Wednesday, March 23, 2016

new orleans: compère lapin: review

Compère Lapin occupies a giant L-shaped space in the lobby of an old hotel that has been totally gutted and renovated. Its influences are supposedly caribbean, but the flavors were international.

From the small bites section we ordered Crispy Dirty Rice and supplemented this with two items from the extras category: Roasted carrots almondine with salsa verde (always order the carrot dish if there is one: the're sure to be doing something special) and Black-eyed peas with Bacon and Crispy Shallots. The carrots were out of this world: you wanted to sit there all night and eat the orange salsa verde.

From first courses, we tried oysters, Broiled Shrimp, and Roasted Beet salad. The shrimp consisted of four head-on shrimp, perfectly cooked in Calabrian Chili Butter.

Finally, the chef offered us his Spinach Cavatelli with Fontina Fondue, which was very hot but quite tasty.

Service was excellent and the wine selection was quite good with good choices by the glass.

Compère Lapin

535 Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans

Grade: A–

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

new orleans: coquette: review

Our first stop in New Orleans was Coquette, which is in the Garden District. My son saw it featured on a cooking show.

It's in a long space that at first looks like a turn of the century bar with tiled floor and giant mirrors and woodwork. Closer inspection reveals that it's all new, but it's a nice long space with very high ceilings and nice lighting.

We were early but they set us up in no time. There are no bad tables in this space since they run along the bar. We started with two "shares" which are big plates...to share. First was fried chicken. It was boneless thighs, brined with an elaborate crunchy crust. It was nice not dealing with bones and focusing on the juicy dark meat and spicy crust (paprika). The dipping sauce was whipped honey, a clever molecular trick that involves soy protein?

Next was hanger steak, cooked sous vide with Worcestershire sauce for 24 hours then perfectly seared. There was a great meat-based barbecue sauce, but it seemed a shame since the meat was so tender and deeply flavorful.

We shared their gumbo which features crawfish and oysters. It was delicious but I'm still not sure how I feel about the touch of vinegar they added.

There was a small dish of crabmeat over corn pudding with cherry tomatoes. It's not crab season but the crab tasted fresh. The Louisiana rice with shrimp and hog's headcheese (don't panic) was delicious. I was reminded of the stuffed guinea hen I had at Coq Rico. What I thought were mushrooms in the stuffing was in fact a diced pigs foot.

We had one large plate: red snapper, boneless, perfectly cooked with some charred kale that was actually quite tasty (Jeremiah Tower: "Even cows won't eat baby kale.")

Desserts were spectacular. In order of increasing deliciousness: a crème brûlée flavored with thyme (only criticism: lose the creamy stuff on top: not needed); a small chocolate hockey puck with crumble; and a "dulcey crémeux" which was a delicious small blob of caramel next to a small, chewier peanutty cube with candied bacon. It was heavenly.

Excellent Chinon by M. Plouzeau 2014 which they were nice about chilling. We also tried a dessert Sauvignon Blanc which was blindingly sweet.

Coquette

2800 Magazine St. New Orleans, LA

Grade: A+


















Sunday, March 20, 2016

momofuku nishi: review

Momofuku Nishi was going to be another Fuku chicken sandwich place, but David Chang decided to experiment with pasta and some other new concepts. I reserved online, as I have many times for Noodle Bar fried chicken. I nabbed a 10:30 table for four on Saturday night.

Though they could not find our reservation, they set us up at a communal table. The space is a lot like the Noodle Bar and a little like Ssäm Bar. Communal tables, some higher tables with stools, stainless steel kitchen in the back, glass storefront (very little signage).

My son had a beef crudo appetizer. I tried it: it was like very rare meat with chives. He loved it. We also tried the romaine salad which was very good and resembled a caesar salad.

We had two orders of the ceci e pepe, Chang's take on caccio e pepe making use of fermented chickpeas. It's delicious, and the fresh pasta is absolutely perfect. I'll take the flavors of Maialino's traditional version over this one, but it's interesting.

My other son had the chicken and dumplings which was a massively flavorful chicken soup. We all loved it. I had the clams lisboa, which was excellent. The clams were sensational and the thin noodles in brown sauce a very interesting new counterpoint (it's usually a very white sauce).

The desserts were both very interesting: a panna cotta with deep flavors and a bundt cake (delicious) with very sour yogurt accompaniment.

The prices were steep, but it all worked out in the end because there is no tipping. The service was somewhat haughty and pretentious, but I'm going to chalk it up to it being late Saturday night.

Momofuku Nishi

232 Eight Avenue

646-518-1919

Grade: B–







Saturday, March 12, 2016

le coq rico nyc: review

I've had Antoine Westermann's cuisine ménagère cookbook for years now. It's beautiful. I've been waiting for his NYC restaurant to open for months. They took their time.

