The Cambridge dictionary defines "creature of habit" as "someone who always wants to do the same things in the same way." When it comes to lunch at Le Bernardin, Marlene and I are certainly such creatures, and not necessarily by intent. I just read the descriptions of our lunch at the Midtown three star Michelin restaurant in 2013 and 2012, and I had to smile.
Eric Ripert's world-class French seafood restaurant offers a three course prix fixe menu — first course, main course and dessert. Our sommelier selected a perfect white Burgundy, which she poured as we were served the ever-present salmon spread, bread tray and butter — also perfect.
After agonizing over the menu — one offering better than the next — we decided to share the octopus and the tuna.
Warm Octopus “Carpaccio”; Leek Compote, Peruvian Anticucho Sauce
Layers of Thinly Pounded Yellowfin
Tuna; The octopus was sweet, tender and delicious, nicely complimented by the spicy anticucho sauce. And the melt-in-your mouth tuna, which we never pass up, was incredible, as usual, with its foie gras and toasted baguette adding richness and texture. We shared the black bass and the monkfish as our main course. The black bass with its crispy skin was complimented by the meaty wood ear mushrooms. It was a great dish. And the tender monkfish and its rich intricate sauce was equally wonderful.
Crispy Black Bass; Wood Ears and Water Chestnuts, Black Truffle Hot and Sour Pot au Feu
Pan Roasted Monkfish; Tarragon Scented Pea Purée, Armagnac-Black Pepper Sauce While we've been lunching at Le Bernardin for many years, we're usually only there once a year. Yet the staff welcome us like old friends. It makes the food taste that much better.
We almost never order dessert with lunch, and these days we try not to order dessert with dinner. But since dessert is included in the prix fixe menu, the calories didn't count in the two sumptuous desserts we shared!
Smoked Madagascan Chocolate Crémeux, Graham Cracker Sablé Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream
Roasted Banana Mousse Cake and Ice Cream, Piedmont Hazelnuts Superlatives do not do lunch (or dinner) at Le Bernardin justice. You have to taste the food. We considered changing our dinner reservation at Alder for the evening. Marlene read that the small plate venue was crowded and noisy; we feared a repeat performance of our dinner the night before. But in the end, we took another taxi ride down 2nd avenue to the East Village. We're glad we did.
Alder is Wylie Dufresne's more casual sister restaurant to his internationally acclaimed WD-50 (which is in the process of relocating). Dufresne, known as the mad scientist of cuisine, brings the same mad chemistry to Alder's small plates that he does to his more "traditional" WD-50 menu.
It was indeed noisy at Alder, but it was a different kind of noise than we had experienced at Pearl & Ash. It was not pounding techno music; it was the noise of diners enjoying themselves. And while there was music in the bar area, there were no speakers in the dining area. Our delightful waitress, who had come to New York from Guatemala by way of Avignon, recommended a nice Rioja. We ordered four small plates from the eclectic menu, and waited for the show to begin.
For starters, we shared the "Pigs in a Blanket" and the foie gras. When in New York, I crave the hotdogs sold by the ubiquitous street vendors; Marlene holds me back. I finally got my fix with Dufresne's toasted compressed hotdog buns, wrapped around spicy Chinese sausage with Japanese mustard and sweet chili sauce. We devoured the six bites and wanted more. The four foie gras bites were also tasty, although the rice crackers were a bit too hard for the delicate mousse.
"Pigs in a Blanket" - Chinese sausage, Japanese mustard, sweet chili sauce
Foie Gras - forbidden rice, pineapple, almond, arbol We shared two "larger" small plates as our main course — the rye pasta and the soft-shell crab. The pasta was Dufresne's take on a Reuben sandwich. The pasta did indeed taste like rye, and was interspersed with thin slices of spicy pastrami. It was very good. And this soft-shell crab did not disappoint. The crab was sweet, meaty and perfectly breaded, the sweet pea tartar sauce was yummy, and we did not leave a single perfectly roasted potato behind.
Rye Pasta - shaved pastrami
Soft-Shell Crab - sweet pea-ramp tartar sauce As I said, we try not to order dessert for dinner, and we had already shared two desserts at lunch, but the desserts at Alder were impossible to resist. We shared another and finished every bite.
Carrot Cake Sundae - cream cheese ice cream, candied walnuts We were satiated and satisfied. And I'm sure the calories melted off as we walked the 54 blocks up 2nd avenue to our apartment. Right! Copyright © 2014 TwoForTheTable.com |
