Alright, we didn't work up the courage to talk to Doug Psaltis, but we did get a tasting menu, and were, for the most part, extremely pleased. Here's what we ate. I apologize in advance for not knowing the proper names of many if any of these dishes: Amuse: Duck Salad: Basically a tiny salad with lettuce, some kind of classical emulsion-based sauce, a bit of duck meat, some crispy duck skin, and a poached quail egg. This was one of the most successful dishes in a night full of great ones -- the taste was unique, the quail egg was memorable and divine, the ingredients were perfectly proportioned, and the everything tasted great on its own or in combination with the other ingredients. A great way to start the mean First appetizer: "North Carolina Style" Crab Bisque with a Deep-Fried Crab "Finger:" I've only recently started eating shellfish, so I can't say very much about how unique this dish was, but I can say that it was divine. The flavor was perfect, the soup creamy and tasty with a subtle taste, and the dish was a perfect for winter -- a fact that was particularly poignant on the 8-or-so degree evening on which we visited Mix. Second appetizer: French-Style Macaroni and Cheese: This dish was fantastic. I thought I remembered reading some comments in this thread about how it was somewhat "ho-hum," but I can't find them -- anyway, it's decidedly not. It's basically fresh elbow macaroni (slightly smaller than Kraft's) with a bit of beef jus, some sauce bechamel, tiny cubes of ham, and a generous amount (at least on the tasting there was a generous amount) of black truffle shavings. The dish, for me, was a knockout. The taste and scent of truffles unify the dish and make it luxurious and addictive -- our portions were generous, particularly for a tasting menu, but I couldn't bring myself to leave even one tiny piece of elbow macaroni. An extremely satisfying, unique, and good-tasting dish. Fish course: Scallops: This item was the only part of our tasting menu that wasn't on the "real" menu, and the waiter did not really know what it was, so my description of it is something of a guess. Basically, it was 3 or 4 scallops cooked simply srived over some kind of thin tomato sauce/broth with "mashed" calliflour and tiny croutons (I'm talking like less than a centimeter square). The scallops were fantastic -- again, I'm not really a veteran of shellfish-eating, but my girlfriend and frequent dining companion is, and she pronounced them "good, but not as good as the scallops at Jean-Georges." Nevertheless, I was pleased, even if this item was a bit less "Mix-y" than anything else we were served. Meat course: Bison "Wellington" Style: Much bandwith has been spilled in this thread praising the bison -- I'll contribute a bit more. It was almost absurdly tender -- a fantastic piece of meat, really -- served in a brioche accompanied by a small piece of foie gras, a diced mushroom preparation, and a truffle sauce. Everything was obscenely good -- I don't know much about beef wellington (being only 20, I think I missed its heyday), but I loved this dish. I'm also not the biggest foie gras fan around, but I enjoyed it very much with the bison. An excellent entree. Some general observations before dessert: There is an almost obscene attention to detail at work at Mix: every single dish was served at a perfect temperature and the service worked flawlessly, both when we arrived and the restaurant was half-full, and by the time we left when it was packed. From the miniscule, perfectly-cubic croutons to the unique holder for the toast that comes at the beginning of your meal, it is obvious that a lot of thought and tinkering went into creating the Mix formula, which works spectacularly. Despite nearly obsessive microscopic thinking, nothing at Mix feels forced or mannered -- it remains a fun restaurant and one that I would go to regularly if my budget allowed. Dessert: For dessert, they brought the two of us four full-sized desserts to share: Chocolate Pizza with a Caramel Dessert: The chocolate pizza, basically a flaky, thin chocolate pastry with nutella on top is neat and addictive if unspectacular. The caramel pastry was dense, filled with caramel, and extremely rich. Some kind of reconstructed apple pie a la mode: Decent but again unspectacular. The ice cream was fresh, but not more interesting than homemade iced cream from home or some other restaurant, and the "heirloom" apples were top-quality and great. This dessert was pretty good Chocolate Cake: Pretty much inedibly chocolatey. I was somewhat confused that this was even on the menu, as neither my girlfriend nor myself could have more than a bite or two of it. Some kind of Hazelnut Ice Cream/Pear dessert: Served with a cognac sauce, this dessert was pretty good too, if a bit similar to the apple pie dessert The desserts were, as others have mentioned, the low point of the meal. After dessert, they brought a small freestanding spoonful of candied almonds of some sort, which were, of course, better than anything availible at one of the city's hundred street vendors. Mix is a fantastic restaurant, and our tasting menu was perfect, with generous portions and nearly everything I was dying to try from the regular menu. I will go back to Mix again, and I highly recommend that others go as well.
