Our first lunch reservation was on the ground floor of ABC Carpet & Home near Union Square, where we had lunched on three previous occasions at Jean-Georges' ABC Kitchen. This time we were dining at his new ABC Cocina.
The ABC Cocina website states that "ABC Cocina & Michelin star Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten welcome you to our modern global exchange celebrating local craft and international culture." The "international culture" is pretty much confined to Spain, Mexico, Central American and South America, with dishes from these Spanish speaking countries populating the lunch menu. We started with margaritas — the ABC Cocina Classic. Not as good as Daiquiri Dick's in Puerto Vallarta, but still very good. We were forced to have a second.
We started by sharing a small plate of calamari stuffed with chorizo. It was near perfect. The calamari were tender, blending nicely with the spicy chorizo. The tomatoes were sweet and fresh. We tracked down and ate each and every chickpea.
Baby calamari stuffed with chorizo, tomato salad and chickpeas We shared two second course sandwiches — soft shell crab and Cuban. They were served sequentially.
Crispy soft shell crab sandwich, black olive tartar sauce, chilies and arugula
Roasted turkey Cuban sandwich, Flying Pigs ham, Dairyere cheese and pickles Both sandwiches disappointed. The first was all bread and tomato. At first we thought the black olive had overpowered the crab, but when eaten by itself, the soft shell crab was still tasteless. The Cuban suffered the same fate. It was a cheese sandwich with pickles. The turkey was flavorless, and while we could see the ham, it did a disappearing act on our palates. We recommend visiting ABC Cocina for a margarita — and ABC Kitchen for lunch. I describe our New York experience as lunches and dinners and killing time in between. So after our two margarita/two sandwich lunch, we killed time with lots of walking until it was time to head back down 2nd avenue to the Bowery for our reservation at Pearl & Ash.
We walked off the street into a bustling restaurant with blaring techno music, which persisted throughout our visit. We were immediately confronted by an annoying hostess, who informed us reservations were running behind due to new inexperienced waitstaff, who wouldn't let us sit at two open bar seats, as they were reserved, and who tried to seat us with another couple at a smallish table not intended for four. Not an auspicious start.
When we were finally seated, at at table for two, the waitstaff was excellent, almost to a fault. Pearl & Ash is know for its extensive, reasonably priced wine menu. The sommelier recommended and served a nice Gamay. The food menu offers small plates to be shared, divided into raw, small, fish, meat, vegetables, sugar and cheese sections. We ordered six dishes, and asked our waiter to stage them appropriately. The dishes were intricately constructed, intensely flavorful and for the most part very good. However, multiple dishes were brought to our smallish table at the same time; when we served portions onto our smallish dinner plates, the chemistry tended to blur. To add to the congestion, designated "pourers" were constantly refilling our wine and water glasses, virtually after every swallow.
Hanger tartare, egg, cocoa, melba
Bread, chicken butter, maple syrup
Diver scallop, guanciale, pine nut, lily bulb
Octopus, sunflower seed, shiso
Cauliflower, hazelnut, shishito
Sweetbread, sherry, heart of palm, morcilla While we both appreciated the quality of the food, we found our meal at Pearl & Ash unsatisfying. The annoying hostess, the blaring techno music, the crowded tables, the dishes competing for space on small dinner plates, the buzzing waitstaff — it all seemed at odds with the delicately constructed flavorful dishes. Our overall dining experience was best summed up by a wall we passed on our walk back to the apartment, a block up from the restaurant. Had the artist dined at Pearl & Ash?
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