Blue Hill (NYC)

[stefanyb]

I forgot to mention that, after I described why capons are subjected to what they are, my sibling noted that there is a parallel of induced effects with respect to castrato of yesteryear and their singing voices.

http://www.usrf.org/news/010308-jenkins_lancet.html

I wonder if they still say cock-a-doodle-doo?

[Damian]

My God, robert40.

I had an espresso cup of red pepper soup as an amuse at ILW around that time with the smallest dollop of creme fraiche that was an intense experience of flavorful pleasure. It is permanently burned into my memory. I remember the rest of the meal, too, but that soup was amazing.

[bpearis]

I'm going to Blue Hill tonight and have reservations in the Garden Room. Is this the outside patio. With the weather turning the way it is, will it be too cold? Is it heated? Am I wrong about this? I didn't think about what garden room might mean until today...

-bill

[Wilfrid]

It is an annex out back which you get to via the kitchen. I don't know whether you'll have heating problems, but it is somewhat underdecorated in comparison with the main room, and you may feel a little cut off. I was seated there the first time I went to Blue Hill, because I suspected nothing, but I would generally ask not to be seated there now.

Sorry. The food's still good, of course.

[g.johnson]

Wilfrid is spot on. Very disappointing given the elegance of the main room.

[bpearis]

well the food is the important thing and as long as it's not out in the cold i can live with feeling cut off. thanks for the info.

[cabrales]

The garden room is 100% enclosed/covered, and is different from the outside area (also in the back) which is also sometimes deployed during the summertime.

bpearis -- You might want to mention your membership in the site to the dining room team member.

[bpearis]

You might want to mention your membership in the site to the dining room team member.  

how does one bring that up without sounding like a ninny? secret handshake? i'm all for preferential treatment.

[cabrales]

bpearis -- The restaurant is quite proactive about calling guests to confirm their table the day before, or the day of, the reservation. If that has not yet occurred, call and consider the following: "[Confirmation of reservation] See you tonight -- I'm looking forward to sampling your cuisine; I've heard such good things about it on eGullet." (Note I wouldn't recommend this for other restaurants, with a very few exceptions)

[bpearis]

bpearis -- The restaurant is quite proactive about calling guests to confirm their table the day before, or the day of, the reservation. If that has not yet occurred, call and consider the following: "[Confirmation of reservation] See you tonight -- I'm looking forward to sampling your cuisine; I've heard such good things about it on eGullet."    (Note I wouldn't recommend this for other restaurants, with a very few exceptions)

i confirmed yesterday, natch, but will try to gracefully slip it into the conversation. i know dan and michael are big egullet fans. give a report tomorrow at some point. thanks again for all the advice/clarification.

-bill

[bpearis]

so the whole garden room thing ended up being a non-issue as we were seated in the main dining room (the restaurant was busy but maybe not quite full). we did the tasting menu... i didn't take notes, and after a g&t and half a bottle of wine (and not much to eat during the day) my memory is slightly fuzzy, but i'll try and recap.

The amuse was a shotglass of delicious chesnut soup. very rich, if i'd had any more of it i probably would've gotten full.

fluke with some sort of cream and herring roe. this was really nice and had a slight smoky flavor. i think i would have liked it better if it had been a citrus-based sauce, though.

seared toro with chick peas. this was really, really good. there was a cinamony/cuminy flavor to this that matched the fattiness of the toro quite well. the little bits of califlower were nice but perhaps unnecessary.

lamb chops. i started to get loopy from the booze and can't now remember what accompianied the chops, but the meat was just excellent -- rare and delicious.

two deserts followed. one was an apple tart and a chocolate somethingorother (again, the booze. i have a copy of the menu, but it's at home). both were good but i'm am not a sweets person. here was my only beef with the meal -- i would have prefered another savory course instead of two desert courses. maybe next time i'll ask for that. in the meantime, a very nice meal indeed.

-bill

[tommy]

no mention of egullet?

[Robert Nesta Marley]

bpearis, i'd be interested in hearing how your mention of EG membership is received; please post about your experience when you return.

as some members know, my use of my EG name to make my reservation (it's a nickname of mine, anyway) had no effect on my less-than-stellar experience (but not with regards to the food, please note). as a result, i did not post about my first trip to BH, which i had been quite anticipating. but my company was smashing, the food was up to par with my expectations, and the bartender was quite gracious.

