Jean Georges and Nougatine 2005 - 2008

[Sneakeater]

Yeah, Bryan, that extra $2 is gonna sink you.

[docsconz]

Yeah, Bryan, that extra $2 is gonna sink you.

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$2? That's gonna add up to at least an extra $18 plus tax and tip!

Edited October 14, 2008 by docsconz (log)

[plattetude]

So I've just plowed through/reread most of this thread in anticipation of my first visit tomorrow, for dinner, and I'm left with a big question mark. There's very very little mention of wine service here -- are the wine pairings just not terribly interesting or revelatory, are they simply not done, do people typically do a white followed by a red? I suppose it speaks highly of the food that so little is said of the drink, but...

Christopher

[sethd]

So I've just plowed through/reread most of this thread in anticipation of my first visit tomorrow, for dinner, and I'm left with a big question mark.  There's very very little mention of wine service here -- are the wine pairings just not terribly interesting or revelatory, are they simply not done, do people typically do a white followed by a red?  I suppose it speaks highly of the food that so little is said of the drink, but...

Christopher

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The wine service at jean georges is as good as the food. The two sommeliers are young, vibrant, easy to work with, and extremely knowledgeable. It is possible to do wine pairings with each course or anything else you desire. Just ask and I am sure you will be happy with what happens next. The wine list is evenly divided between old and new world wines.

[plattetude]

So I've just plowed through/reread most of this thread in anticipation of my first visit tomorrow, for dinner, and I'm left with a big question mark.  There's very very little mention of wine service here -- are the wine pairings just not terribly interesting or revelatory, are they simply not done, do people typically do a white followed by a red?  I suppose it speaks highly of the food that so little is said of the drink, but...

Christopher

←

The wine service at jean georges is as good as the food. The two sommeliers are young, vibrant, easy to work with, and extremely knowledgeable. It is possible to do wine pairings with each course or anything else you desire. Just ask and I am sure you will be happy with what happens next. The wine list is evenly divided between old and new world wines.

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Good to know, thanks!

C

[mbernstein]

Just as a follow up, I ended up going for dinner to save up time for Museums and other stuff. I had the Signature Menu. It was mostly wonderful.

Apologizing in advance for my lack of technical precision, I will make some comments.

Two low points for me (us three at the dinner):

- Sea Scallops was much worse than the other dishes for me. As I had expected a little bit more of the Egg Caviar (it is very good, but I don’t know why I expected a little bit more – perhaps because I had had the precious “Oysters and Pearls” at Per Se a few days earlier), when I tasted the Sea Scallops I feared for the night. The Sea Scallop was not bad, but totally unremarkable for us.

- Deserts looked very creative and presentation was beautiful with each person's four “courses” on a divided plate. We had three different tastes – chocolate, caramel and strawberry – but among the 12 different deserts probably only two were very good, rest was interesting or just fine, with some two kind of bad – not good enough for a restaurant of this quality, I think.

Highlights:

- From Garlic Soup to Squab – delicious, excellent, top notch.

- I loved the “soup” quality/preparation of the Garlic, Turbot and Lobster. Sometimes chefs tend to be very tight on the sauces. In here there was an overflow of sauce. Surely, they were less concentrated than say, in the squab, they are different concepts, but I did love the idea/execution.

- I really enjoyed the “taste” option of the wine menu. I don’t drink much, nor could financially match all courses, and this smaller than the glass option allowed me to have three different very fine wines.

- Finally, Jean Georges may be the cheapest three stars in the world…

I’ll definitely be back in my next trip…

[BryanZ]

Price hikes in a recession be damned, I went to Jean Georges with two others for lunch last Thursday. For the umpteenth time, everything was excellent, perhaps even more so than usual.

Jean Georges was, again, in the house, seeming to work on the pass for a few minutes before the requisite surveying of the dining room. Our meal started off with a somewhat slow, but then quite marvelous start. We had an early reservation and were seated, temporally speaking, right behind an eight-top. It seemed to be taking quite a while to get our standard trio of amuse bouche. Not a big deal but we were on something of tight timeline.

Then, much to my delight, we received as our amuse bouche the egg toast dish, a new signature of sorts that I'd never had before. This is two pieces of thin toast, sandwiching custardy egg yolk, topped with a quenelle of caviar. To say this was a generous offering would be a gross understatement.

After this unexpected surprise we got into our dishes. The standards like the foie and skate with chateau chalon are still awesome. The snapper with nuts and spices in sweet and sour jus has been refined in the year or two since I had it last. It's tamer, less jarring, but more elegant in taste and presentation. Short ribs are now glazed with soy, served with an apple-horseradish puree and served with rosemary breadcrumbs, a simple addition that brings some welcome crunch to the dish. The peekytoe crab dish is now in dumpling form, topped with a lemongrass tea. I thought the pasta was a bit thick here, but still a very enjoyable dish. The shrimp is no longer bacon-wrapped, and perhaps is not as fun with this omission, but served with even more exciting accompaniments. Tapioca and passion fruit made appearances in another sweet/savory seafood dish. Finally, the roasted veal was perhaps the simplest of dishes, and focused on the interplay between the veal and strongly flavored accompaniments: Roquefort on top and a sweet fruit compote on the bottom.

