We woke up Tuesday morning to clear blue sky and seventy-degree weather, a perfect day for walking. And after winding our way through Manhattan, with targeted stops along the way, we ended up on 51st street between 6th and 7th; we had arrived at Le Bernardin.
Lunch at Le Bernardin is mandatory when we're in New York. The three star Michelin French restaurant specializing in seafood is one of the best restaurants in the world and we've never had a meal that wasn't deserving of those three stars. Our choice of wine is often a Sancerre, as it was this day. Le Bernardin offers a three course prix fixe menu — appetizer, entrée and dessert. The appetizers are preceded by a delicious salmon spread, followed by the bread tray. We shared two appetizers — the tuna, which we always order (which EVERYONE should always order), and the octopus.
Layers of thinly pounded yellowfin
tuna;
Charred octopus "a la plancha"; The tuna is one of chef Eric Ripert's signature dishes. The foie gras and toasted baguette are hidden underneath the delicate layer of tuna; it all bonds deliciously. The octopus was equally good, meaty and tender and nicely complimented by the emulsion and sundried tomato sauce. We both chose the monkfish for our entrée. We seem to always get monkfish at Le Bernardin; we really wanted to try something else this time and we certainly didn't want to both get the same entrée, but the preparation sucked us in.
Pan roasted monkfish; The monkfish was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and we used the proper utensil to capture every drop of the wonderful sauce. We did not regret our duplicate selection.
Dessert is a decadent extravagance for lunch, at least for us, but the desserts at Le Bernardin are included with the meal, so we "forced" ourselves to select two from the menu; Marlene ordered the CHOCOLATE MILLE-FEUILLE and I ordered the EXOTIC FRUIT VACHERIN.
Caramelized phyllo, thyme gelée, salted milk chocolate ice cream
Coconut sorbet, roasted pineapple, kokuto syrup Both desserts were indeed decadent, although mine was surprisingly light. The winner and still champion — Le Bernardin. It was a short afternoon. After a bit of clothes shopping for me, we walked back to our apartment and, shortly thereafter, walked back downtown to our first of four plays — "Matilda the Musical" at the Shubert Theatre.
Matilda was imported from London and inspired by the children's novel by Roald Dahl. Ben Brantley loved it, Marlene liked it, and I though it was just OK. As I reread Brantley's Times review, it occurred to me I had seen the 1996 movie and loved it. So, for me, something was wrong with the production. For starters, there are four young actresses who rotate in the part of Matilda Wormwood; the little girl we saw had to be the weakest of the four. Her singing and acting were average, at best, and she had little charisma; the children in the supporting cast were far superior. Miss Trunchbull, the evil headmistress at Matlilda's school (played by Bertie Carvel), was also not up to par. Again, Brantley love her (him), but our audience only politely applauded after Miss Trunchbull's two "show-stopping" numbers. Perhaps it was an off-night, perhaps it was an off-Matilda; I was disappointed. Speaking of disappointment, our after-theatre dinner reservation was at db Bistro Moderne, a short walk east on 44th street from the Shubert Theatre.
We had eaten at Daniel Boulud’s midtown restaurant many times in the past; it's an easy walk from the theatre district and the kitchen stays open for the after-theatre crowd. But we hadn't dined there recently and things had changed. The quirky menu, segmented by various food offerings, was no more. More importantly, the yummy tuna tartar we had both planned to order was no more. After ordering a nice bottle of pinot noir, we went about the difficult chore of deciding what to order from the now uninspiring menu. We started by sharing the foie gras, and to follow, we each ordered the lobster salad.
Foie gras torchon; poached rhubarb, mâche salad, toasted brioche
Lobster salad; romaine & frisée, hearts of palm, mango, avocado, lemon dressing The lobster salad was a holdover from the old menu and we had enjoyed it in the past. This salad was very different, a holdover from Red Lobster. Both dishes looked average and tasted average. We also shared an order of db's wonderful fries; well, at least they used to be wonderful. They were served in the same inverted cone, but they were now average fast-food.
Fake smiles for fake food On Wednesday evening, we're meeting our friends Arthur and Barbara Gelb for dinner at another of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants — Bar Boulud. Should we be worried? Copyright © 2012 TwoForTheTable.com |
