New York Restaurant Reviews – Page 18 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Per Se

4th floor of the Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle at 60th Street
212/823.9335
$900 for two, with drinks, with extra tip apart from the included service fee
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As soon as our waiter brought out a footstool for my purse so that I didn’t have to put it down on the floor, I knew we were in for an experience. Small gestures like that from the staff make Per Se, and any of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, stand out. Everyone around us was older or part of a group that discussed important business, but we were treated like we belonged there. We never felt awkward–except when we tried to push those gorgeous blue doors open–nor rushed. Our waiters and servers weren’t snotty and our sommelier was helpful in suggesting wines to match our dishes without necessarily pushing for the bottles that were out of our budget.

I was treating the Dr. for his birthday and when I made the reservation exactly two months ago, they had asked me if there was an occasion. That night, they included a “Happy Birthday [Dr.]” right below the date on our menus. It was a simple gesture, but it made the celebrant very appreciative. When desserts were brought out, a lit candle was placed on his and they joked about singing a capella. (For a few seconds, I really thought they would.) Upon our leaving, another staff member was waiting for us at the door with our coats, our mignardises packed in a silver box and a folder with copies of our menu. After almost five hours of being treated like royalty, we stepped out of Per Se’s luxurious setting and back into the concrete jungle that is New York City. I’m grateful for those few hours.

My Tasting of Vegetables:

“Mousse de Topinambours” – Toasted Hazelnuts, Lingonberries and Garden Tarragon

“Dégustation de Petits Oignons” – Arugula and Smoked Onion Purée

Tempura of White Maitake Mushroom – Persian Cucumbers, Confit of Meyer Lemons and Mitsuba with Umeboshi Dressing

Slow Poached Squire Hill Farm’s Ameraucana Hen Egg – Brioche Croûton, “Lentilles du Puy”, Root Vegetable “Matignon” and Watercress Laves with “Beurre Rouge”

Belgian Endive “En Fuille de Pomme de Terre” – Shaved Burgundy Truffles, Red Endive and Red Ribbon Sorrel with Black Winter Truffle Coulis

“Salvatore Brooklyn Ricotta” Agnolotti – Flowering Quince, Caramelized Fall Squash and Pumpkin Seed Oil with Brown Butter Emulsion

“Roquefort Le Vieux Berger” – Tellicherry Pepper “Sablé”, Marinated Purple Top Turnips, Candied Walnuts and Garden Chervil with Medjool Date Vinaigrette

Pink Champagne Granité – Passion Fruit Pudding

Black Currant Cobbler – Butter “Croustillant”, Black Currant Compote and Diane St. Clair’s Buttermilk Sherbet

The Dr.’s Tasting Menu:

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

“Torchon” of Élevages Périgord Moulard Duck Foie Gras – Oatmeal Crumble, Oregon Huckleberries, Crosnes, Red Ribbon Sorrel and Blis Maple Gelée with Toasted Brioche

Crispy Skin Fillet of Red Snapper – “Ratatouille”, Globe Artichokes and Parsley Chips with Niçoise Vinaigrette

Pan Roasted Maine Sea Scallop – Garnet Yam Purée, Glazed Chestnuts and Arugula Leaves with Pomegranate Syrup

“Boudin Blanc Grillé” – Smoked Squire Hill Farm’s Ameraucana Hen Egg Emulsion, Haricots Verts and Frisée with Veal Sauce

Elysian Fields Farm’s “Selle D’agneau Rôtie Entière” – Matsutake Mushrooms, Fennel Bulb and Greenmarket Carrots with Lamb Jus

Di Bruno Brothers’ “Burrata” – “Croûton de Pain de Campagne”, Flageolet Beans and Petit Basil with Pickled Onions

“Banoffee” – Devil’s Food Cake, Chocolate “Marquise” and Malt Mousse with Banana-Crème Fraîche Sherbet