The three of us put together a well-balanced meal. This time, I noticed more sweet aspects than in other meals, perhaps an issue for some but never a problem for me.

For desserts we ordered the Caramel and Apple, and were also sent the Harvest. As usual, very nice, seasonally appropriate. I think my only issue with these desserts, and it's one I think I and others have mentioned before, is that they're almost too intricate. I love seeing so many components go into each plate, but it's sometimes difficult to fully appreciate and evaluate everything in such small scale.

But, all in all, another fantastic and reasonably priced lunch. Service was spot on, timing perfect, no complaints.

[Robin Meredith]

Open Table is showing Saturday lunch available at JG. Has anyone been? Is it the same menu as weekday lunch? If so this qualifies as a major development!

[sickchangeup]

Open Table is showing Saturday lunch available at JG.  Has anyone been?  Is it the same menu as weekday lunch?  If so this qualifies as a major development!

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I just checked opentable and it says nothing available during lunch time on Saturday - you sure you checked the actual "Jean Georges" and not "Nougatine at Jean Georges"?

The Jean Georges website still shows just M-F for lunch as well.

This would be amazing though.

[sethd]

Open Table is showing Saturday lunch available at JG.  Has anyone been?  Is it the same menu as weekday lunch?  If so this qualifies as a major development!

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I just checked opentable and it says nothing available during lunch time on Saturday - you sure you checked the actual "Jean Georges" and not "Nougatine at Jean Georges"?

The Jean Georges website still shows just M-F for lunch as well.

This would be amazing though.

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Jean Georges opened the main dining room for saturday lunch about 2 months ago. The menu is the same "tapas" style menu found during the week. Enjoy!!!

[sickchangeup]

Open Table is showing Saturday lunch available at JG.  Has anyone been?  Is it the same menu as weekday lunch?  If so this qualifies as a major development!

←

I just checked opentable and it says nothing available during lunch time on Saturday - you sure you checked the actual "Jean Georges" and not "Nougatine at Jean Georges"?

The Jean Georges website still shows just M-F for lunch as well.

This would be amazing though.

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Jean Georges opened the main dining room for saturday lunch about 2 months ago. The menu is the same "tapas" style menu found during the week. Enjoy!!!

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Just snagged a Saturday lunch right before the holidays, thanks!

[BryanZ]

A friend was in town for the weekend, and I felt the need to enjoy a nice lunch with her. Much to my chagrin, EMP doesn't serve lunch on Saturdays, so I was unable to try their new $28 two-course offering. Oh well. Instead, Jean Georges was able to squeeze me in with a same day reservation at the end of service, so at 2:15, after braving the heaving throngs of tourists in midtown, we sat down to an entirely civilized lunch.

Amuse is a cumin-cauliflower soup with hibiscus tea, soy-cured salmon with Asian pear, and a segment of tangerine with a crispy sugar coating and chili salt. The tangerine felt like a bit of a throwaway, but it was a diverse set of opening bites.

Skate, foie. Yeah, you know they're good. Instead of the cod with lemongrass consomme and honshimeji they were featuring halibut so we got that. The dish is more delicate with this substitution but in a couple bites the herbs overpowered the fish. Sweetbreads, yeah, they were very good as usual, but I can see how people would find the lemon puree overpowering if you're not careful. Finally, the chicken is a bit of a drab plate but about the tastiest chicken nugget you'll ever have. Confited thigh is topped with a parmesan crust. This is served atop salsify and a citrus butter jus.

No desserts, as we had a big dinner coming up, too. Service was totally fine. We sat in one of the two "nooks," and while those might be the most private tables, I feel as though they're too removed from the energy of the dining room. My dining companion, whose previous visit was in the summer of '07, found the renovation a bit sterile if more in tune with modern design aesthetics.

[sickchangeup]

The tangerine felt like a bit of a throwaway, but it was a diverse set of opening bites.

It was pretty awful today. Dehydrated tangerine slice with lime gelee. Literally bad, it tasted like the tangerine juice had turned. The other two were the same, and very good as usual.

 

Instead of the cod with lemongrass consomme and honshimeji they were featuring halibut so we got that.

Same, the change from cod to halibut was announced at the start of the meal.

My dining companion, whose previous visit was in the summer of '07, found the renovation a bit sterile if more in tune with modern design aesthetics.

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We had a 2:30pm reservation, and I was able to appreciate the renovation in a new way (for me) as a result. With the winter months, it starts getting dark around 3:30, so I was able to see a very solid progression in the 2-2.5 hours we dined. When it's lunch time, and 100% daylight, the room is white and silver, very wintery (even in the summer). But as it starts getting dark, the gold off the chandelier sconces start becoming more pronounced, and as it moves to dark, that golden color starts to flood the ceiling as well. When we left, it was a pretty different room, shimmering with gold rather than silver and dark out, which I felt was a very nice touch.

Moderator's Note: A new Jean Georges and Nougatine topic, starting in January, 2009, may be found by clicking here.