Exactly a week after we went to Le Bernardin, DLS took me to Jean Georges because… much like Le Bernardin, the executive pastry chef of Jean Georges, Johnny Iuzzini, was leaving at the end of 2011.  Of course, I’ve actually ‘worked with’ Johnny in the past (click the link earlier, you’ll see) and sampled desserts that he literally made on the spot, but it would be different to eat what he makes at the restaurant, right?  Right, and that was reason enough to have dinner here (I had lunch there earlier in the year).  

I joked how ‘lucky’ DLS was that Dominique Ansel had already vacated the executive pastry chef position at Daniel – and how lucky I was to have already been to Daniel.  Ha! 

Our amuse bouche: fluke sashimi with tarragon salt; black mission fig with house made mozzarella; roasted pepper soup with black truffle emulsion.  I particularly enjoyed the fluke sashimi, which was nice, bright, and the salt added another layer of flavor to the piece.  The soup was also a wonderful sip, and while the fig/mozzarella combo was lovely, it didn’t stand out compared to the other two. 

This time, we each did a different tasting menu so we could try more things.  We didn’t even ask last time if we could each get a different one, whoops.  DLS’s autumn menu began with ‘egg toast’ which had thin slices of toasted bread, sous vide’d egg yolks, topped with a ton of caviar.  My bite was pretty salty, even in light of what I had…

My first course on the regular Jean Georges menu, titled simply ‘egg caviar’ was served in an egg, reminiscent of the egg from Le Bernardin.  But first bite and I was overwhelmed with salt; I’m no stranger to caviar, and in fact love salt as well, but I just felt overwhelmed with this dish.  Even after I tried DLS’s, which was also pretty salty… we both agreed that this was unnecessarily and overwhelmingly salty. 

The menu has since changed, so I’m unable to give an exact description, but I believe these were scallops in a green apple and pomegranate sauce of sorts.  The scallops were either raw or barely cooked, and fabulous, with a slight sweetness from the sauce.  I enjoyed my bite very much!  (seasonal menu)

Sea scallops, caramelized cauliflower with a caper raising emulsion… quite tasty, with perfectly cooked scallops, and cauliflower that’d been perfectly caramelized on one side to develop all the sugars, delicious. 

From the autumn tasting menu: semolina gnocchi and black winter truffle; literally the pillowy-est gnocchi either of us had ever had, it barely tasted like gnocchi but instead like clouds, just puffs that were barely there.  It was almost disconcerting to think of this as gnocchi. 

JG’s menu: young garlic soup with thyme and sauteed frog’s legs; the soup itself was magnificent in its garlic fragrance.  I really enjoyed it, though I did think at one point that it would make a fabulous sauce for pasta or some other carby item.  As for the frog’s legs, I was encouraged to use my fingers and dip the frog in the soup (I was assured that rose water would be brought for me to rinse my fingers afterwards), which I did; frog tastes like a very mild white meat chicken to me, and this was no different.  Dipped in the soup, it simply served as another vehicle to ingest the delicious soup.  I shared with DLS, of course, and was amused to note that two bowls of rose water were brought over for us to each rinse our hands, with the server smilingly telling us, “I noticed you were sharing, so I brought over another bowl for [DLS] to rinse as well.”  Thoughtful, observant and not intrusive.  I can get behind that. 

From the autumn menu: crispy skin black sea bass, roasted brussels sprouts, and spiced red apple jus: very tender and tasty, though not particularly a stand out. 

From the JG menu: turbot with chateau chalon sauce; I don’t know exactly what sauce that is (and I’m sure I can Google it), but I wanted to lick my plate clean.  The turbot was firm, a very dense meat, and it was topped with a really nice mix of zucchini and tomatoes… but the sauce, oh the sauce, it pulled everything together, just delicious. 

From the autumn menu: poached lobster, saffron tapioca and Gewurztraminer foam: I don’t remember trying this, actually, but DLS said that the foam and tapioca wasn’t that good but the lobster was lobster, and good as far as that goes. 

From the JG menu: I was probably too busy eating this, lobster tartine, fenugreek and lemongrass broth, pea shoots.  Perfectly cooked, with a delicate yet flavorful broth… I’m not even sure I shared any of this. 

From the autumn menu: I don’t think this is on the menu anymore, but I believe it was venison with grilled endive.  Very meaty and cooked exactly right… not gamey… a good end to the savory portion of the menu. 

