Excellent Food at Le Bernardin (food)

I've written before that in NYC I find Per Se and Eleven Madison Park to be the best celebratory dining experiences while other well known top tier restaurants such as Le Bernardin, Daniel, and Jean Georges tend to be more like a "canteen to the rich". Obviously that analogy is exaggerated, but the point is that they are more traditional restaurants with great food and less of a grand overall experience.

Atmosphere: The renovation has made Le Bernardin feel more like a restaurant than the old "office lobby" feel it used to have. The dining room feels more spacious and modern, and even the bar area feels less stuffy than before. While there were clearly people there on dates, I did not find the space romantic at all. The lighting was fairly bright (which I actually like personally), and to compare, it lacked the view of Per Se, the serenity of Eleven Madison Park, and the warmth of Daniel.

Service: The bartender and servers seemed friendlier, especially compared to my last visit, during which I would classify them as downright snooty. The service is efficiently run, and you don't get the sense that there are too many servers which often results in "hovering". One interesting result is that while dishes arrive at the same time, they do not always get placed at your table simultaneously by multiple servers as they would at some other places.

Food: I find that the key at these more traditional restaurants is to order a la carte or prix fixe, and avoid the tasting menu. I found this to be true at Daniel, Marea, and now Le Bernardin. The food is excellent, but do not expect some grand tasting menu of elaborately composed and plated small bites.

I arrived early and sat at the bar for a bit. They offer bar snacks in the form of walnuts, rice crackers, and yuzu popcorn.

SMOKED SALMON, CRAB SALAD, WATERMELON SOUP
The amuse was brought to the table before we even got our menus. The crab salad stood out with its freshness.

The bread selection was quite good, with my favorites being sourdough and brioche.

FLUKE - FLUKE "SASHIMI"; MICRO WATERCRESS AVOCADO JALAPENO-LIME BROTH

CAVIAR TARTARE ($45 SUPPLEMENT) - LEAPING WATERS BEEF, LANGOUSTINE AND OSETRA CAVIAR TARTARE BLACK PEPPER-VODKA CREME FRAICHE, POMME GAUFRETTE
Unlike a traditional tartare flavored with condiments, this was extremely clean tasting and allowed the freshness of the ingredients to shine through. The addition of the raw langoustine provided brilliant sweetness, though I would have preferred the caviar to have been slightly saltier than it was to balance it out.

MESCLUN SALAD - SALAD OF THE DAY'S MARKET HERBS AND VEGETABLES WITH BALSAMIC-SHALLOT DRESSING
For a restaurant that specializes in seafood, they do a fine job of catering to other tastes. For example, this salad is far superior to the one at Marea where the salad looked like they had just "put something together".

SCALLOP - WARM SCALLOP "CARPACCIO"; SNOWPEAS AND SHIITAKE LIME-SHISO BROTH

BACALAO - GRILLED SALTED COD; HEARTS OF BABY ROMAINE "CAESAR VINAIGRETTE"

LANGOUSTINE - SAUTEED LANGOUSTINE; SUMMER TRUFFLE AND CHANTERELLE AGED BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
This was one of most extraordinary langoustine preparations I've ever had. This was just perfect. While cooked langoustine can easily be overdone and raw langoustine often has a bit of chewiness/stringiness that I don't like, this langoustine was perfect with a warm, soft texture. The sweetness was balanced well with the earthy truffle and mushrooms and enhanced by the vinaigrette. This is probably my favorite composed langoustine dish, although I still love the simplicity of the langoustine en papillote at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon.

BLACK BASS - CRISPY BLACK BASS; PICKLED CUCUMBERS BLACK GARLIC-PERSIAN LEMON SAUCE
One of Le Bernardin's signature dishes, the skin was indeed crispy and the sauce was simple yet had a complex flavor with the black garlic. Although I can certainly understand if people feel that this dish is too straightforward.

SKATE - BAKED SKATE "EN PAPILLOTE"; PICKLED CHANTERELLES, BABY TURNIPS "GREEN MARNIERE"
I did not see them opening up the papillote so I'll have to take their word for it. In between the the two pieces of beautifully cooked skate were more vegetables and turnips, which really made the dish with crunchiness and flavors that complemented the delicate skate beautifully.

DOVER SOLE - SAUTEED SOLE; BROWN-BUTTER TAMARIND VINAIGRETTE
This dish, to me, stole the show among the main courses. The fish was perfectly cooked with delicate flaky flesh and a slight browning on the outside. While I often find dover sole sauces to be too rich, this one felt just right and beautifully balanced.

"ALMOND-PISTACHIO-BARBERRY" GOLDEN BASMATI
This came with the Dover Sole, but I didn't feel it was necessary.