The new space is gorgeous, well thought-out, and in a spectacular location: right next door to Gramercy Tavern. It's a sleek black and steel and glass space with one long bar when you come in (drinks), a dining room in the back, and another bar facing a gleaming stainless-steel chicken kitchen as you head back to the front.

The maître d' hails from Mougins, where his father had a restaurant one block from Roger Vergé's Moulin. He was warm and smooth and professional. The wine guy on the floor was a nice guy called Lou, originally from Miami, who was friendly and not smarmy: refreshing.

At lunch, they offer a "plat du jour" and also a tasting menu. I opted for the tasting menu and got that and then some...

First course was a chicken velouté. (You'll figure out eventually that this is an all-poultry shrine.) A bowl with fresh sliced mushrooms and tiny croutons appears with a small pitcher of what looks like light chicken gravy. The soup is poured over the mushrooms. It's a heavenly, rich, chickeny velvety velouté.

The second course was a cheese and chicken soufflé. It was perfectly cooked, just enough crustiness and moistness. It was cheesy with bits of chicken inside. A great idea. It comes with—you guessed it—a small pitcher of chicken gravy.

Next, as an extra, I was brought a pintade farcie, a guinea hen stuffed with a duxelles of pig's feet. It was beautifully semi-deboned, perfectly cooked, and the stuffing was wonderful. It came with a gorgeous bowl of steamed vegetables: carrots, cauliflower, green beans, turnips, etc.

The classic quarter chicken that came next was actually more of a trimmed and semi-deboned half chicken, perfectly roasted, with crispy skin, juicy flesh, and tasty gravy. It came with a truly fresh mesclun salad with vinagary vinaigrette. I'm very picky about salad and this made the grade.

The next course was not poultry; it was a spectacular île flottante with pink pralines submerged in the crème anglaise. These pink pralines (sugar coated almonds) are almost impossible to find in the US. I'm sure they're house made. It's one of those candies chefs eat in their childhood and never forget. The last ones I had were at Alain Chapel who had a recipe for a tart made from these pink pralines. They are sickeningly sweet and delicious. It's one of the perfect foods.

Wines by the glass were very good, despite last-minute liquor license nightmares. The wine director, who looks about 20, comes from Westermann's restaurants in France. You can recognize him by his untucked shirt (see photo of wine being unloaded, below).

Chef Westermann was in attendance and did a regal job of touring the room and greeting guests (that included Bill Buford, author of Heat, a great food memoir). I reminisced with Westermann a little about Alain Chapel and wished him well. Coincidentally, I had chatted on Facebook recently with Bill Buford about my time at Alain Chapel...

Le Coq Rico

30 East 20th Street

212.267.7426.

Grade: A+
















Thursday, February 18, 2016

le turtle: review

I knew I had to check out Le Turtle immediately...the review on Eater was just too provocative.

So I got a swank 6pm reservation for me and my son. We took the Q and wandered up from Canal through Chinatown. I have no idea what this space was before: it could have been a fish market. It's now quite funky and bearded men bustled about. The bus-girls wore baggy overalls and seemed terrified of making a mistake.

The lobster dish was very interesting. Very fresh lobster, perfectly cooked, all carapace removed, served in a creamy sauce reminiscent of...Cinnabun!

We got to meet the chicken then eat the chicken. They bring it out, smoking and whole, on a bed of hay, feet curled. Then they take it away for a good ten minutes to cut it up. This is the best tasting chicken I have ever eaten, and I've had poulet de Bresse in Bourg-en-Bresse.Insanely tasty and juicy with severely crisp skin, I found myself eating the neck and even the pope's nose: all good.

Desserts were delicious: a kind of chocolate ice and a hazelnet cake with ice cream.

Wine by the glass was an excellent Fleurie, reasonably priced (relatively).

Service was excellent, especially our down-to-earth waitress: no hipster attitude there.

I asked to keep the cute pink pen and they gave my son a souvenir pencil with little rocks in it. Nice!

Le Turtle

177 Christie Street

Grade: A
















Saturday, February 13, 2016

quality eats

This quirky eatery has a great location. Across the street from Umami Burger, it's near NYU, the B, the Q, etc.

I'm not sure what was here before, but they have converted it into a cozy, modern space.

Wines by the glass were affordable and excellent.

I loved the caesar salad which was anchovy and raw-egg–free.

The hanger steak was cooked to absolute perfection.

This is a steak house with smaller, more affordable steaks.

The french fries were from planet perfection. This is very important.


Quality Eats

16 Greenwich Ave.

Grade: A