The JG menu: broiled squab, onion compote, corn pancake with foie gras: I recall this being really difficult to eat, as I struggled to cut the squab into bite size pieces… a combination of too much to drink and just the awkward shape of the bird makes this a dish I barely touched… though I liked the corn pancake with the foie gras. 

Then, the reason we were there: dessert!  The autumn menu came with the above: pomegranate sorbet, sweet potato souffle, cranberry parfait, and a white wine tart.  The item in the back right – the top part was lovely, like a toasted marshmallow.  The others were just… mmm.  Not particularly amazing in my opinion. 

The JG menu came with the chocolate dessert: roasted white chocolate sponge, chocolate peanut butter ganache, a bitter chocolate sorbet, and…

JG’s chocolate cake.  With all this fanfare, you’d think I was about to tell you how amazing it all was… nope.  The desserts were all the weakest part of the meal, and actually quite disappointing.  I don’t know what it was – did I expect more?  I just wasn’t too impressed and both of us literally left most of each dessert on the table.  Meh. 

Lovely macarons graced our table a few minutes later. 

Signature house made vanilla marshmallows, which were lovely as usual – not sticky, and just puffs of sweetened air, really. 

Pomegranate and spiced apple jellies, along with jasmine, coconut, praline and hazelnut chocolates – I definitely didn’t touch the coconut one.  Then, as the check was paid, our server came over with a small bag containing a small box of chocolates “for the lady to enjoy later” – ha, cute. 

I was wholly disappointed that dessert – the sole reason for this particular visit – was such a letdown.  Overall, though, I enjoyed the majority of our meal, even with a few dishes I’d rather forget.  A few notes, though – now that I’ve gone to three of the top restaurants in the city, and in such quick succession, I do note that Jean Georges was easily the ‘worst’ – that isn’t to say it’s bad, not at all, but relative to Le B and Daniel, I would say it would rank 3rd.  It felt slightly less posh/luxe than the other two as well; we had one server for pouring wine, explaining our dishes, and at one point he even served the bread as well – and I hope it’s abundantly clear that I’m not all “I need a team of servers for a table of two” but rather that relative to the other places, it’s something that might be expected at such a place.  Other than that, though, service was impeccable per expectations, and we had a lovely time. 

Yvo says: The food here was excellent, solidly above average, and though I didn’t like everything I ate, I still had a wonderful experience (and again, sincerest thanks to DLS!).  However, given the choice of any of the top Michelin restaurants I’ve visited now (if you include Eleven Madison Park, which I visited when it had only 1 Michelin star), Jean Georges would be last on the list.  Any of the other places would be recommended over JG for a special occasion, though it was definitely way cheaper than Le Bernardin and Daniel, so that may be something to consider.  Special occasion dining on a smaller budget for sure. 
recommended, but if I had to only pick one expensive fancy pants dinner for the year, this wouldn’t be it

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, Jean Georges, Michelin stars

We were given a small bag with a map and a “Cafés do Brasil” lapel pin. All of the regions are primarily located in the southeastern part of Brazil. One of our hosts informed us that we would starting with a lighter roasted coffee and be working our way up to a stronger flavored brew.

The first coffee we tried was from Mogiana in the São Paulo state. It was described as “balanced body and acidity with excellent natural sweetness with a hint of cocoa flavor.” This was indeed very mildly flavored coffee. I wasn’t a fan as I prefer dark roast.

The second coffee was from Cerrado in the Minas Gerais state. It was described as “full body with intense aroma varying from caramel to nutty, light citric acidity. Light touch of orange and sweet flavor with a long-lasting chocolate aftertaste.” This read like a wine description, which made sense as coffee is just as dependent on where it is grown as grapes are for wine. With wine and coffee alike, I go by one rule: If it tastes good, drink it. I don’t get too involved in trying to pick out flavors. However, with this brew I did notice the lingering aftertaste.

The third coffee was from Planalto in the Bahia state. It was described as “perfect balance of body and acidity, natural sweetness, bringing out overtones of citrus above its rich, caramel-chocolate base. Excellent as a breakfast brew.” This coffee was more my style as it had a much richer flavor than the previous two.

Our hosts suggested we add a little bit of sugar to our samples. I usually drink my coffee black, but was willing to try it. The sugar helped transform the coffee nicely, but I’ll still drink it without.

After all of this coffee, my stomach was begging for some food. At first, the menu seemed to indicate we would have a choice of two dishes. It turned out we would be served BOTH!

