Search results for 'Eleven Madison Park'

Top Noms of 2013

13 Jan

2013 was truly the best year of my life.  And most of my best memories of the year include (or entirely revolve around) amazing meals.

It was really tough to narrow it down to the top 10 this year with so many amazing meals, so I’m cheating a bit.  (To see the Top Noms of years past, check these links: 201220112010, and 2009)

Second Runner Up: After a lot of buzz and rumors of impossible reservations, we were lucky enough to walk in and get a seat at the bar at Chez Sardine.  This sticks out in my memory both for the amazing, creative food and for the fun of watching them construct it while peering directly into the kitchen from our bar seats.

Chez Sardine

First Runner Up: After two amazing meals at WD-50 (still in the top 3 of all time meals) we were excited to try Chef Wylie Dufresne’s more casual new restaurant, Alder.  Our entire meal was creative and great, but the chicken liver toast was a huge stand out that I still think about all these months later.

Alder: Chicken Liver Toast

#10: Our honeymoon was filled with a bunch of absolutely amazing meals, but our meal at Le Pigeon in Portland, OR really stood out for its freshness and unique use of ingredients. The trout lox paired so incredibly well with the raspberries. An unexpected match made in heaven.

Le Pigeon: Trout Lox

#9: We couldn’t wait to try Betony when it opened since it was from alumni of one of our absolute favorite restaurants, Eleven Madison Park.   We fell in love with the “Tuna Melt” with melted fontina cheese and there was sculptural beauty (and flavorful beauty) in the Marinated Trout Roe. Any other year this could be a #1 restaurant, but not in 2013.

Betony: Marinated Trout Roe on a puffed rice cracker with cucumber

#8: While we couldn’t take pictures of the Brooklyn Fare Chef’s Tasting menu, you will have to trust me that it all looked and tasted delicious.  We were very excited when they opened up a grocery store near our apartment in Manhattan and can’t wait to try their restaurant.  The Uni with White Truffle was so incredibly amazing and made me fall in love with uni (after a lot of “what’s the big deal?” in the past).

Brooklyn Fare Chef's Tasting

#7: For our date anniversary dinner, Mike took us to Del Posto, where we enjoyed the beautiful place almost as much as we enjoyed the near flawless meal.  It has certainly earned its stellar reputation as being a top restaurant in New York.

Del Posto: Lobster

#6: In what world does The French Laundry in Napa Valley, CA come in as #6 for the year?  I still am in a bit of disbelief that we didn’t love this famous restaurant even more.  In the end, it was probably one of the most perfect meals I’ve ever had, but it just wasn’t surprising.  But the oysters and pearls have truly earned their place in culinary history.

The French Laundry: Oysters and Pearls

 

#5: Coming back from the honeymoon, we had one last hurrah at The NoMad in NYC.  We tried the famous chicken, which had the audacity to not just be perfectly cooked with impeccably crispy skin, but also stuffed with foie gras and black truffle.  It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be, as was the rest of the meal.

The Nomad: Roasted Chicken

#4: Blanca was another Chef’s Tasting menu that didn’t allow us to take pictures of the meal (bummer), but this private room behind Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick, Brooklyn offered surprises around every corner. There were more than 25 meticulous courses, including a stand-out king crab with plankton butter sauce and not a single bad dish in all 25.

Blanca: Chef's Tasting

#3: Anytime someone asks where they should go in NYC if they want a nice meal, I recommend Colicchio and Sons.  It never fails to impress and we went back to see if the Tasting Menu could live up to our opinion from the previous time.  Each dish built upon the last and they were all expertly crafted. I have especially fond memories about the uniqueness of the potato bavarois dome with Hackeback caviar and vodka cream with homemade potato chips.

Colicchio & Sons:  Tasting Menu

 

#2: A huge surprise was how much we fell in absolute love with Canlis in Seattle, WA during our honeymoon.  Every dish was great and service was so warm and so welcome.  It’s hard to pick a favorite part of this meal, but I still remember how much I enjoyed their preparation of foie gras with homemade brioche to spread it on.

Canlis: Foie Gras

#1 (THE #1): I was so excited to finally try Chef Grant Achatz’s Alinea in Chicago, IL at the very end of the year.  Every moment of this meal was special and fun and incredibly delicious. Even if it hadn’t been as entertaining and creative, the taste of the food alone would have made this the meal of the year.  The rest, and especially the cleverness, made this the meal of a lifetime.  The best meal we have ever, ever had.  The white truffle risotto that they brought out as a special treat was hands down the most amazing thing I have ever eaten.  It is worth a special trip to Chicago just to have the good fortune of eating here.

Alinea: White Truffle Risotto

 

Alinea: Scallop

 

We are so incredibly fortunate.  Thank you, 2013.

