Equinox, with Chef Todd Gray

[eunny jang]

MSG is the chemical equivalent, for those who don't like to mess about with all that woo-woo ever-elusive indefinable and impossible-to-pin-down Japanese talk about "meatiness" and "savory-ness". I mean, who has the patience? Better to shake it out of a jar.

What if there's a vast conspiracy out there among better restaurants, with everyone secretly adding msg to everything?

Mysteries and in-jokes abound...

[Tweaked]

What ever magic Todd Grey weaves, the first time I ate at his restaurant my girlfriend and I of 2 plus years broke up ON MY 30th BIRTHDAY at Equinox, yet I still remember the lamb 3 ways as one of the best lamb dishes I have ever had.

Now that is some damn good lamb!

[bookluvingbabe]

Anyone been lately? Found out this is where Mr. BLB is taking me this evening for the big b-day. I fear I may be a bit too tired to fully enjoy it after spending last night stuck in the airport and taking a very bumpy commuter flight home this morning!

Thanks!

Jennifer

[babka]

I hear that Dick von Dongen has been there a few times

NYTimes: Dirk Van Dongen, president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, whose phone number is on the White House's speed dial, is having a small dinner tomorrow night in the private room. Mr. Van Dongen has eaten at Equinox at least 550 times since it opened five and a half years ago; the restaurant counted.

Edited January 23, 2005 by babka (log)

[PatDC]

We ate at Equinox last night and were somewhat underwhelmed. The dinner menu is in a tasting menu format only now, and we went with 3 courses. Unfortunately, I didn't write down what we had, and the menu we ordered from was different than the one on the website. My husband had hearts of palm salad, a pasta dish with cavatelli, and beef of some kind--tip loin?.

I had the oysters, which came with three different toppings: caviar, a creamy sauce that I think had a mustard base, and a mignonette of some sort. The oysters tasted fresh and had been chilled but were not served on ice. They tasted fine but were not anything special. I also had a risotto, which, unfortunately, was gummy. Very gummy. The seared scallop served on top was very good, though. For a meat course I had the lamb, which was quite good, but since it was a tasting menu, there wasn't much of it.

We declined dessert, but the server brought us a few complimentary dessert bites, which were good. I think my favorite part of the meal was the bread. I had a slice of raisin bread and a slice of sun-dried tomato bread and both were excellent.

Service was fine. It was freezing cold when we got there. We didn't say anything but someone who came in shortly after us did complain and the temperature was adjusted.

We've eaten a number of meals out recently, so perhaps Equinox suffered from the comparison. Maybe we'd have enjoyed it more another night. Because of the obligatory tasting menu, in order to get enough food, one really has to order more than 3 courses, which ups the cost considerably.