[cabrales]

nesita -- You utilized your eGullet username without otherwise mentioning your affiliation with eGullet? Were you sure your eGullet username was recognized, since nesita does sound like a normal name as well?

[bpearis]

bpearis, i'd be interested in hearing how your mention of EG membership is received; please post about your experience when you return.

i didn't mention it actually. our server wasn't super-chatty and, despite cabrales' excellent suggestions on how to do so, i couldn't find a comfortable place to drop it in. i wasn't crazy about the service, to be honest. the hostesses were both extremely nice, though. our server, not so much.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

cabrales, i remember mike anthony mentioining (in the "staff meals" thread during the Q&A) that he challenges his staff during pre-shift to recognize anyone's name in the reservation book from EG. that's the only reason i used my EG name, as i knew i wasn't going to mention my affilliation during my visit. i generally don't like or expect over-the-top service, as i stated earlier. but i wouldn't have been opposed to a visit by either of them, or extra care taken to ensure that service was on point . . . but i'm not going to get into the specifics here.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

i wasn't crazy about the service, to be honest. the hostesses were both extremely nice, though. our server, not so much.

[tommy]

cabrales, i remember mike anthony mentioining (in the "staff meals" thread during the Q&A) that he challenges his staff during pre-shift to recognize anyone's name in the reservation book from EG.

how many members of his staff would you imagine actually pay much attention to egullet?

[cabrales]

he challenges his staff during pre-shift to recognize anyone's name in the reservation book from EG.  that's the only reason i used my EG name

nesita -- That dining room team members are encouraged to recognize usernames doesn't mean they would necessarily be successful at doing so, particularly if the username involved were something "normal sounding", like nesita or jordyn.

Wholly apart from identification of a diner as an eGullet member, I get a sense, from observation of the tables around mine when I visit, that Blue Hill dining room team members are generally both efficient and friendly.

[Wilfrid]

how many members of his staff would you imagine actually pay much attention to egullet? 

When Dan and Michael were doing the Q&A, eGullet had a high recognition factor among the staff. Whether the golden memory has faded, I can't say.

[bpearis]

i wasn't crazy about the service, to be honest. the hostesses were both extremely nice, though. our server, not so much.

i should say that our server wasn't unpleasant or rude or anything of that sort, but not overly helpfull. and dissapeared for about fifteen minutes before taking our order. i was expecting a little more i guess.

[marcus]

Went to Blue Hill this past Saturday evening largely based on the positive reports on eGullet. We were a family party of 6 including a very well behaved 5 year old and I focused on the food to a much lesser extent than usual so I can give only the most high level report. The restaurant was comfortable and the background sound level was much lower than I expected allowing for good conversation. The service was fine, laid back, unobtrusive, but efficient. The food, which was tasted around, was generally uninspiring. The amuse was a small underflavored goat cheese tart. The crab lasagna which was ordered by 2 and had the most circulation was generally disliked, the crab itself having a sweetish and unpleasant flavor. The pumpkin ravioli, which I didn't taste, was pronounced awful. The main dishes were better. The cod which was cooked at low temperature had intellectually interesting texture and flavor, but I didn't enjoy it, probably because of its low serving temperature. The poached duck was outstanding in preparation, flavor intensity and overall balance, a real tour de force. The chicken dish served to the 5 year old was also very good with a combination of possibly steamed breast, along with a crispier preparation ontop of roast potatos. The chocolate bread pudding was good, no more, and was much denser than a real bread pudding. The scoops of accompanying vanila and chocolate ice cream were underflavored. My brother commented as to how rare it is any longer fo restaurants to have real pastry chefs. Overall, 5 very experienced restaurant goers were underwhelmed at best.

