71 Clinton Fresh Food

[adamru]

It's not easy to enjoy an entree that arrives two hours after you sit down. Especially when it's a single raviolo. If the food arrived at a reasonable pace I would have enjoyed dinner a lot more. But forty minutes to receive foie gras and cold shrimp in a broth? Another forty minutes for gnocchi and then another forty for a raviolo? I can't believe there's a good reason to wait this long for such easily prepared food. I can't imagine how long a tasting menu must have taken.

The foie gras topped with a layer of almond milk foam, a smear of pomegranate sauce and a little stack of what tasted like burnt raisin toast - in a good way - was by far the standout course. The squid ink gnocchi I was after had no flavor it was so overwhelmed by the blue cheese and braised bacon chunks that were bigger than the gnocchi. And the duck breast, about ten small rectangles of it, tasted just like the bacon chunks as well. The raviolo were two circles of unsealed pasta on the top and bottom of the filling which was overwhemlingly yellow pumpkin and a bit nutty in flavor. The risotto was very soggy and milky but the spiciness saved it and the sweet shrimp were no match at all for the flavor of the broth.

The waitstaff was plenty attentive and the bread plates always refilled but I don't know what holds the kitchen up. I got the impression the restaurant closed down midway through our meal. I'm happy to have tried the place but I don't feel I would have been a regular here with wd-50 and Thor turning out much better and more creative complementary flavors faster than they do here.

[iheartoffal]

I know several people who have gone to 71 lately, and it's been a love it or hate it thing in all cases. The ones who had a bad experience also had completely different dishes than I had. Perhaps I just got lucky, but still, it was a damn good meal.