First up was Pain Perdu with fresh berries and maple syrup. This was paired with the Cerrado coffee. On its own the French toast was quite sweet, but the coffee did an excellent job of cutting down the sugar. I don’t eat French toast too often, so this was a welcomed treat.

Next up was an omelette. The menu said we would be described it as “jambon et fromage Provecale. Goat cheese bail, tomato, olives served with Brazilian sausage “Linguica.” As you can see, we were not served what was described. It was a simple cheese omelette with one slice of bacon and mediocre home fries. While the omelette was cooked well, we were pretty disappointed since we had higher expectations from the menu. We were also given some more Planalto coffee.

I don’t know exactly how much coffee I drank, but I was pretty shaky the rest of the day. haha.

Cafés do Brasil week is going on now until Saturday November 19th. Check out this website for a list of participating restaurants and stores.

Thank you to our hosts for teaching us about Brazilian coffee and a nice brunch. I’ll be on the lookout for some of the darker roasts available from Brazil.

Please note that everything was courtesy of BSF and ApexBrasil. I received no monetary compensation for this review, nor was I obliged in any way to post about the food and drink, positively or otherwise. This is my own opinion and I feel it was unbiased; you are free to take from this what you will.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: coffee

But this night wouldn’t be about meeting Adriá (boo!), it was to introduce the New York press and blogging community to the richness of Mexican cuisine and, yes, tequila and wine (yay!) at Cafe Frida, known to me before that night as “the place next to the Shake Shack”. While most of the dishes offered to us this evening weren’t part of the chef’s standard repertoire, his skills were put on full display as we learned about the coming Festival from the organizers.

Of course, my first order of business was drink procurement. A couple of solid red wines graced the bar. This, a petite syrah, was full-bodied and rich, blackberries, a little tobacco and earthiness, a lovely start to the evening.

Small bites toured the cleared-out main dining area. The pastryish wafers barely kept the pulled chicken together, and, marinated in bitter orange this was a tiny package of flavor. Like a few hors d’oeuvres, this was accented by achiote. Lots of things at this event were laced with this ubiquitous Mexican condiment. It was even a little bit smoky, and it simply worked well.

Yeah, it was time for margaritas. These were heavy on the lime, though the tequila tried mightily to dominate. Quite strong, and delicious. The salt rim wasn’t just salt, but didn’t really lend anything major except the salt.

But why stop with two types of alcoholic beverages? The Cancun folk really know how to entertain the food and beverage community, and this sangria was created using not a poor red wine that needed fruit to make it palatable, but with a high-quality red. Sadly, this wasn’t from the Baja California region, a wine region I’m told is very much an up-and-coming area — and probably not priced out of whack yet, either.

The ghosts of our presenters detailed the events of next March via slideshow. Over fifty tastings, including beer, wine, alcohol, and celebratory dinners, including fine meals prepared by some of Mexico’s top chefs, stuff the schedule.

Then it was back to eating. The guacamole was served in the traditional molcajete and had arrived just prior to the presentation; I waited dutifully for my turn with the housemade corn tortilla chips. This guac was chunkier than I make (or prefer) but was wonderful, if not as “wet” as I’m used to seeing. It had plenty of flavor from the firm chunks of avocado, with a nice citrus dosing. I had but a few very good chips (almost as good as what I make, ha) before both bowls were emptied by the guests.

Here, the pork was slightly spicy, laced with achiote and accented by pickled onion. Deliciously simple.

A (quite dim) mini-chalupa, like many dishes just a little bit spicy, garnished with a mole sauce and shaved cotija, I believe. The chicken inside was fairly ordinary, but served mainly as a vehicle for the flavors grouping up outside.

And what better to end the evening’s drinking, than a frozen margarita? This one was bursting with lime flavor, and was plenty strong as well, but really, just a superb job by the bartender on these drinks. I’m pretty much sold on Cafe Frida now for my Mexican drinking.

A final bite, mini chocolate cakes, filled and topped with a dollop of mole, provided a classic combination, as mole is often made with chocolate in the first place and the rich cake wasn’t quite baked all the way through, giving it a little of a molten texture. A beautiful capper to the evening’s offerings.

A warm thank you to Cafe Frida and our other hosts, the 2012 Wine & Food Festival and the Mexican tourism board, for sharing this kickoff evening. I know I’d love my inaugural trip to Mexico to involve staying in Cancun and devouring all that the Festival has to offer!