PASTA - BLACK TRUFFLE-BUFFALO MOZZARELLA STUFFED RAVIOLI "SUMMER VEGETABLES", PARMESAN SAUCE
This sounded great on the menu so we ordered one for the table. While all the components were tasty, I didn't feel that the dish really came together as a whole. It could be because we focused on our fish courses first, but the pasta felt limp. I don't have a problem with that myself, but if you equate pasta with al dente, this wouldn't work for you.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT - MADAGASCAN CHOCHOLATE CANACHE, PEANUT MOUSSE SALTED CARAMEL ICE CREAM

ASSORTMENT OF ICE CREAM - VANILLA, COFFEE, CINNAMON, CHOCOLATE
Honestly I don't really remember the flavors exactly. I asked for the egg, but they told me that it's not available at all now that Laiskonis is gone. Having already ordered the chocolate peanut, nothing else on the menu jumped out at me.

They gifted us this passionfruit and white chocolate dessert, which was good even though I'm not a big passionfruit person.

MIGNARDISES

The food is excellent, with some of the best composed seafood preparations I've ever had. The overall meal itself, however, seemed to me to lack a grandeur that one now expects from a 3 Michelin Star "destination" restaurant. But if the only thing that matters is food, and you're not saving up to be wowed by a whole night out extravaganza with delicately composed plates, then it truly is some of the best.

Birthday Celebration at Eleven Madison Park (food)

For a guy who has been known to regularly add dishes to tasting menus, including adding 4 courses to the old 12 course tasting at WD50, it's extremely rare for me to say that a meal was too much. But this meal definitely kicked my ass, in a good way of course.

While the tasting menu served as the foundation of this meal, we also added additional items and did the wine pairing. It was a birthday celebration after all. For comparison purposes, I think it's best to think of it like the extended tasting at Per Se, although with a lower price tag and less overly fancy ingredients. I believe that our experience was a good representation of what you would get with the tasting menu at Eleven Madison Park, but don't be disappointed if you don't get everything that's listed below. I mention this because we were the last table to leave that night, and the penultimate table asked us about the extra courses that seemed to differ in our meals.

***Please note that some of these photos are of the same dishes, but from a different dinner***

The meal begins with black and white cookies. EMP has really focused on celebrating old New York culture with many of their current items, and the black and white cookies are no exception, coming in a box with a card attached describing the origins of the treat.

SAVORY BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES
These are very different from the traditional sweet treats, however, featuring a savory combination of parmesan and black truffle flavors. However, there is only one cookie per diner, as opposed to the constantly refilled container of gougeres they used to have. As delicious as this is, I do miss the gougeres a bit.

TOMATO - TEA PARMESAN LAVASH AND LEMON THYME
Painkiller cocktail
The "tea" has been a staple of the canapes for a while, with the main ingredient changing seasonally. This time it was a flavorful yet light tomato tea that was extremely fragrant with just a hint of tartness to open up the taste buds.

The parmesan lavash was thin and crispy.

MACKEREL WITH HORSERADISH CHIP AND MUSTARD
SCALLOP WITH SCALLOP CHIP AND PICKLED DAIKON AND SESAME
The mackerel was fresh tasting and relatively mild considering the fish. But the thing that stole the show for me was the scallop chip. A crispy chip that tastes exclusively of scallop flavor. I don't know how they did it, but I can easily see it being used in a myriad of ways with other dishes and other cuisines.

CHICKPEA PANISSE WITH YOGURT
The fry-job on this was remarkable. Hot with just a slight crisp on the outside, giving away to a creamy and fluffy chickpea blend. I wondered if their fryer was used for just this item every night.

YOGURT LOLLIPOP WITH CURRY
Yogurt and curry is a good combination, and the cold lollipop provided a great contrast in temperature and texture with the panisse.

TROUT ROE MARINATED WITH DASHI, CANTALOUPE, ZUCCHINI, AND WATERMELON SNOW
This was the first item of the night that I hadn't had before, and it was spectacular. Phenomenal. Just wow. I couldn't stop talking about it. The fruit and vegetable flavors and textures seemed disparate at first, but came together in an amazing way with every pop of the tiny, slightly salty trout roe. While chef Humm is known for playing with textures and temperatures, the mixing of these components by the diner really brought it to another level, reminding me of the bibim at Jungsik.

SMOKED STURGEON
The next dish was EMP's ode to Jewish appetizing. A glass dome filled with smoke was brought to the table to keep smoking the fish while a chef elaborated on the tradition of Jewish appetizing.

Accompanying the smoked sturgeon was lettuce, pickled onion, a perfectly cooked quail egg, and in keeping with the theme, an "everything bagel" crumble.

There were also rye crisps.

As well as house-made pickles. I liked these a lot, as I felt that they weren't overly brined.

Their version of cream cheese was a tin of creme fraiche with a generous amount of caviar on top.

Finally, the dome is lifted and the fish is presented, already sliced. The applewood smoke permeates each bite of the tender fish. Everything worked well together, with the fish, caviar "cream cheese", and pickles on rye crisps my favorite combination.

At this point, we were given a tour of the kitchen. For pictures of the kitchen, please read this prior EMP review. They are busiest between 8pm and 10pm, so those are probably the toughest times to try to accommodate kitchen tours.

I did miss one thing in my previous visits, and it's this mission statement placard. On it are words that are used to describe the musician Miles Davis, and was put there in response to an early critic's comments that the place needed more Miles Davis.

