It was another beautiful fall day in Manhattan. We had planned on taking a taxi to brunch, but instead started out early and walked the 1.3 miles, part of it along Central Park South.
Our destination was Asiate, on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, with its breathtaking view of Central Park and the city. We had enjoyed brunch there many times in the past, as much for the ambiance as the food.
The Asiate brunch has evolved from tasting portions of four first courses, two second courses and two desserts, to the same format with only one second course, to the current fixed price menu, offering an amuse-bouche duo and a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert. We each ordered a glass of Sancerre, which we sipped with our amuse-bouche of Spanish octopus and smoked duck breast.
Smoked Duck Breast — carrot gel, brioche crumbs • Spanish Octopus — pimentón aioli, potato We ordered the wild mushroom velouté and heirloom tomato salad to start. The velouté sauce was more of a velouté soup. The heirloom tomato salad was good, but in late October, the tomatoes were past their prime. Both dishes would have worked in a tasting quartet first course; they didn't work well on their own.
Wild Mushroom Velouté — porcini mushrooms, hazelnuts, truffle gougères
Heirloom Tomato Salad — seeds & nuts, berries, grapefruit We both chose the smoked salmon eggs Benedict as our entrée. It was a wonderful dish. We soaked up every drop of the rich eggy sauce with croissants.
Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict — pretzel roll, poached egg, tarragon, Choron sauce For dessert, we ordered the sticky toffee pudding and the panna cotta. Both were yummy.
Sticky Toffee Pudding — green tea ice cream
Panna Cotta — jasmine rice, Mandarin orange granite After brunch, we walked off not nearly enough of our calories as we made our way to the Laura Pels Theatre for the 2:00 matinee of "The Humans."
The Roundabout Theatre Company production about a dysfunctional family at Thanksgiving dinner was still in previews. It had received rave reviews in Chicago last year, the Tribune's Chris Jones describing "The Humans" as a "kind, warm, beautifully observed and deeply moving new play, a celebration of working-class familial imperfection and affection." We disagreed, although Marlene liked it more than I did. I found the play tedious and contrived, and had little compassion for the characters, including the daughter who had escaped dying in 9/11, had ulcerative colitis and needed a colectomy, had just been dumped by her long time lesbian partner, and who was about to lose her job as an attorney. Really? Our dinner reservation was at Cosme, a year-old Mexican restaurant on East 21st in the Flatiron district. Chef Enrique Olvera brought his flavors to Manhattan from his globally acclaimed Pujol in Mexico City.
Cosme was a happening place, even on a Sunday evening with the Mets playing the Cubs in the playoffs. We arrived early for our 8:00 reservation, and took a seat at the bar. We each ordered a Striptease and were immediately hooked by the mezcal based cocktail.
Striptease — Vida Mezcal, Dolin Blanc Vermouth, guanabana, lime, absinthe salt We were soon seated at our table, cocktails in hand, and served addictive corn tostadas with spicy pumpkin seed salsa.
The Cosme menu is divided into three sections — fish and vegetable small plates, and a limited selection of large plates. We started by sharing the uni tostada and the lobster street corn, the latter listed with the large plates.
Uni Tostada — avocado, bone marrow salsa, cucumber
Sweet Corn Esquites — lobster, yuzu, arbol chile The tostada with its rich uni was good, but small for sharing. The lobster was lost in the brothy sweet corn; we would have enjoyed it more had it been billed as a veggie small plate. At this point, aside from our cocktails, we were disappointed with Cosme. Then came the duck carnitas.
Duck Carnitas — onions, radishes, salsa verde The duck, designed for sharing, was served whole and carved tableside by our waiter. It reminded us of of the whole roasted chicken for two at the NoMad. The duck had been slowly braised in its own fat with orange and Mexican Coca-Cola. It was served with small tortillas and two salsas. It was spectacular. We joyfully ate the sweet tender duck, with its crispy skin, in multiple tortillas, and then plucked every bite out of the serving skillet. We would return to Cosme for its cocktails and its delightful duck carnitas. Satiated, we walked the 2.5 miles back to our apartment. Copyright © 2015 TwoForTheTable.com |
