1 week in NY - reviews

[LuisMiguel]

After looking at this site amongst other sources for ideas for NY meals, I've decided to put down all my findings here. Excuse me for the length but hope you all find it of use and look forward to hearing some feedback. I'm from London so some of my comparisons will inevitably be made with high end dining in London. My ratings are relative to other similar restaurants in that category.

Saturday - Rosa Mexicano (Dinner)

We wanted to start off with something fun and lively for our first night and the comments on the margharitas sold us. The frozen margharitas are truly as great as I've read. Needless to say after 2 or 3 you're in quite a happy mood. The legendary guacamole to me lacked a bit of punch. I asked for it medium, but as others have said, they seem to prepare it far too mildly. Also a lack of garlic really didn't help, and the result is a fresh tasting if slightly bland guacamole. The food is average chain-restaurant type food. Nothing special but a fun night out.

7/10

Sunday - Norma's (brunch)

The portions here are absolutely huge. I got an omelette and I could barely eat anything else the following day. My girlfriend got the eggs benedict. The food is very well prepared also and we left very happy. The sweeter dishes we saw looked incredibly decadent. I would definitely recommend Norma's for brunch.

7.5/10

Monday - Balthazar (lunch) & Momofuku Ssam (dinner)

I love Balthazar. It reminds me so much of Bofinger in Paris, which is the king of the brasseries, so that's a compliment right there. Great atmosphere, great room and the food was lovely. I had the pan-roasted chicken, with bacon and potatoes. The sauce was a perfect consistency, and made the dish come alive. My girlfriend ahd the bass with crushed potatoes. The bass perfectly cooked, excellent ingredients. We shared a very nice apple and frangipane tart. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable lunch

9/10

Momofuku Ssam was one of the big highlights of our trip. Everything I had heard about it was justified. My girlfriend's favourite was the steamed pork buns. Absolutely delicious. The bahn-mi left me a bit underwhelmed, don't get me wrong; it was delicious but I was expecting fireworks. However the lamb belly and the sweetbreads were exquisite. I can't recommend this place highly enough. We were even tempted to go back later in the week. The service was great and informal, and luckily we were able to get seated straight away.

9.5/10

Tuesday: Ess-a-bagel (lunch) & Eleven Madison Park (dinner)

Heard great things about the bagels at Ess-a-bagel and at a glance, they looked huge. However this was my big let-down. Mainly because "Uncle Bill" prepared my bagel. For those of you who are regulars you must know who I mean. An elderly guy, full of beans but who is clearly a littel bit too forgetful. I ordered the ruben (pastrami, cheeese and sauerkraut). It took an absolute age to be made, it was toasted and then microwaved for the cheese to melt. However when I got my bagel there was no cheese! I noticed it in the microwave however. When I pointed this out, Uncle Bill came over and said he'd add the cheese. The bagel was promptly nuked yet again. What arrived at my table was a rock hard hard bagel with boiling hot pastrami and cheese. I promptly took it back, and when asked if I wanted another I asked for a refund. My girlfriend liked her bagel but Uncle Bill forgot to include any cheese in hers...am sure it's a good place, but walk away if this guy is the one serving you.

4/10

Eleven Madison Park: Controversially Michelin did not give EMP a star. I read so many positive things from this board but I can see where Michelin are coming from. Firstly we opted for the 4 courses, as the gourmand menu looked a bit too overwhelming at that time. I had the tete de couchon, the loup de mer, Angus beef and the Peanut Butter Parfait. My girlfriend had the fois gras, Arctic Char, lamb and the apple souffle.

My starter was very average. Nothing inoffensive but there was no real invention on the plate. Type of dish I would get at an average Parisian bistro. My bass was very well cooked however, and the dish perhaps verging on a star but not quite. The beef was definitely a 1 star dish, very rich with a nice sauce if I remember rightly. We ordered 1 portion of cheese to share. The cheese plate did not look that impressive but it's quality after all. I left it in the waiter's hands, specifying my likeness for strong cheeses. What returned were 3 measly portions of cheese, neither one of any real quality. My peanut butter palette was very good, but not sure you can go too far wrong. My girlfriend had similar experience, all her dishes very good individually but there were no fireworks. When I compare this place to some of London's 1 stars like Chez Bruce or Tom Aikens you can certainly say that EMP is some way behind them. I won't even bother comparing to some of Paris's 1 stars. I would tend to agree with Michelin's rating based on my experience there.

7/10

Wednesday: Ushi Wakamaru

What a great place. We got a place right at the bar which I had reserved, and this is definitely the best place to sit. With 60% of customers Japanese this left me encouraged we were in a place that meant business. The tempura came and though slightly greasy for my tastes, it was good nonetheless. The black cod starter was excellent however. Then the sushi. I am no connoisseur with regards to types of sushi one can have, but all the ones I tried were magnificent. It's definitely amongst the freshest tasting sushi I have had, certainly up there with the sushi I've had in Nobu. A great meal and great experience.

