Dining Brief: Degustation

If everyone loves Spanish food, and everyone loves small plates, and diners are trending towards more casual, relaxed meals, why then is it so easy to get a reservation at Degustation?

I called three or four days ahead of time and was able to get any time I wanted on a Friday night. Then I got the flu and rescheduled for the next Saturday. Again, I could get almost any time I wanted. That Saturday didn’t work so I rescheduled yet again for a Wednesday night that was convenient for everyone—except for the extremely kind people answering the restaurant’s phones.

Easy reservations don’t trouble me if the restaurant in question is really large, or if the food is said to be average, or uneven, but Degustation, Grace and Jack Lamb’s (owners of Jewel Bako which is next door and actually connected to Degustation by a narrow hallway) 16 seat quasi Tapas/French restaurant is too small and too good to be this easy to eat at.

Chef Wesley Genovart who is 28 but looks like he could be 19 runs a small but well paced and relaxed open kitchen that is surrounded by the 16 seat wooden bar. This narrow space, dimly lit and accented by dark stone walls makes up the entire restaurant. What could arguably be a very large bathroom or closet space in a city with more space, is actually a restaurant that incites joy in those lucky enough to cram themselves in.

Watching a chef in an open kitchen is a fun experience but can also affect the way you eat your food—its not as much fun to eat a dish cooked by a stressed out and sweaty guy cursing under his breath 6 feet away from you. What impressed me most about Degustation was the way that the food and the service all seemed so refined yet effortless.

Degustation does simple dishes very well--slightly smoky and deliciously fresh shrimp prawns and langoustines grilled on the plancha and dusted with sea salt were a pleasure to eat. They also seem to make complex dishes very simply. A crudo of Tasmanian sea trouth was adorned with basil seeds, resempling caviar, little green orbs of encapsulated basil and a sherry reduction, leaving the diner with the striking mix of the bright pink fish surrounded by greens on the plate. The fish was delicious too it sweetness accentuated by the sherry and then held back by the herbal notes in the basil. Chef Genovart is clearly man who understands his fish and knows how to get the most out of them.

The one bite Spanish tortilla topped with Piquillo pepper and stuffed with shallot confit and quail egg was a nice little burst of flavor to start the meal. However, the slowly poached egg sitting in a bath of cheese foam with Serrano ham and rice cracker crusted asparagus fell a little short. The foam was too salty and the asparagus too stringy. I blame myself for this one, ordering asparagus in February was a really poor idea.

The disappointment experienced by the egg is quickly forgotten however, as you move on with the menu. Pork cheeks were extremely tender and came with a light sweet potato gnocchi, denser Brussels sprouts and salty blood sausage, a medley of tastes and textures that go really well together if you can fit them into the same bite. Our dessert of sweet caramelized bread pudding with frozen grapefruit and grapefruit foam was solid (with the foam actually working well here) but the highlight of the meal was the rabbit. Confited until tender and very juicy and served in little circles, accompanied by crispy fried artichoke and white beer sauce, it was simple yet packed with flavor with ingredients that were seemingly made for each other. A perfect example of how a well run humble little restaurant can cook up some very big food.

(Photo credit to NYMAG)

Restaurant Review: Blue Hill

For the past year or so a couple of friends and I have been getting together for quarterly blowout dinners. Whenever my friend Josh is in from London, we get together with my friend Lee and attempt to find a really nice restaurant that we haven’t yet been to (between the three of us, these places are getting harder and harder to find) and we try to sample as much of the restaurant’s food as we can. Because this is an infrequent and celebratory venture, cost isn’t nearly as important as it would normally be and we are able to really let loose (in a civilized adult sort of way)and have a good time.

Our most recent destination restaurant was Blue Hill, Dan Barber’s haute farm-to-table restaurant that has been a trend setter in the greenmarket movement that is currently overtaking the New York Culinary scene and a recent recipient of three stars from the New York Times. Along with restaurants such as Gramercy Tavern, Telepan, Craft, Cookshop and Tasting Room, Blue Hill is one of the spots to go if you prize fresh ingredients prepared in an expert way. The restaurant is actually able to source a large share of its ingredients from The Rockefeller Farms in upstate New York. Despite the fact that Blue Hill has been around since 2000, it is a restaurant that the three of us hadn’t been to and one we were all eagerly anticipating.

The restaurant asserts itself as a champion of seasonal ingredients with it’s amuse bouche, a skewer piercing two perfect little pieces of…you guessed it—cauliflower. I was a little put off by a piece of cauliflower as an amuse but I suppose if the kitchen really wanted to drive home the simple ingredient aspect, caulilflower with a little lemon was certainly the way to do it. Despite having second thoughts about choice at this point we drank some wine and forged ahead.

Appetizers started with sweet shreds of Maine crabmeat atop thin slices of green apple, fennel, and earthy panther soybeans soaking in a sweet and tangy apple mustard broth, a light and refreshing start to a meal. We then split an enormously satisfying sweet potato tortelloni which was hearty, meaty and resonant of the winter season.

While good, none of the previous two appetizers lived up to what I thought was the best dish of the night, and what appears to be a constant on the Blue Hill menu—a 45 minute slow poached egg with pan roasted oyster mushrooms swimming in an herb broth. Upon piercing with the fork, the egg melted into the broth creating a rich, creamy and delightfully green tasting coating to the earthy oyster mushrooms. I liked the egg infused broth so much I even broke my self imposed ban on bread (so as not to fill up) to soak up every last bit.

Our entrées proved to be satisfying as well and just as much of a testament to local producers and seasonal ingredients as the appetizers. We sampled some Hudson Valley Venison, Stone Barns pork loin and belly and Veal grown by none other than the man they call Rabbi Bob. When we asked if he was an actual rabbi, our waitress who was incredibly knowledgeable and immensely helpful in every way, told us that he was rabbiesque in appearance and was great with veal.

