ADNY (Alain Ducasse @ Essex House)

[BryanZ]

Wow! What a meal.

[M.X.Hassett]

With Ritz Carlton in Boston, and before that with Ducasse at Louis XV.

←

Which Ritz the commons or the older one?

Great report thanks, and PJ looks adorable.

[Fat Guy]

The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston, on Arlington Street.

[tan319]

Thanks for that report and pix, Ellen and Fat Guy!!!

PJ sure is handsome but damn!. Maybe a few more years before the wine tastings???

Seriously though, everything looked great and sounded wonderful.

BTW, those last desserts looked a bit like those Spoon-ish/Frederic Roberts fruit gelee topped panna cottas served in a glass,no?

[MobyP]

Ellen, thank you.

←

Could you tell me exactly how they carved the bird? Did they take off only the breasts, and send the carcass with thighs back to the kitchen (that skin looks like it's been under a salamander), or did they remove the thighs first, and then the breasts, leaving the carcass?

Edited October 5, 2005 by MobyP (log)

[Fat Guy]

They remove the thighs/legs first and transfer them to a cast-iron pan that is whisked away to the kitchen for further cooking. The breast is then carved and served with endives, followed by the dark meat a little later with an endive marmalade. I'm not positive but I don't think there's a salamander involved -- I'm not even sure there is a salamander in the ADNY kitchen. I can ask, though. I'm going to be out of town for the next three days with limited internet access but after the weekend I can try to run through a list of questions with Tony Esnault.

[Chris Amirault]

Fantastic report. Steven. Please do follow up on the cooking of the thigh and leg meat; I'm very interested to know.

Gordon Hammersley in Boston re-roasted his roast chicken atop some reduced chicken stock and pan dripping, lemons, and garlic, letting the high heat crisp up the skin and the moisture finish the meat. This sounds like it might be a twist on that, or perhaps something completely different. Either way, I'm intrigued.

edited to correct an ingredient in GH's dish -- ca

Edited October 5, 2005 by chrisamirault (log)

[Fat Guy]

I believe that in one of the foundational Ducasse squab dishes they use a blowtorch to crisp the skin, so perhaps that method is in use here. I will follow up.

[slkinsey]

The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston, on Arlington Street.

Ah, the very first "fancy restaurant" I ever visited. At least back in the late 70s it was über-old school. Roast beef carved tableside, etc.

They remove the thighs/legs first and transfer them to a cast-iron pan that is whisked away to the kitchen for further cooking.

Interesting that even at the Ducasse level there seems to be a feeling that it's impossible to cook a whole bird of this size all in one go and achieve perfect breasts and thighs/legs.

[Chris Amirault]

Interesting that even at the Ducasse level there seems to be a feeling that it's impossible to cook a whole bird of this size all in one go and achieve perfect breasts and thighs/legs.

←

A balm to all home chefs faced with the same challenge, I'd say!

[Fat Guy]

They remove the thighs/legs first and transfer them to a cast-iron pan that is whisked away to the kitchen for further cooking.

Interesting that even at the Ducasse level there seems to be a feeling that it's impossible to cook a whole bird of this size all in one go and achieve perfect breasts and thighs/legs.

Ditto for lobster. In several fine dining kitchens I've visited, the claws and tails are removed and cooked separately, with the claws being cooked 50-100% longer than the tails.

[MobyP]

They remove the thighs/legs first and transfer them to a cast-iron pan that is whisked away to the kitchen for further cooking. The breast is then carved and served with endives, followed by the dark meat a little later with an endive marmalade. I'm not positive but I don't think there's a salamander involved -- I'm not even sure there is a salamander in the ADNY kitchen. I can ask, though. I'm going to be out of town for the next three days with limited internet access but after the weekend I can try to run through a list of questions with Tony Esnault.

←

Thank you. A blow torch would make sense also, given (what appears to be) the blistering.

[tupac17616]

Wow, that an incredible report. Thank you both so much, Ellen and Fat Guy!

[MobyP]

The first service of “Blue foot chicken, crisp and tender endives, sabayon (for two people).”

←

Sorry - another needles and thread question. Do you think it was an actual sabayon, thickened with egg yolks, or a 'sabayon' - meaning a creamy, frothy, saucy type affair?

[Andy Lynes]

The quinoa, prepared like a cross between risotto and grits, is served in a charming silver pot.

←

San Franciscan chef James Shenk serves a delicious quinoa polenta that looks very similar to the Ducasse dish at his funky "nuevo latino" restaurant Destino. Very interesting to see two such disperate establishments sharing a similar idea.

[MobyP]

The white truffle menu has been announced.

Menu Tartufi di Alba

Seared Day Boat Scallops, Boston bibb lettuce velouté, shaved white truffles

Homemade Foie gras/tapioca ravioli, sunchoke broth, tartufi di Alba

Blue foot chicken breast fillet, vegetables “en blanquette”, Albufera sauce, white truffles

Truffled Brie de Meaux

Asia/ Bartlett pear, soft cake, “Vin Jaune granité”, white truffles essence foam

$ 290 Per Person

[Jmahl]

The Dining Room closed due to lack of support by the Boston community. I real tragedy for Boston. They sold Ruth to the NY Yanks in the 20's and now Boston let Tony go.