THE COLONY
One of the great things about a kitchen tour at EMP is the cocktail-inspired, liquid-nitrogen-frozen alcoholic palate cleanser. I really liked this one, with its cherry base, and preferred it to the previous one, which was based on a Jack Rose.

COUSCOUS SMOKED WITH TOMATO, YOGURT, AND OLIVES
Domaine Terrabrune, Bandol, Provence France 2011
This was a wonderful, light starter that once again highlighted the season. Every bite of couscous throughout the dish was steeped in the smoked tomato flavor.

FOIE GRAS MARINATED AND SERVED WITH BLACKBERRIES
Agusti Torello, XII, Penedes, Spain 2010
This may have been new since the description I got with my menu is different from what I actually had. I tend to find that I have problems with foie accompaniments that are too tart, and this was just on the borderline while providing a nice sweet flavor. I did feel that the dish was missing a traditional crispy texture component though.

CLAMBAKE WITH CHORIZO, CORN, AND ZUCCHINI
Southampton, Saison Deluxe, South Hampton, Long Island
This was my first time having the clambake, even though they've served it for quite a while now. It is a beautiful presentation and the aroma itself gave me a wonderful sense of both excitement and comfort.

The cornbread with zucchini and chorizo was a good combination of sweet and savory.

Clams were featured with clam snow, again showing chef Humm's fondness of different temperatures and textures.

But the thing that really blew my mind was this tomato corn broth. Warm and comforting yet exciting and new. Rich yet light. Sweet yet hearty. Just delicious.

WHEY - FRESH CURDS, CARAWAY GNOCCHI, AND SPRING HERBS
Lieu Dit, Sauvignon Blanc, Santa Barbara, California 2011
This was a rather unique dish. It was a purposeful dish, a pasta course that bridged the starters and the proteins with an earthy array of herbs. The slight buttermilk-like tartness from the curds was welcome in cutting the denseness of the gnocchi and herbs.

A look at the curds and gnocchi underneath the greens. It's a well composed dish, but I didn't get that "wow" feeling. That being said, it could be a matter of expectations going in, since I think if this was served to me at BHSB I'd be singing its praises.

LOBSTER POACHED WITH MEYER LEMON, BURNT LEEK, AND SHELLFISH BISQUE
Navazos-Niepoort, Vino Blanco, Andalucia, Spain 2010
A sizeable portion of beautifully poached lobster. The leeks and crumble provided a nice charred and earthy flavor that went well with the lobster. I actually prefer this to the sweeter pairings (such as carrots) they've done before, and I absolutely love when they use Meyer lemon with lobster.

LAMB ROASTED WITH ARTICHOKES, FREEKEH, AND SPRING ONION
Casanuova delle Cerbaie, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy 2004
So we finally found the other use for their fryer in the fried onion strands, which along with the freekeh (think bulgar wheat) and artichoke, provided good texture contrast to the supremely tender yet meaty lamb loin.

Why did I include this picture? Because this was how things looked to me by this time. Like I said, this meal kicked my ass.

DUCK - ROASTED WITH LAVENDER HONEY, CELERY, AND RHUBARB
Domaine de Courcel, Grand Clos des Epenots, Pommard 1er Cru, Burgundy, France 2007

The signature duck is delicious as always, with crispy skin, concentrated meat flavor, and the perfume of lavender. It feels like it's been fairly recent that they changed the way they present the duck in terms of the slicing, and I think it's because they wanted pieces with more skin in each bite.

The final blow is a small dish filled with potato mousseline and duck confit. For the potato, think along the lines of Robuchon's signature potatoes.

EGG CREAM - ORANGE, COCOA NIB, AND SELTZER
CHEESECAKE - GOAT CHEESE, CHAMOMILE
Two more preparations that fit the ode to old school New York theme. Both are delicious but perfectly light preparations of classics. The orange oil used in the egg cream is super aromatic, and the way they froth up the seltzer is perfect for a guy like me who isn't that much into carbonated drinks.

RHUBARB POACHED WITH COCONUT, OREGANO ICE CREAM, AND HONEY
Kiralyudvar, Lapis, 6 Puttonyos, Tokaji Aszu, Hungary 2003
I'm kind of indifferent when it comes to rhubarb, but the thing about this dish was that the oregano ice cream was too strong. This did allow me to focus on the wine, which was the first time I had a Tokaji (Tokay). I liked it very much as it had a great breadth of flavor, and reminded me of a sauterne.

QUARK SOUFFLE WITH APRICOT SORBET
The souffle was expertly made, and while I've never really thought of cheese and apricot, the combination worked well together.

SWEET BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES
Bookends to the meal.

CARAMEL POPCORN BONBONS
These reminded me of a cross between caramel corn and a butterfinger.

This was an extraordinary meal and I really do think Eleven Madison Park is the perfect place for a big celebration. In fact, there was a proposal the night we were there. In this regard, I think it stands head and shoulders above the other top tier restaurants in NYC (such as Le Bernardin, review coming soon), and even though Per Se is comparable, I feel a greater sense of giddiness going to Eleven Madison Park for the whole experience.