Please note that the Cancun-Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival and their PR provided everything on the evening to me without charge. I received no monetary compensation for this review, nor was I obliged in any way to post about this experience, positively or otherwise. This is my own opinion and I feel it was unbiased; you are free to take from this what you will.

© BeerBoor for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drinks, guacamole, press event, tequila, wine

The entire back room, which is quite large, was reserved with three large tables for the food and lifestyle bloggers that had been invited to this event.  Our extremely friendly main-server came by to give us some bread to start, which he explained was a traditional Colombian bread – I thought he said pao de quiejo so I got super excited, but this turned out not to be that.  It looks like it… but it’s pandebono, which I thought was OK but needed more oomph (cheese or salt?).  A black bean dip appeared on the side.  I didn’t finish my piece, because I saw the menu and knew that with my wonky appetite, I needed to save room for what was to come. 

Our first course was served shortly: a duo of ceviches.  Marinated aji tuna, ginger, cilantro, mustard vinaigrette on the left, and cured salmon, aji amarillo, sour orange, pineapple on the right: I enjoyed the salmon, but I really enjoyed the tuna.  The flavors were bright, fresh, and just worked together to make my mouth happy.  Yum! 

Next, our aperitivo: bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates, hearts of palm, cabrales on the left, and Colombian sweet corn arepa, ropa vieja, crema nata and Criolla salad.  I thought the dates were a little sweet and overpowered the rest, but tasty enough; the ropa vieja on the other hand was super tender and super flavorful.  Delicious. 

With each course arrived more alcohol, so fast I couldn’t keep pace.  As soon as we’d sat down, actually, mojitos appeared; I’m not a fan of mojitos in general but these were so, so good.  I downed half of it, and the alcohol punched me in the face, so I had to stop before I got completely sloshed.  This is the sangria that arrived with our aperitivo, but I’ll let Beer Boor tell you about all the drinks as that’s his job, not mine.  And yes, that’s him in the background of this pic – I think he’s looking at his phone?

Beer Boor says: Har har. The mojitos were very citrusy and minty, to the point where the alcohol just didn’t register — the way I like mixed drinks. The sangria was given to us as using a very good bottle of red, which I couldn’t understand; I figured usually you use mediocre wine since it’s going to be drowned out by the fruit. In this case, the opposite occurred, and the drink became more of a red wine with solid bits of flavorless fruit.

Our first entree – yes, I said first – the fish course, roasted striped bass, serrano ham chick pea roasted pepper sauce.  My piece of fish was slightly overcooked, and I was feeling really full here so I opted to only take one bite before setting my fork down.  The server came to ask if everything was alright, and while I tried to assure him that it was fine, he took my plate from me and wrapped it to go without me asking.  That was pretty nice of him, though unnecessary, as I knew I wouldn’t eat it once I went home, and as expected, it wound up in the trash. 

Beer Boor says: I speculate that this was the Las Perdices pinot grigio. It’s never been a favorite grape of mine, but this was a mediocre wine, sharp and a little sour, and I struggled to drink much of it.

Our second main course, Cuban style ‘steak frites’ with traditional chimichurri – oh, how we looked and looked for the chimichurri.  It was not on any of our plates, and questions later didn’t solve the riddle.  Regardless, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and I enjoyed what I ate.  The yucca as ‘frites’ underneath didn’t fare so well in my opinion, but the dish was still very tasty. 

Beer Boor says: Just when I thought the wine choices might improve, this cabernet sauvignon appeared. Again, guessing based on the menu, this was a 2009 Infinitus. Far from tasty, this was mealy, flabby, mushy, all bad adjectives-y, and sat largely untouched for the duration.

For dessert, dark chocolate cake, dulce de leche ice cream.  I found it highly amusing that everyone’s ‘domino’ showed the number 7 (minus one person who had a 5)… when the name of the restaurant has the word ‘eight’ in it.  I went around looking at everyone’s dessert just to try to find someone with an eight!  I thought the cake was good, but I’m not a sweets person so it didn’t have a chance of impressing me anyway. 

