifically supported, is that the 10am drill got harder after Labor Day. -
Maybe the guy we saw sneak the pic friday at lunch was Ryan Sutton:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...WWoM&refer=muse
I for one enjoyed that I wasn't overfull after the lunch.
FWIW, I find Sam much more chatty than anyone else there. -
wow, impressive memory Mayur. I don't have much to add, I concur with their summaries, they were spot on. The sorbet was peach, with milk crumbs and some other component that made it taste like a peach cobbler to me. The pork-miso sausage in the ravioli dish was an inspiration. And Chang was there hanging out and chatting the whole time, so that was cool too. I've always liked the service I've gotten at ko, but this time was the best, with an even better vibe. Although it probably didn't hurt that I was sitting next to fat guy who knew the chefs.
oh, and I think the amuse was a pork rillette, not pure lard, just mostly.
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Anyone heard any rumblings about when the reservations for lunch will go live or how they will work? I think they might start regular service next week, I read that somewhere. I'm kinda guessing that one morning this holiday weekend a line for the lunch seating will appear at 10am.
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Eater reports that as of July 19, Eleven Madison Park will cease serving Saturday brunch and will no longer be open on Sundays.
Yeah, I just saw that and came to comment. I'm quite curious why they are closing on Sundays. Especially the last time I was there, the food was incredible, but the service was awful. Very very slow for everything. Bringing cocktail, menus, taking the wine order, taking regular orders, bringing the check. Really disappointing given how good the service is at all Meyer's other places, and how good it can be at EMP. My only speculations are that there was a large party in the private room that may have distracted resources, or possibly Sunday is a regular manager's night off and the sunday guy is not nearly as good???
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I've noticed on the saam dinner menu they mention a tasting menu they can do, has anyone ever tried that? I only noticed it the last couple times I was there, don't remember seeing it before. I'm specifically curious if the give you small portions of a selection of the regular menu, or if it's off menu stuff.
Now that I've tried almost everything on the regular menu, if it's different stuff I may go check it out this weekend....
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I have read/heard rumors about them adding a lunch seating. Does anyone know if this is true?
yeah, I asked them about lunch when I ate there monday. They said it was coming, but detail were yet to be decided. They don't yet know if it will be the same menu and number of courses as dinner, or if it will be something different. Who knows, they may just take walk-ins at lunch.
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I didn't see them stop anyone from using a camera, I just heard one of the guys mention that they we not allowing cameras anymore. I think it was all cameras, not just flashes. My impression was that they just got annoyed by too many people doing it. I suspect that lots of people were fine, but some people did not do it responsibly by either taking too long, or using flashes, or taking pictures of the guys cooking, or jostling other patrons, taking up too much space, etc, and they got tired of asking people not to do this list of 20 things, and it was just easier to tell everyone no and be done with it.
I did have to wait 15 or 20 minutes after my 8:30 reservation on Monday, I think it was because the people before me were taking extensive notes, since I noticed one of them had a notebook out. On their way out they apologized and thanked the hostess for letting them take a bit longer. I didn't really mind the wait, I just got to watch the guys cook a bit longer. (I could see easily since the 4 corner seats were empty until after I sat down.)
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Out of curiousity, what time were you there? Early, middle or late?
8:30 reservation, but we weren't seated until 8:45. That also may have contributed to the increased interaction with the chefs, since by the end of my dinner service had been completed for at least several of the other seats. The first time I went was at 6:30. The later seating was another reason I liked the second visit more than the first.
Yeah, I did hear them mention that they have started asking people not to use cameras. Understandable, but I will miss seeing pics of the new stuff they develop in the future.
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I went to Ko for the 2nd time Monday night, and I have to say, as much as I loved it the first time, this time was impressively even better, for several reasons.
First, I splurged on the new $150 wine pairing, and I thought all the pairings were exceptional, with some really excellent wines whose style I was familiar with, but also with a couple types I've never heard of, but were very interesting and fun.
Second, I chatted with the guys behind the counter a lot more than the first time. I suspect this was mostly because this time I was alone, while the first time I went soon after it opened I was with my wife, so I was more motivated to chat them up. And also because we could talk about the changes in the menu, but they did seem to be more comfortable with the interaction now that they've settled a bit.
The third and most important thing that made me like it more was the most impressive. Somehow, they kept all the dishes I loved and would have missed, and replaced the few I liked the least from the first time with some exceptional dishes (or in the case of the short rib, vastly improved it.) So I still got the fluke, the egg, and the foie, but also got the new (to me) pea soup with crawfish and morels, the snail lasagna, and an awesome halibut with spicy pepperoncini puree underneath and an offsetting slightly sweet mix of 4 types of something from the greenmarket on top. I loved these much more than I liked the oyster dish and the scallop dish from the first visit. I can't even remember what the 3rd dish they replaced is, or if there was a course added. As for the short rib, I enjoyed it the first time but was slightly disappointed after hearing about it, but this time they have switched to a different source for the meat, keeping the recipe the same, and the results were great.