“Pomme-Beurre Noisette” – “Confiture” of Granny Smith Apple, “Financier” and Tahitian “Bavarois” with “Glace au Beurre Noisette”

All You Can Eat Sushi for $20 at Sushiya

Second floor, Whole Foods Market
95 East Houston Street corner of Bowery
$20 all you can eat sushi, without tip
♥

I didn’t expect high quality sushi when I saw the sign for all you can eat sushi for $20 at Whole Foods on Bowery, but I was curious enough to pull two co-workers with me to try out Sushiya’s latest promotion. We dodged the long lines at street level and propped ourselves up the bar stools in front of the conveyor belt sushi bar. At Sushiya, what you see is what you get, and we got a lot of rice.

There were some tuna, eel and salmon; some roe and a torn piece of arugula on a maki; crab and shrimp on spiced onigiris; seaweed salad, edamame and the out-of-place Vietnamese summer rolls. The makis came more often than the sushis, though the servers behind the bar quickly made them whenever we requested. We had the bar to ourselves when we visited and yet they always replaced the plates at the other end of the belt–perhaps to try and slow us down from eating all their inventory. In the end, we counted about thirty empty plates which is about 20 pieces per person for a total of $60. Oh, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

All in all, $20 is pricey for lunch even around the East Village and SoHo, but it’s quite fun to wait for the colorful plates to come your way and pick sushi, makis and onigiris from the magnetic conveyor belt.

Porchetta

110 East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A
212/777.2151
$9 for a pork sandwich, without tip
♥

For Italians, porchetta means boneless pork roast that’s moist and juicy. Chef and co-owner Sara Jenkins doesn’t stray away from that definition: my $9 pork was no joke. The meat was shiny; its own fat glistening in between the two slices of Sullivan Street Bakery ciabatta bread. There are little surprises of crunch and soft gelatinous cubes of fat–my jaw hurt from chewing but I couldn’t stop eating.

I’ll return to try it with some of my own chili sauce, although it was well-seasoned that it didn’t really need any extras to make it more satisfying than it already is. The $5 side of potatoes were roasted in pork fat and tossed with some burnt pork ends. The bitter and garlicky broccoli rabe was a good balance to all the fat.

It took me ten minutes to walk from work to this new Porchetta branch in the east Village and another five to get my lunch order, but it took me two hours to digest one of their fatty-licious sandwiches.

Momofuku Ko

163 First Avenue off 10th Street
https://reservations.momofuku.com/
about $300 for two, with beverage pairings, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

I was so busy at work last week that I didn’t even have time to be excited about our upcoming reservations at Ko. When Cameron told me she wanted to take me out to thank me for showing her the Philippines last month, I thought, You’re welcome; don’t be silly. But when I received an email from her a couple of weeks later with our Ko confirmation attached, I squealed, Noooooo.

I gave up trying to get a reservation the first time I actually saw a green check mark on their Web site. As soon as I clicked it, I waited nervously for the page to refresh, and then, Sorry, that spot was just taken. It’s like waiting for your lottery numbers to show up on TV: the ball rolls out and you think it’s one of your picks; only it’s a 6 and not a 9 when it finally stops spinning. Momofuku Ko is the first restaurant I know of that uses only a Web site to take reservations and I suppose it’s a good way to keep the die-hard David Chang fans excited. All of us need someone who is willing to click their mouse off once in a while.

At 6:15 sharp, we were seated in the middle of the bar with a couple to our left and a group of four at the other end. The other seats were waiting for the 6:30pm guests–stacking them up this way is their version of turning tables over efficiently. By the time we were eating our fourth course, a newly arrived couple to our right was pouring over the wine list. The night’s pace was swift; our matching wines, beer and sake kept coming until the first of two desserts. I felt like I had to keep drinking to have no more than two glasses on my table. Although I played catch up with my drinks, I kept up with all eleven courses, including the bouches. The portions weren’t French Laundry nor Blue Hill sizes. I wasn’t comatose at the end of our two-hour meal. Perhaps a little tipsy, but quite happy and content. Here’s a rundown:

1. A delicately small toasted English muffin with pork fat and chives
2. A Ssam tribute of pig’s head torchon with mustard

One of the first two came with a light and crunchy chicharron and Japanese salt.