[cabrales]

I had a good-plus dinner at Blue Hill tonight in connection with the AmEx/Food & Wine Best New Chefs series for NY. The dishes and wine pairings are set forth below:

(1) Assorted Hors d'Oeuvres, Dan & Mike, Champagne Pol Roger Brut

Within 5 minutes of my arrival, I had decided that I needed to position myself right next to the pathway from the kitchen in order to maximize my intake of Blue Hill hors d'oeuvres. These items refelcted Dan's catering expertise, and were stunning. They included, among other things: (1) an appealing eggplant puree (very gentle) atop a black corn tart (I had tasted this as part of my meal at BH recently taken in with my sibling), an item enhanced possibly by tomato water (?) -- this I greedily had at least three of over the course of session, (2) spanish mackerel (I assumed this had been slow-cooked; it might have been on papardom or not, and it had a nice flavor), (3) ***quail egg, fried, atop a piece of luscious salmon belly in a thin crisp pastry cup (nice control of saltiness -- I was won over -- err, again :laugh:; I admit I had at least two of these, (4) a miniature version of the restaurant's crabmeat lasagne dish (appropriately salted and realy nice in a smaller quantity), (5) a miniature pan of foie gras (which I did not succeed in sampling), (6) a shotglass of cauliflower soup (appealing), (6) a "fatter" glass (also functioning as a candle holder, but stunning in either role) of mushroom veloute (nice, perhaps with a hint of truffle oil which was not necessary), and (7) an appealing salmon belly item (possibly with pickles). One of the two soup-like items had a single mussel in it that was poignant. Overall, I thought the hors d'oeuvres were very good. Note that the presentation format of the different items being circulated was visually appealing -- little platters with rocks; slender plates cradling several items, etc.

(2) Seared Bay Scallops, sea beans, black radish, smoked eel from Wylie Dufreshne of WD50 (F&W Best New Chef 2001), with Christian Moreau Chablis 2000

Apart from Mike/Dan's hors d'oeuvres, this was the best part of the meal. The slight sweetness of the bay scallops against the slight horseradish like aspects of the radish on top of the scallops and the obvious smokiness of the little bits of eel surrounding the scallops. Also, the matte texture of the smoked eel against the arguably quasi-crisp texture, which was also imbued with softeness, of the scallops. Dufresne talked to each table, and I articulated to him my views on his dish. We differed slightly on whether the sea beans had a role. I told him Trotter has been utilziing sea bean in certain dishes of late, and that I did not see a particularly necessary role for the beans. He indicated the beans gave the dish an iodine taste; I noted that wakame would have been a better choice for that, and he did not disagree. The saucing was a relatively salty (in a good way) "white" sauce, with perhaps a bit of smokiness.

The wine guy described the paired Chablis as offering minerality, being dry, and furnishing "a bracing edge of acidity". It was appropriate for the dish. Subjectively, I would have preferred this very nice dish paired with a Chassagne-Montrachet, which would have played with the smokiness in the dish. However, the Chablis was also an appropriate pairing.

The ingredients for lime/garlic jus were garlic cloves, chicken stock, lime juice and salt and pepper. The other products utilized were bay scallops, butter, sea beans, smoked eel, black radish, salt, cayenne and diced mint.

(3) Creme de Gibier with foie gras, chestnut, and macoon apple from Andrew Carmellini of Cafe Boulud (BNC 2000), with Chateau Genot Boulanger Mersault Clos du Cromin 1999

The thickish soup from Carmellini was served in a "Cafe Boulud"-label soup bowl. It was slightly disappointing because its overall sensation was one of its texture (a nice, medium-consistency texture) and of sweetness, instead of the darkness of game that I subjectively prefer. Nice diced bits of foie, and utilization of chestnuts. The apples were almost like very soft potatoes, except that they carried a bit of acidity. A bit lacking in the dark, dark connotations of game, and therefore a dish that fell below that of which Carmellini is presumably capable.

According to the recipe provided by AmEx/F&W, the ingredients utilized for this dish were 3 wild game birds: squab, pheasant, guinea hen; onions, celery, leeks, apples, celery root, chestnuts, mushrooms, foie gras, cream, chicken stock, vegetable oil and hazelnuts.

The man who was introducing the wines (who was apparently the same man as had introduced wines in Chicago) noted that there had been some "controversy" among applicable chefs as to whether this or Dufresne's scallops dish should be served first. All I can say is that it was evident Dufresne's dish should have been served first (who was engaged in this controversy? ) The Mersault was introduced by this man in such a fashion that it could have been targetted to an audience with zero wine knowledge (e.g., the served Mersault is a Burgundy -- no kidding? ). However, this was not a fault of the chefs, and it was a reflection of the person conducting the wine service, which was apparently from the importer for the relevant wines.