I found the venison, cooked sous vide and accompanied by a stew of carrots to be incredibly competent and tender, but not quite as good as the venison (prepared much the same way) at Gramercy Tavern. My veal, expertly raised by Rabbi Bob was incredibly tender and well complemented and contrasted by the creamy texture and toothy texture of the cracked wheat resting underneath. The rack of pork was flavorful but not nearly as satisfying as the belly that accompanied it. Our best single bite of the night included a forkful of the meltingly fatty belly with red cabbage simmered in red and port wine- a perfect combination of savory, sweet, tart, soft, and crunchy.

The two desserts we tried were slightly uneven, brought down by the cheesecake in a jar (not on the regular menu but on the tasting menu) lacking texture. While the chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream was simple and delicious, it was a perfect ending to a meal that was centered around carefully chosen ingredients, and simple yet elegant preparation.

For all the hype about the nuances of the food I would expect the dining room to be rather hushed and peaceful but I found that on a cold Friday night the exact opposite was true. The bar which is situated in the front third of the restaurant was packed and the energy in the room was palpable making the dining experience a lot more like a night out than I would have originally imagined.

Overall, the service food and general feel of the restaurant were all outstanding, and for the value, five appetizers three entrees, two desserts, one cheese plate, two cockatils, two bottles of wine and three glasses if dessert wine for less than a tasting menu meal at numerous other high end restaurants) I even found the value to be really strong. I can’t wait to go back in the spring or summer to see what Dan Barber can cook up with a bounty of new ingredients.

Dining Brief: WD-50

I recently had the pleasure of experiencing a meal at WD-50. I use the word experience because at Wylie Dufresne’s Lower East Side restaurant, ‘experiencing’ your food is just as much a part of the dining experience as eating it.

Carrot coconut 'sunny side up.' I believe this dish epitomizes the experience at WD-50. It looks like a beautiful fried egg and even feels and acts like a fried egg yet it tastes like something completely different. Lots of fun.

This was my second visit to Wd-50 but my first time ordering A La Carte. The first visit was about a year ago when my friend Josh and I splurged and each ordered a tasting menu with wine pairings. We enjoyed the meal so much we even ordered extra desserts. Although not every dish on the tasting menu was a complete hit, I think we both agreed that the dining experience was one of the most interesting and fun that we’ve ever had.

On this recent visit we ordered A La Carte and bought five appetizers for the four of us. Since we all shared to an extent, I was able to sample almost as many dishes as the tasting menu, but I came away from the experience a little disappointed. It wasn’t that the food was bad, I really enjoyed most of the things I ate, it’s just that unlike the tasting menu, there was nothing that really made me say “wow.” The a la carte choices didn’t dip as low as some of the things that we had on the tasting menu, but they didn’t fly as high either.

I was trying to figure out why this might be and I decided that restaurant economics dictate that a regular menu be much safer. If someone like me goes into a restaurant like WD-50 and orders a tasting menu, it’s ok if three of the very innovative dishes aren’t that good. I’ll still eave happy if the other seven blow me away. However, if someone is only having an appetizer and an entrée and one fails, there is a good chance that diner isn’t coming back. The regular menu has to have safer choices to cater to a les adventurous, possibly skeptical crowd.

I still think WD-50 is an incredible restaurant and one that I would highly recommend to anyone that loves to eat but also likes to be challenged and think about their food. However, I think the true genius behind WD-50 really only comes out when Chef

Dufresne gets to play around as he often does on the tasting menu. It serves as a platform for him to offer you some of his most fun dishes and new creations. They might not all be great but when I taste a dish that hits, it brings an involuntary smile to my face, something that doesn’t happen often at restaurants.

In conclusion, if you go to WD-50 looking to really think about your food and to eat something delicious, you need to go all the way. If you dip your foot in the pond and try the regular menu you’ll probably be disappointed. Jump in for the full experience however, and you will leave happy.

Dining Brief: Telepan

Every once in a while I take a peek at the menu of a restaurant I will be visiting and I feel comforted. I know the food will be good. However, sometimes the flashy descriptions on the menu overstate the food and I end up being disappointed. The halibut accompanied by six different obscure and precious ingredients might be dry and not that flavorful.

The menu at Telepan is very comforting to me, and after my first visit the food pulled through as well. Executive chef Bill Telepan is one of a number of chefs whose menu reflects the seasons. He is an avid greenmarketeer and even has a cookbook Inspired by Ingredients, that can help the home chef along with cooking as determined by the market’s produce. The menu wasn’t comforting to me because of fancy descriptions or tales of Wagyu and Kobe beef. There were simply a lot of things that I liked to eat. It’s filled with eggs, potatoes, pork, pierogis and blinis and even (gasp) foie gras donuts! What was even more comforting however, was that as someone who frequents the Greenmarkets, all the ingredients were recognizable and accessible.
Although I only had brunch at Telepan, the food definitely warrants a dinner

trip in the near future. The smoked brook trout on celery root blini with green apple sour cream was too good not to taste again at some point. And everything I ate involving eggs, from the coddled eggs with scrapple (yes scrapple and its delicious) to the biscuits and gravy, a combination that reminds me of some sort of heavenly breakfast sandwich, everything I tasted was a winner. The four course $64 dollar prix fixe dinner even seems like a bargain. Even though the food does look very nice on the plate, it’s really the distinct and vibrant flavors on each plate that make the restaurant so much fun. You really get to taste your food. So, if you find yourself on the upper west side, a neighborhood relatively devoid of good restaurants, you should give Telepan a try, I promise you’ll like it.

Smoked trout, celery root blini, green apple sour cream