 

 

Honeymoon Finale: Back in NYC – The Nomad

22 Aug

And then… it was over. Our incredible, awesome, and totally amazing honeymoon had to come to an end.  We knew that after spending 3 weeks in bliss (1 week for the wedding in Maine followed by the 2 week road trip in the Pacific Northwest), returning home would be tough. But we planned ahead and booked a reservation in NYC that was on our Grubbit list for “Must Try Soon” locations.

We took the red eye back from San Fran on Saturday night and arrived pretty tired and dazed on Sunday morning.  We just weren’t ready to quit, however, so we took a nap and then finally went to dinner at The NoMad. (created as a more casual place to eat by a few guys from our favorite restaurant, Eleven Madison Park).

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The dining room reminded me of being in Europe; specifically the Westin Paris – Vendôme with the glass ceiling.

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We noticed that there was Ithaca Beer on the menu.  At first we noted how nice it was to see Ithaca Beer on this menu too (since we also had some at Eleven Madison Park) and it took us a few minutes to put some facts together.  I went to Ithaca College and had a nice conversation with the owner of Canlis (Brian Canlis) about his being roommates with one of the owners (Will Guidara) of Eleven Madison Park at Cornell (which is in the same town of Ithaca as my alma matter, just across the gorge).  Now suddenly it dawned on us… Ithaca beer wasn’t an accident. It was on both menus because it meant the same thing to these guys as it did to me… great beer from our great little college town.

Sadly, I no longer see Ithaca Beer on the menu posted online, but I’m pretty sure this was a beer that was brewed specifically for The NoMad.  And we loved it.

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The bread that was served was quite delicious. Like a flat foccacia with rosemary. The rosemary looked more like Christmas Tree trimmings and was a bit much, but I liked that you could take off or keep on as much as you liked.

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We began our meal with the Sweetbreads appetizer which were described as croustillant with parsley. I had no idea what that meant, but was pleasantly surprised when they came out looking like crispy spring rolls.

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The flaky crisp on the outside was a great conduit for the delicious sweet breads inside.

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This is how I want to eat sweetbreads. While I’ve always loved the taste, I’m not a huge fan of the texture. The crispy outside got rid of all textural issues and just let me fully enjoy the great flavors.

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And who are we kidding? You think we could say NO to the famous chicken for two we had been hearing so much about?  It was described as a whole roasted chicken with foie gras, black truffle, and brioche.  I had read all about the preparation in this New York Times article and was very excited to try it.

As is one of my favorite traditions, they showed us the whole bird (feet and all) before carving it up. I find the tradition of shoving fresh flowers and herbs into the cavity quite funny, actually, in a admittedly and unabashedly juvenile way.

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And then it was taken away to be carved and plated. It probably took all of 5 minutes for that chicken to come back, but after the smell I got and the look at that beautiful skin, it was the longest 5 minutes of my life.

We each got a breast served over a truffled potato purree (though I remember it being more chunky) and asparagus.

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The key to the chicken is that it is stuffed under the skin with foie gras that has been mixed with truffles and brioche.  This created an incredibly decadent stuffing that also infused the meat with a rich, umami taste. I’m sure it is also a big reason why this was one of the most moist, flavorful chicken breasts I’ve ever had.

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This was one beautiful, thoughtful, sensory blissed out dish.

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I mean come on… this skin is a work of culinary ART. (Yes… I’m a little obsessed with this chicken dish)

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The leg meat (all of it) is served on its own a separate dish.  This was with morel mushrooms and a sauce that was like a refined hollandaise. As if this could get any better.

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And I did mention that they serve ALL of the leg…

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Wow. Just wow. Chicken shouldn’t be allowed to be that good.

And after that, we couldn’t end without dessert.

We split two.

First up was the “Chocolate” which came with malted ganache with chocolate fondant and malt ice cream. Honestly, besides being chocolate, the description didn’t wow me all that much. But the dessert itself was as tasty as it was beautiful.

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Lots of textures and flavors going on.

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But sadly, that is all I remember about it because it was so overshadowed by the second dessert.

This was the “Milk & Honey” which was described as being shortbread, brittle & ice cream.

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First, it was one of the most visually gorgeous dishes I have ever seen. So beautiful, in fact, that it has graced the cover of the NYC Nom Nom Facebook page since we ate there (with many people asking where the picture was taken).

Second, it tasted as good as it looked.  The honey flavors sparkled in my mouth.  The brittle and the ice cream were fantastic, with a white softer crunch that was somewhere close to meringue.  The taste of the honey itself was insanely good and made me reminisce a bit about our burnt honey ice cream experience from a few days prior at The French Laundry.

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What a way to end it!  It was quite the finale to our incredible trip (and this was right in our backyard).  Eating here made me remember again how much I love living in this crazy city.  I have the best food in the world within walking distance.

