After a weekend of strong storms in St. Louis, Sunday morning was dry and our American Airlines flight arrived on time in New York City at 11:35 am. An hour later, our taxi dropped us off at our apartment building, where we immediately realized that the familiar sweet scent of yeast had returned. We unpacked and, saving the yeast for later, walked to Bice on 54th between Madison and Fifth for lunch. It's become a tradition for us to eat lunch at Bice when we vacation in New York, either the day we arrive or the day we leave. Bice has locations throughout the world; we've dined in Chicago and Buenos Aires. They offer a traditional Italian menu.
We always take a table in the bar which, in nice weather, is open to the street. And we usually arrive knowing what we're going to eat; we each order a glass of Chianti and we split the same salad and the same pasta — our New York comfort food. The TRICOLORE CON SCAGLIE DI PARMIGIANO, PINOLI, OLIO E LIMONE is a simple salad which Marlene has "duplicated" at home many times. The cheese and pine nuts and lettuces are easy enough to compile, but the tangy lemon dressing is more difficult to replicate. So is the ambience.
Radicchio, endive and arugula tossed with parmesan cheese, pine nuts and lemon dressing The PAPPARDELLE AL TELEFONO always arrives steaming hot, and must be eaten that way, before the cheese begins to congeal. It's always delicious and it is indeed comfort food.
Large ribbon pasta with mozzarella cheese and fresh basil tomato cream sauce After lunch, we had planned to window-shop, but a combination of ninety-degree heat and travel-day weariness drove us back to our apartment to rest. But not before we followed that sweet yeast aroma around the corner to the Hot & Crusty!
Yes, the Hot & Crusty, which had been boarded up on our last visit due to labor unrest, was open again. Marlene purchased her morning bagels and cream cheese and orange juice, and was a happy camper. Our dinner reservation was at Recette. We had dined at the West Village restaurant on our last visit to New York and were divided as to whether or not to try it again so soon. I lost.
Our friendly waiter asked if we had dined with them before and if we understood the menu. We had and I did. Recette offers and the wait staff recommend one of three chef's tasting menus — a 5 course for $75, a 7 course for $100, or a 10 course for $150 — all compiled by the chef from 18 offerings on their ala carte menu. On our last visit we had followed their advice and selected the 5 course menu. But now I indeed "understood" the menu. Like most tasting menus, the portions are much smaller than the ala carte portions (one scallop instead of three). But unlike most tasting menus, the ala carte prices are not inflated. So we found that by selecting seven items to share from the ala carte menu, we were able to sample more dishes and ended up with more (too much) food at a lower cost. As we enjoyed a nice, moderately priced bottle of Burgundy, the kitchen began presenting the dishes we had ordered at a perfect pace. Our first two dishes were the SPOT PRAWN CRUDO and the MARINATED ARCTIC CHAR. Marlene liked them better than I did; I thought they were both just OK.
Spot prawn crudo, fried heads, red sorrel, lemon, sea salt
Marinated arctic char, oyster, crunchy salad, parsnip, bonito broth, bottarga The "crudo" part of the prawn was good enough, but it was difficult to figure out how to eat the "fried head" part; the server suggested dousing it with the accompanying lemon, but then what? The char was good, but was it as good as the hand-cut Protzel's lox we had enjoyed the night before at home? Next we were served the GRILLED COBIA and the BEEF CARPACCIO; they were definitely a step up.
Grilled cobia, cucumber "kimchi" crema, chili, mizuna
Beef carpaccio, burrata, tomato jam, porcini purée, basil, watercress
The cobia was meaty and excellent; the "kimchi crema" had a nice kick. However, Marlene described the sauce as Thousand Island, which is an unfortunate apt comparison. The carpaccio was an interesting dish. The "mound" of beef pictured was not all beef; it covered an interior of burratta cheese. The entire dish was quite tasty. Next came the FRESH CUT SPAGHETTI and the MONKFISH. Both preparations were excellent.
Fresh cut spaghetti, sweet shrimp, stewed tomato, chili, sea urchin
Monkfish, "Bouillabaisse," fried razor clams, sweet shrimp, sauce rouille The homemade spaghetti was perfect, and the sauce was very good. The bouillabaisse may have been our best dish; the fish was tasty, nicely complimented by the spicy sauce. Our final dish was the DUCK BREAST. By this point, we really didn't need another dish, but we were happy to sample the excellent duck breast, although the confit didn't make it to the plate.
Duck breast, confit leg, beluga lentils, maitakes We passed on dessert; we didn't look at the menu. And while we enjoyed our meal and the ambiance of Recette, none of the dishes were exceptional. We'll probably wait awhile before we return. We attempted to walk back to our apartment, but after wandering through Time Square, we pooped out at 48th and 7th; we took a taxi the rest of the way. Tomorrow was another day. Copyright © 2012 TwoForTheTable.com |