(4) Pepper-Seared Venison Loin with Braised Red Cabbage, Glazed Turnips and Orange Juniper Armagnac Jus from Scott Bryan of Veritas (BNC 1996), with Paul Jaboulet Cornas Domaine de St. Pierre 1996 (pure Syrah)

Due to the number of guests needing to be served simultaneously (almost 70), we were not individually asked how well done we wanted our venison. That was expected. Thus, I had no issue with the medium preparation of the venison, even though I would have chosen rare, had I been given the chance. The venison was average-plus, with a pronounced flavor of black pepper when taken in. Interestingly, the best part of the dish for me were the little white turnips, which were cooked just right and carried a bit of sweetness. They were rather small, but very appealing to me.

The wine was rather nice to sample, and better than I had expected for a Rhone with which I was not particularly familiar. The wine guy indicated it carried notes of blackcurrant, and was almost like blood; he indicated the wine had the flavor of grape, with "a backbone of acidity".

(5) Chcooclate-Caramel Panna Cotta with Espresso Foam and Caramel Popcorn from Rocco DiSpirito of Union Pacific (BNC 1999), with Churchill's Ten Year Old Tawny Port

This dish was average. The panna cotta was mundane, and the caramelized popcorn did not elevate the otherwise mundane nature of this dish. DiSpirito came by, and was his usual social self. He seemed more animated when I was able to converse with him about his recent menu ( I had visited Union Pacific less than 3weeks previously), but my impression of him remained at best average. In my assessment, this is not a chef who nurtures ingredients, who worries about how his dishes are going to highlight those ingredients. It was fitting that Dan introduced him as the chef who made one of Dan's kitchen team members gasp and indicate she was "in love with him". She certainly couldn't be in love with his dessert on this occasion, had she tasted it.

According to the gift bag provided to each guest, the ingredients in this dessert were heavy cream, whole milk, semisweet milk chocolate (preferably Valhrona 66%, coarsely chopped), sugar, powdered gelatin, corn oil, popcorn kernels, espresso beans, espresso coffee, and egg yolks.

Amuses were (1) nice bits of marshmallows, (2) a gelee of a flavor similar to apricot, and (3) dark-chocolate-covered almonds. The amuses were presented nicely, and additional almons were included in a little gift bag from Blue Hill in the shopping bag provided to each client.

________________________________________________________________

This dinner marks the beginning of a two-week period during which, for routine medical reasons (which do not in any way affect my overall health and which are preventative) I am not able to take in alcohol. :sad: That means that, at the J Beard event with Patria's chef on Saturday, none of the included alcohol can be sampled. Nor at the eGullet "horizontal" tasting event.

Negative attributes: AmEx placed solo diners in at least parties of three. Although my female dining companion was gracious and enhanced my meal experience, my late 50s white male dining companion was a jerk, to put it simply. Since he (shall we call him Mr. Puff) arrived the latest of the three diners at our table and since we have a corner table appropriate for exactly three diners, Mr. Puff received the non-banquette seat. I was not going to relinquish my comfortable banquette seating to him. Mr Puff proceeded to entertain me with the fact that his greatest accomplishment in life was having had a dalience (spelling) with the wife of a certain famous (OJ) criminal law professor from Harvard (yes, A.D.). I really had to control myself to not rebuke him for his stupidity. Starting from the main course onwards, I simply did not speak with this person. I suppose this is one of the risks of signing up to events solo.

Positive attributes of the evening: The hors d'oeuvres from Dan/Mike. The scallops dish from Dufresne. The outstanding service of the dining room team. If the same meal were at Blue Hill, I would gladly pay the same amount for the same evening.

[Jason Perlow]

So was it worth $375?

[cabrales]

Note to all members, whether SuperAdmins or otherwise -- I do not subjectively intend to respond to messages (including the signature line of a poster's message) that are in fonts larger than the ones in which I post (especially comments that seem to be in bold font and in at least 22 font).