I have personal knowledge of what a gem he is both as a Chef and as a outstanding people person. Great loss for Boston and a win for NYC.

Bravo Tony

[slkinsey]

Yes, Boston is very strange about the things the community will support and the things the community won't support. I always thought it was odd that a city that has the BSO -- historically one of the great orchestras in the world, although I think they declined under Ozawa -- has never been able to sustain an opera company of comparable quality.

I grew up in Boston, and it was never much of a restaurant town, although I heard that it had made great strides in that respect over the last 10-15 years. Perhaps not as much as we might have liked.

[Todd36]

Yes, Boston is very strange about the things the community will support and the things the community won't support.  I always thought it was odd that a city that has the BSO -- historically one of the great orchestras in the world, although I think they declined under Ozawa -- has never been able to sustain an opera company of comparable quality.

I grew up in Boston, and it was never much of a restaurant town, although I heard that it had made great strides in that respect over the last 10-15 years.  Perhaps not as much as we might have liked.

←

Opera, symphony orchestas and fine/expensive dining result from local prestige and whether there is money. BSO has has historical ties to Boson's investment banking community and has the social prestige in Boston that the Met Opera has in NYC. The Boston opera to my knowlege never had the same social ties. For that matter, neither does the NY Philharmonic---you could ask what at various times the NY Pharamonic has been unabale to crack the top 5.

As a community, Boston probably has less than 10% of the people willing to spend top dining dollars. The entire metropolitan area is at best 20% of New York's, and it doesn't have the investment banking, corporate and law firm jobs that New York has, or the out of town people who either visit NY or who have apartments in NY. Dinner at your average three star in NY can hit $150 per person without difficulty, just order a $90 prix fix, add wine, bottled water and tip. To most people in most parts of the county, that's a lot of money.

I grew up in Hartford, and when the local economy took a dive in the early 90's, the first thing to go were all of the upscale restautants. Every single one went out, save for Cavey's in nearby Manchester. You need a lot of money to support fine dining.

I'm of course assuming this was an expensive place in Boston that he worked at.....

[M.X.Hassett]

The Dining Room closed due to lack of support by the Boston community.  I real tragedy for Boston.  They sold Ruth to the NY Yanks in the 20's and now Boston let Tony go.

←

Sorry I know we are getting of topic here, but they dump millions into revamping the hotel and then they close the dining room .

Back to the topic does anyone know if AD was "truffle king"(title given at Alba truffle fest) this year or last?

[culinarycathexis]

Glad to see that the restaurant hasn't lost the "touch". I worked there for 2 years under Didier Elena's command and it was a life changing experience. And the young man holding the chix was once a dishwasher!!!!!!!

[Jmahl]

Check out the November 15, 2005 issue of Wine Spectator, The dining out / New York section has a new review of ADNY with Tony Esnault at the pass written by Thomas Mathews. It appears to me the writer was duly impressed. Mathews says, "The question is not is it worth the money, but can you afford it?"

Wonder what the NYT will say next time out.

Any opinions?

There should be no shortage.

JSM

[oakapple]

Wonder what the NYT will say next time out.

Any opinions?

←

It's probably pointless to guess, as no one predicted the demotion to three stars. The interesting question is just how long we'll have to wait for Mr. Bruni to return. I do not think he'll even consider a re-review of ADNY until he's published first reviews (for him) of Daniel and Jean-Georges. I suspect we'll see at least one of those before the year is out, and then another sometime in 2006.

[Bu Pun Su]

Hi everyone,

I am new here. FYI, I am not really an expert in food and wine like you guys, so my comments can be considered like an amateur's comment.

I ate at ADNY last saturday with my other 2 friends. It is my 1st experience to eat at the 3-star Michelin's restaurant. Except the price, it's certainly a very great experience. Believe it or not, we spent almost 5 hours there for dinner and it was fun.

The decoration is great, but unfortunately we were sitting in the back of the dining room, so we could not really enjoy the scene in the main dining room all the time. The service is great, friendly, formal yet the maitre'd hotel and the captain made us really comfortable. Our sommelier, Yura is awesome. He made a great wine selection for my dishes.

I think I forgot to mention that I ordered white truffles tasting menu with wine pairing. I'm not really sure how to post the picture here, can anyone help or how to find the guidelines? Anyway, I put my pictures for the food and wine list accompanying each dish here:

http://andichahyadihermawan.blogs.friendst...se_at_the_esse/

The pictures are the combination of my dishes and my friends' for that night. Some of them are not very clear since we were not allowed to use flash all the time. Thanks and feel free to ask if you any have questions.

-Andi

[Pan]

Hi everyone,

I am new here. FYI, I am not really an expert in food and wine like you guys, so my comments can be considered like an amateur's comment. 

←

Welcome, Andi. It just seems like we're all experts. Once you get to know us, you'll see we're all just talking through our hats, but with fancy language. Just kidding. But seriously, only some of us are professionals in the food industry or really experienced in fine dining, and anyone interested in things having to do with food is welcome here. Plus, if you hang out here, before long, you'll pick up a bunch of knowledge about stuff you never knew existed.

I'll let someone else address your question about posting images, because we've had some trouble with ImageGullet lately and I don't know if that's been fully resolved as of yet.