8.5/10

Thursday: Peter Luger

The king of steaks, what can I say about this place. You have to experience it. Certainly up there with the best steaks I've had, the porterhouse for 2 was perfectly medium rare, and wobbled with it's tenderness. I found the service to be excellent and not gruff at all as I was expecting, but then again I am used to crappy London service. I would recommend this as one of those quintessential NY experiences. And if you love meat, you simply have to go. We waited about 20 mins to be seated which just added to the experience, as we shared a drink and heard a few of the barman's stories.

9/10

Friday: Jean Georges

Having dined here 3 years back I returned with my girlfriend, hoping to forget the incredible experience we'd had there before and treat this one on it's own merits. Per Se was our first option as we had never been, but price-wise we decided it was perhaps a bridge too far for this trip. The great thing about Jean Georges is you and your partner can have a different tasting menu. I had the seasonal and my girlfriend had the signature. My first course of the egg caviar on toast was to die for. Clearly a 3 star dish in my book. The dishes that followed continued to excel. The sashimi I wasn't expecting much from but it was beautifully fresh and light and an excellent follow-up to the first course. My asparagus with morels and asparagus juice was equally great. I had a similar dish at Le Meurice in Paris (except with leeks and black truffle) and I preferred this one. Black bass and poached lobster followed, the latter possible not as great. I found the lobster a little too tough but lovely nonetheless. The rack of lamb then arrived, another great success. My only quibble is the lamb was leaning more towards the rare side than medium-rare. For me it's not a problem, but lamb really shouldn't be served rare IMO and I imagine other people may have had a problem with it.

My only real quibble was the desserts. I opted for the cherry, my girlfriend the chocolate. The chocolate was a 2/4. Two were very good but without fireworks. One of the dishes however was described as "If I had made this I would have called it a failure". After a tasting it was very bland, bits of chocolate sponge with something else I can't remember very well. It finished off with a chocolate drink, with what seemed like a cola flavouring. It did absolutely nothing for us. My cherry was much the same, a bland finish with the cherry drink and nothing spectacular.

This meal was heading towards a 3 star triumph for both of us until the desserts. Our memory of desserts at Jean-Georges before were actually the highlight so very strange that they were such an anti-climax. A fantastic meal overall though, but the rhubarb may well ahve been the better dessert choice. This would have been a 9.5 had it not been for dessert

8.5/10

Any feedback/questions more than welcome...

[alwang]

Nice writeup: sounds like you fit in a lot of great restaurants. I don't have a lot of experience with European starred restaurants, but I will say that in my experience, EMP compares favorably with the other NYC starred restaurants, so perhaps you caught them on a bad night...

[weinoo]

Tuesday: Ess-a-bagel (lunch)... I ordered the ruben (pastrami, cheeese and sauerkraut). It took an absolute age to be made, it was toasted and then microwaved for the cheese to melt.

Any feedback/questions more than welcome...

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Really nice write up, LuisMiguel, and I'm glad you had a great time, but what the hell were you thinking when you ordered that thing at ess-a-bagel ?

Pastrami = Katz's (and 1 or 2 others in a pinch). Bagels are meant to be topped with cream cheese and the smoked fish of choice. Or perhaps toasted with butter and melted cheese. It wouldn't have mattered if Mike Bloomberg or Eli or Saul Zabar made that sandwich - it just shouldn't be done (imho, of course).

And really, no bread should ever see a microwave.

[LuisMiguel]

Tuesday: Ess-a-bagel (lunch)... I ordered the ruben (pastrami, cheeese and sauerkraut). It took an absolute age to be made, it was toasted and then microwaved for the cheese to melt.

Any feedback/questions more than welcome...

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Really nice write up, LuisMiguel, and I'm glad you had a great time, but what the hell were you thinking when you ordered that thing at ess-a-bagel ?

Pastrami = Katz's (and 1 or 2 others in a pinch). Bagels are meant to be topped with cream cheese and the smoked fish of choice. Or perhaps toasted with butter and melted cheese. It wouldn't have mattered if Mike Bloomberg or Eli or Saul Zabar made that sandwich - it just shouldn't be done (imho, of course).

And really, no bread should ever see a microwave.

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You're absolutely right. I guess I was hungry and saw the sign and went for it. But I do believe that guy would have messed up a simple cream cheese order

[weinoo]

You're absolutely right. I guess I was hungry and saw the sign and went for it. But I do believe that guy would have messed up a simple cream cheese order

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I'm sure he would have, from your description .

Next time, come down to the lower east side, and we'll make sure you have something at least close to a proper bialy.