Yvo says: There were definitely some really good dishes and some dishes that were only so-so for me.  I really liked the ceviche, and had varying levels of enjoyment for the rest of the meal.  I could see coming here if I lived closer or was in the neighborhood, but as the Upper West Side proved itself to be incredibly annoying to return to Forest Hills from after dinner that week, I doubt I will return any time soon.  However, that’s just a matter of personal convenience; it’s perfectly fine for most people… so I would suggest checking it out if you find yourself near the Museum of Natural History and in need of some tasty eats. 
recommended (but if you live in Forest Hills, be sure to leave plenty of time for the commute home)

Please note that we attended this event free of charge, courtesy of Calle Ocho and their PR team.  Opinions expressed herein are our own, and we received no compensation for such a post – the meal was free, and we were given $25 vouchers in the event we return.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ceviche, fish

While we browsed the menu, we made our way through the bread basket.  There was a jalapeno cheddar biscuit in there that was outta this world – you could see flecks of the fresh jalapeno in it, which gave it a nice bite.  Yum! 

We decided to order a bunch of appetizers and then split a main course.  The first appetizer to arrive was the crabcake; I liked this.  Very little breading, but what there was, was super crunchy.  The meat inside was all lump meat, and flavorful… the bottom sauce was also very good.  I thought the cole slaw was a little bland though. 

We also chose the chowder sampler, since Hungry had mentioned to me how good it was.  FeistySis insisted she would not enjoy popcorn in her soup, and refused to try the popcorn with soup, so whatever… I ate both pieces.  In any case, I started with the corn chowder, which was pretty good, but not amazing.  Then I moved onto the clam chowder which was holy-crap-this-is-fantastic.  If I ever go again, I just want to order that.  It had this savory quality to it that my chowder doesn’t; just this … inexplicable taste to it.  I joked that they must’ve put nutmeg in it, but FeistySis didn’t get the joke (Rachael Ray puts nutmeg in a lot of dishes and then says, “It’s just that little something that will make it taste so good and have people going, ‘hmm, what IS that?’”).  The Manhattan crab chowder was only OK though… but then I don’t believe chowders are ever red.  (Note: I just went to double check the names of the chowders, and the corn chowder is no longer on the menu – which is expected, as it is no longer corn season, and has been replaced with a squash soup.) 

Of interest: FeistySis tried to tell me how to eat the chowders.  If she reads this, she’s probably rolling her eyes and getting exasperated at me, but honestly, I know how to eat soup!  You eat it the way you want to, and I’ll eat mine the way I want!  So bossy. 

Fried calamari was next on the list; a slightly spicy, slightly sweet marinara dipping, and saffron aioli, which I really enjoyed.  The calamari itself was crisp, lots of tentacles (which some people prefer), and cooked just right and not rubbery at all.  Yum. 

Our main course was the lobster roll.  On the side, various spicy pickled veggies and more cole slaw, though this batch seemed to be seasoned slightly more than the previous one, so I happily ate this one. 

As for the lobster roll… well…

It was a decent length, but the meat inside was overwhelmed by mayo.  Strangely, the meat was chopped up smaller than I’d expect; I would have preferred just chunks of lobster meat, not broken down any further than how it comes out of the lobster.  Oh well.  At $27, this was really not worth it. 

Then, because we’re gluttons, and maybe because FeistySis was enjoying eating in a restaurant without any children to feed or worry about, we decided to linger a bit longer and order dessert.  Chocolate pudding with bourbon walnuts or pecans… I forget. 

FeistySis insisted I take a photo from both sides.  In any case, probably because I’m illiterate, I read ‘pudding’ and thought ‘mousse’.  This was definitely pudding – completely soft, not a hint of stiffness.  I… am not a huge fan of pudding, so this was very… OK for me.  I mean, it didn’t taste bad, but I’m not a fan of the texture of pudding so no amount of chocolate flavor – which was very prevalent – could have saved this for my personal tastes.  I imagine it was pretty good pudding, as FeistySis ate it happily and didn’t say anything negative about it.  Then we rolled out of the place, clutching our Elmo goodie bags and headed towards the train station.  I made her walk from the Lincoln Center area to 5th Avenue and 57th… haha. 

Yvo says: Much of what we ate was very good, though the only standout was the clam chowder.  I would really like to know what’s in the chowder that makes it so effing good – if someone who is in a position to share reads this, please do!  I promise I won’t post it on the blog if you don’t want me to!  So while the calamari was good, and FeistySis LOVED the pickled veggies with the lobster roll, and the crab cake was good… mostly it was just good.  Not the kind of place you might want to go out of your way to visit. 
good, but not destination dining

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: crabcakes, lobster rolls, soup