And this was a prime example of how good food can be.

Every morsel was delicious and thoughtful. The food here was smart but not smarty pants smart.  It was hot librarian smart.  (And it was chicken!)

I cannot wait for more.

Total Nom Points: 9 out of 10

nomscale- 09.0

Honeymoon: Napa Valley, CA – THE French Laundry

14 Aug

And then… we arrived.

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After an amazing 10 days romping from Seattle to Sonoma, we arrived at the restaurant we built this honeymoon around, The French Laundry.

You will recall it was quite the adventure trying to get the reservation, but I was so excited to be able to cross my first Big 3 off the Restaurant Bucket List (the other 2 being Per Se, which is also from Chef Thomas Keller, and Alinea in Chicago). We arrived a bit early for our (already early) 11:30am reservation, so we took a seat in the lovely garden area behind the restaurant while they got ready for service.

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At first we actually didn’t even know where to enter, but finally found a door.

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From the moment we walked in, it was obvious we were finally there. Down to the napkin holders.

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There are 2 tasting menus and only 2.

“Tasting of Vegetables”

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and “Chef’s Tasting Menu”

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Yes… you are seeing that price correctly… $270 per person… total 100% insanity… but it was our honeymoon and we were going to DO THIS. We got all the hotels on points, so I rationalized it that way.

You will also noticed there were a number of up-charges throughout. You could choose to upgrade each course, but they were all a $100 supplement. Not $10, not $20… ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE. (I am all about food ridiculousness, but that was even too ridiculous for my blood.)

 

One more thing about the menu… I really liked the custom printed menus wishing us Congratulations.

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The tables were set beautifully and simply.

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And my new husband made quick use of that clothes pin.

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We had trouble finding wine. We wanted to enjoy some drinks (being in wine country and all) but there were very few bottles under $100 (and most over $200). We wound up choosing 2 half-bottles to get to try some different wines. Each were about $80. (Yikes)

Our first bottle was a Chateau Montelena, made famous by the movie Bottle Shock (good movie about the coming of age of California wines… I recommend it)

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Our first nibbles were these very nice little rolls with gruyere. They were almost like a cream puff but savory.

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Followed by a amuse bouche of salmon in a sesame cornet (which was very reminiscent of the amuse we had at Canlis just a few days prior). This was a flawless bite and it was hard not to compare it to the one we just had. This one was slightly better with richer tasting salmon and more flavorful cone.

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And then it began. Our Chef’s Tasting Menu began with their most famous dish: “Oysters and Pearls”

Here was the description:

“Sabayon” of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar

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The description was missing one key word: Heaven. This was one of the best dishes I have ever had in my entire life. This is why we were here. This was the moment. This rivaled the previous best bite I’ve had at Colicchio and Sons many moons ago (scroll on down to the gizzard to get right to that dish).

I cannot even describe the awesomeness of the burst of flavors and textures that this dish had. It was everything I love about food…

They trim the oysters down to be perfectly round, incredibly succulent delicacies swimming in a sabayon (which is described as a custard-like sauce, but that doesn’t do this justice). I don’t know what kind of oysters they were, but they were some of the best I’ve had. Typically oysters are just so good on their own that they don’t need any sauces or treatments, but these were elevated even higher by that sabayon.   The “pearls” are made of caviar that was perfectly sweet and briny. The dish all together was just exquisite.

Even the spoon it came with was special.

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…I just wish it wasn’t where we started. Because where can you possibly go from there?

But on we went.

Bread and butter was a lovely combination of a local butter and a salted butter along with some special flaky pastries.

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Our next dish was a beauty: Salad of French Laundry Garden Potatoes

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This had many different types of potatoes (red, blue, white) with different preparations (chips, baked, etc). It was like a deconstructed potato salad with beautiful shaved vegetables and edible flowers. This was fresh and felt truly original.

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Next was Gulf Coast Snapper “Goulash.”

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Mine had to be altered a bit so as not to have peppers, and my sauce was very good.

I have 0 idea what made this goulash, but the fish was cooked flawlessly and the sauce on both (according to Mike) was impeccable.

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Our next dish was one of my favorite of the evening (though still didn’t hold a candle to those oysters and pearls). Alaskan King Crab “Boudin.” The combination of crab, lobster, and bing cherries made this a fun and playful dish that also screamed “FRESH SEAFOOD ROCKS!” Some of the best tasting lobster I’ve had outside of Maine.

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Up next we had Salmon Creek Farm Pork Jowl. A nice pork dish, but fairly unmemorable during the course of the meal.

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We had polished off our first half bottle of wine a bit too easily, so we ordered a local Pinot Noir (Roar). It was good but nothing stand out.