Anyway, thoroughly excellent, and I enjoyed it even more than I was expecting to (and I was expecting a lot.) I look forward to going back hopefully in a few months to see what else new they come up with.
as an aside, it did seem that they have settled into more of a set menu and that everyone in every party was getting the same dishes, I think I recall them mixing it up a bit more the first time. Given how often one can go, I don't think this is a negative at all. It's one thing if it was likely that someone would go often enough that they'd want different stuff, but I imagine that doesn't happen too often. Although the guys next to me apparently had been recently enough that their menu was essentially the same...
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if anyone goes and they have the "fried minnows" as a special, get them. they were awesome. little whole fishes should be served instead of popcorn everywhere. I was expecting to notice some crunch from the bones, at least in the head, but nothing but pure goodness. And it was a very sizable portion too. Almost filled up on those critters and couldn't finish our pasta. actually, come to think of it, some of the very best things I've had there are the specials (not the weekly ones, which are excellent, but I'm referring to random things they tell you about)
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Does anyone know whether they serve the pistachio croustillant or the rhubarb shortcake (or the dessert of the season, whatever it is) at lunch?
I think they only serve the brownie pie at lunch.
yeah, had lunch on Saturday, only dessert is the brownie pie.
regarding the off menu/specials at dinner, are they generally mentioned, sometimes only mentioned to regulars, or do people generally ask if there are any to hear them? I've had one or two mentioned maybe half the times I've been there, should I be inquiring more? they sound awfully good. but I guess given my love for everything they have that's not surprising.
I also agree about the pate. not at all bad, but not enough to order over other things. I also preferred it more on a bit of bread from my ham plate.
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I actually had the crab pasta special as well, but I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it was very very good, but it was my least favorite of the things I got (sea bass, beef tounge, sweatbreads, all YUM). Maybe it would be better for sharing with a couple other people, but since I was alone I found myself wishing that I instead had some of the chicken wings, or the prawns with grits, neither of which I've had this being my first time) that I kept seeing going out right in front of me. I did like that it was very seasonal, and the first several bites were very enjoyable, but I tired of it (at least relative to all the other great stuff) when there was still lots left.
It did seem popular though. Actually, come to think of it maybe they just had very few. I didn't see too many go out, but I heard them say they only had 6 left around 8:30 or so.
It was interesting to me to see what type of dishes got ordered, since I saw most everything go out. It looked to me that there were lots of the noodle dishes and kimchee stew, looked like most everyone got some of those. Then there were lots of the prawns with grits and lots of the chicken wings. butt I saw very few of the raw dishes or offal dishes go out. I only saw one sweatbread go out, and good thing I did because it looked awesome so I added it to my order, and indeed it was. Maybe this is telling me that I'm ordering the wrong things, but I suspect my interests lie elsewhere. I also wonder that since it was a saturday night, it a less adventurous crowd? (not at all in a bad way.) or maybe I'm just weird. any thoughts? I really did want to try the kimchee stew, but I saw how big it was and thought ordering that would preclude trying too many other things, so I'll have to go back and try it.
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I'm probably a rarity in that I had never been to Noodle Bar until saturday, but I've been to saam a bunch of times (and ko once.) I really have no excuse, but I didn't get into the momofukus until saam bar opened and loved it so much that I always ended up back there. Kinda like I've never made it to that sushi place just north of lupa that everyone tells me is so good but I can't pass lupa on the way to a dinner and not go there. That and I foolishly didn't realize that noodle bar had all the small plates like saam I love so much and not mostly the noodle dishes. Also I knew it was small so I figured it was harder to get into...
well, enough excuses, I finally went to noodle bar saturday night. and then had a late lunch sunday at saam, but hey, I was in the neighborhood for other things both times, and I already discussed my will power.
in any case, I personally have not really felt that service has slipped at saam. maybe by the tiniest amount, and and it's surely had (slight) ups and downs, but I've had recent dinners there that were just as good as the early ones, which were excellent, if that wasn't clear.
I obviously can't really speak to how noodle bar compares with it's earlier incarnation, but from my one experience, it was fantastic. I'd say just about as fantastic as I find saam. I probably liked it a little more, but I think that was because it was new and slightly different, and I walked in alone at 8pm past a dozen people to the hostess, planning on cooling my heels for an hour, but she was able to seat me at the bar in front of the expediters station right away. So I guess that part was cool too.
In any case, for me, I think they are nearly perfect substitutes, really hitting me in the same place, and I'l try to frequent them both to sample the wider variety of dishes. I guess what I'm saying of I checked the waits at both, I'd go to whichever was faster and not be a bit dissapointed, and hopefully that plan will roughly have me alternating.
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Has anyone heard anything about the upcoming guest chefs from Spain? I read about it here:
http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-...n-New-York-City
but can't find anything else. Of course I've been too lazy to actually call, but I did make a res on opentable for next week to check it out. I figure I won't be disappointed if it's the regular menu since I've been meaning to try the place anyway.
SushiSamba had one of their chefs who had trained at el bulli do a few special menus a couple months back I went to and it was fun.
Dennis Foy
in New York: Dining
Posted
I've been there twice since I live nearby. Both times I have really enjoyed the food, but both times I we were the only party there, which kinda makes for a weird dining experience. The first time admittedly was in horrible weather and they claimed they had lots of cancellations, which I could believe since in fact I had a res somewhere uptown but canceled that and went to Foy since it was so close. The second time I went it was a normal day so I expected a normal crowd, but again it was just us. Unfortunate, because I quite like the place.