3. Fluke sashimi in buttermilk (!) with Sriracha hot sauce and yuzu paste covered in poppy seeds
4. Matsutake mushrooms in hot broth of bacon and dashi, a dish that reminded me of Tojo’s sable fish soup in Vancouver.
5. A beautifully smoked soft-boiled egg with onion sous-vide and caviar served with potato chips
6. An out of place corn-filled ravioli with Cotija Mexican cheese; I liked it more than I expected.
7. Maine halibut in pepperoncini purée and burnt onions with finely-chopped kohlrabi and radish in basil oil
8. Lychee with Riesling gelée and pine nuts and then covered in grated foie gras. Grated. Foie. Gras. This dish blew me away and I couldn’t stop talking about it. Everything melded in my mouth like Dippin’ Dots, only more luxurious and decadent than anything I’ve had this year. “Son of a peach” indeed.
9. Perfectly, perfectly cooked duck–the surly Asian man behind the counter (who wasn’t David Chang) had skills–with Chinese long beans, chestnuts and bean sprouts in cherry sauce.
10. Lychee sorbet in sesame “sand”; my quotes but perhaps a Thomas Keller-influenced naming convention
11. Strawberry and peanut butter halva with a sickeningly sweet yellow cake ice cream. I told you, I don’t like sweets.

David Chang is so lucky to be the name on almost every foodie’s tongue today: five years in the east Village and he’s still making waves. Ko is obviously his and his staff’s playground and you can feel that they’re cooking for themselves and serving what they want because they know people will follow. I can’t help but feel proud that this Asian American is at the top of his career right now. How I wish all talented and deserving chefs out there get the same chance to cook and perform the Momofuku way.

Brick Lane Curry House

306-308 East 6th Street on Second Avenue
212/979.8787
about $200 for five, without drinks, without tip
â™¥

I’ve never heard of phaal until it made the Omnivore’s Hundred from verygoodtaste.co.uk. From that site’s must-eat list, I checked off 75 items that I’ve tasted and eaten. Among the other 25 is phaal, or phall, a South Indian curry dish that is supposedly spicier than the more familiar vindaloo. I was intrigued.

My co-workers wanted to order lunch delivery and Brick Lane Curry House’s menu satisfied the meat eaters plus the vegan and vegetarians among us. It took about an hour for the food to come and when we opened the lids of the containers, I have to admit I was very disappointed at the small amount of food. The lamb chops, infused with tamarind, ginger and garlic, while tender and tasty, were small and didn’t hold up to my growling stomach. I had to compensate by eating extra portions of rice. I only had a small taste of the vegetarian and the vegan curries, and I couldn’t tell the difference from the two sauces except for the fact that the vegan version had a smattering of white onions. The Goan fish dish was the best in the mix with its green chiles and coconut flavor enhanced by vinegar. Was it buttery? Oh, yes, it was.

Now back to the phaal, exaggerated by the restaurant as an “excruciatingly hot curry” but correctly described as “more pain and sweat than flavor”. Need to know more than that? When the sauce hits your tongue, you get the sting right away and then it sits and slowly burrows. (Un)fortunately, as soon as your tongue goes numb, the spiciness is replaced by bitterness, and at that point, all you want is either some more rice or more Goan fish curry. Michael above, though, talks about how it hit his sinus right away; he didn’t even feel the spiciness in his tongue.

I’ve had my share of spicy food, and up to this day, nothing beats the pickled Scotch Bonnet peppers I had in the Big Corn Island in Nicaragua. Go taste the phaal for yourself at Brick Lane Curry House and get a free bottle of beer when you finish a whole serving on your own.