And it was at this moment that I realized we were already half-way through. I still am not sure how that was possible. It felt like everything was moving TOO FAST (even though, in reality, the meal was paced flawlessly). I just wanted to slow down and enjoy more. We truly tried to, but I have trouble eating slowly when the food is tiny yet scrumptious.

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The next dish was herb-roasted Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Rib-eye. Mike’s had some peppers.

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Mine came with some pattypan squash (which I love).

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The meat itself was packed with lamby flavor. I was worried about the amount of fat on the meat, but it was tender and melted in my mouth.

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And then there was more bread, this time with sea salt and some pretzel bread. (All variations on bread throughout the meal were delicious).

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Our last savory course was a nice segue between the lamb and the dessert. It was a light “Tomme de Brebis” (cheese) with summer pole bean salad, cipollini onion and frisee lettuce. The description didn’t leave me too excited, but this was a great dish. Fresh yet rich and a great transition.

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Dessert began with a “toasted oat glacé” with Santa Rosa plums and Japanese plum jam. I don’t know what makes something a glacé, but what I can say is that the ice cream was a tricky little play on flavors where it tasted like delicious oats but was cold and smooth. The plums were as delicious as they were bright. Not too sweet, a tiny bit tart, and a great combination with the oat flavor.

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The next sweet bite was the “Dark Treacle” which had the description of devil’s food, valrhona chocolate “marquise”, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, and Marshall Farm’s Burnt Honey ice cream. The entire dish was fantastic with tons of flavors playing off each other. But that burnt honey ice cream was something else! WOW! I would have been happy to just have a bowl of that!

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Our final listed dessert was Delta Blueberry Cheesecake which was described as “compressed blueberry muffin, lemon ice cream, and puff pastry “arlette.” I remember this being very good, but not nearly as memorable as that burnt honey ice cream.

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And then the meal wrapped up with a parade of final bites that weren’t listed, which I have learned are called “mignardises.” (I typically call it “petit fours” but it seems these descriptions are close to interchangeable).

First was a classic pairing I always associate with New Orleans:

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Fried dough/donuts/zeppoles/beignets. I don’t remember what they called them, but they were very good.

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And they came with a mousse “cappuccino” which was one of the best mousses (mousse-ie? mousse-i?) I’ve ever had.

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The layers of mousse with the foam on top were fantastic.

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This was also served with some chocolate covered macadamia nuts (I kick myself for not bringing home the rest of this bowl).

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And homemade caramels and fudge (which we took with us and had later on in the road trip… awesome).

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But we weren’t done there.

Out came a selection of chocolate truffles of many different varieties. We tried a few different kinds and all were rich and flavorful and awesome… but nothing stood out. (Though as soon as Mike read this he mentioned “you don’t remember that one of them was beer flavored?!”  I didn’t… but obviously he did!)

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We were given a takeaway (one of my favoritist things about fine dining… a memento to remember them by). It came in a perfect little clothespin tin (which I kept because I just can’t toss it… what to do with it I have no idea though!)

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Inside were shortbread cookies (and they were absolutely flipping fantastic.)

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Our bill was even “on brand” as a laundry tag. Adorable… Except the price… which still makes me gag. (though at least gratuity was included)

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As we left we noticed that the French Laundry farm (or at least one of them) was actually right across the street.

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Can’t get fresher than that!

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Overall, our dinner at French Laundry was perfect. It was flawless. It was impeccable. It was everything a dinner at French Laundry should be…

BUT…

It wasn’t special. At least not special enough.

I had heard some disappointing things going in, so I was kind of ready for this not to be as epic as I wanted it to be. And I am spoiled… very, very, very, very spoiled.

I honestly felt like besides the Oysters and Pearls, I have had much more exciting meals in the past. (And beginning with the Oysters and Pearls meant the rest of the meal just simply couldn’t compete.) I guess this is a bit of a reflection of my taste in food. I love classic food, but I love exciting food better. I love molecular gastronomy and dinners that are as much entertainment as they are delicious. I like to have fun with food. I don’t like to take my food too seriously.

And that is why Eleven Madison Park is still absolutely #1. I would even timidly say that I enjoyed our meal at Canlis better, because it felt so damn SPECIAL.

The service was impeccable as well. And that is part of what makes it so great. But to quote Mike, “It was precision. But it wasn’t magic.”

I wanted to love French Laundry. And I did love it. But I just didn’t love it enough to want to take it home with me. It lacked in sex appeal, I suppose.

I’m glad we went. And yes, even at that price, it was worth every penny for the experience and to check it off my bucket list.

Some people want fancy jewelry. Some people want fancy clothes. Some people want to collect handbags or priceless antiques.

Me? I just want to collect memories of fantastic meals.

What can I say?

Total Nom Points: 9 out of 10nomscale- 09.0