Last night, Diana's family took me to Le Bernardin to celebrate her graduation from grad school. I had first heard about this restaurant from watching Top Chef, as Le Bernardin's chef Eric Ripert was a frequent guest judge on the show (Here's Chef Ripert). For those of you who don't know about Le Bernardin, it is one of five restaurants in NYC with a four star rating from the New York Times, along with Daniel, Jean George's, Masa, and Per Se. Zagat's rates the restaurant a 28/27/27 for food/decor/service. Simply put, it is the number two or three best restaurant in NYC, if not arguably number one.
Overall, the meal consisted of a six course prix fixe, primarily focused on celebrating the freshness of seafood. Prior to receiving menus, an amuse busche (a one or two bite appetizer to whet your appetite) was brought out for us, which featured bits of lobster and potato in a ginger sauce. The next three courses were categorized as, "almost raw", "barely touched", and "lightly cooked" in order to accentuate the freshness of the fish and how little one needs to do to make fresh fish taste good.
While we were deciding on what to order I noticed that Chef Ripert was standing at the table behind us. I immediately recognized him from TV. As he approached our table, Diana's mom jokingly told him that we were confused about what to order. He quickly smiled, and in his french accent said that everything was good or it wouldn't be on the menu. Soon after, he returned to the kitchen. I have to say that the guy is very charismatic- you can tell why he is on TV. Now that I know he was at the restaurant that night, I like to think that he was the one preparing our meals.
For my almost raw course, I ordered the "Tuna" which featured a layer of thinly pounded yellowfin tuna, blanketing a strip of foie gras which was affixed to a toasted baguette. Shaved chives and extra virgin olive oil decorated the plate and enhanced the flavor of the fish. The fish was perfectly fresh, and the richness of the foie gras and the crispiness of the baguette were divine.
My choice for barely touched was the "Calamari"- sauteed calamari stuffed with prawns and wood ear mushroom. The dish was served in a bowl, and when presented, a waiter poured a calamari broth around the food. While the calamari was delicious, I did find that the broth slightly dulled the flavors. If I could do it over again, I would order what Diana had, which was peekytoe crab in a black truffle sauce, served with sliced cauliflower. I tried hers, and it was fabulous. Luckily, she was already getting full and I got to have 1/3 of her dish as well.
To conclude the savory portion of the meal, I ordered the "Skate" as my lightly cooked course. The skate was described as "au bambou", referring to the spiced bamboo broth that was poured around the fish similarly to the calamari course. The fish was cooked perfectly- incredibly moist, and served with cellophane noodles and wood ear mushroom. The broth was so packed with flavors from the Asia-Pacific region that I almost felt like I was on vacation.
Once we completed the "lightly cooked" portion of the meal, our table was cleared and dessert menus were provided. I ordered the "Chocolate - Peanut", which was a dark chocolate, peanut, and caramel tart, served with a meyer lemon puree, peanut powder, and a small serving of praline - citrus sorbet. So read that again and take a shot in the dark about whether or not you think I liked it. Amazing. The intensity of the chocolate and the slight sourness of the citrus sorbet was magnificent and perfectly complemented one another.
Just when I thought that the meal was complete, the waiter brought out a small plate for each of us featuring four bite-sized desserts. At this point I almost blacked out, but I am pretty sure there was a cream puff, a dark chocolate truffle, a salty caramel tart served in a pastry shell, and a small almond cake (tasted like marzipan) served over a white chocolate wafer. Keep in mind that each one of these was easily no bigger than a quarter. When I say bite-sized, they were bite-sized for everyone, not just for me. Each bite was incredible, and after the salty caramel tart, I almost started laughing it was so good. A perfect end to an excellent and memorable meal.
You know, this type of food isn't for everyone. Some people may read this and think to themselves that they would much rather have a cheeseburger and fries. I think that a meal like this needs to be appreciated for what it is- a display of creativity and art through food. The course names and flavor pairings created a unique culinary experience unlike anything I have tried before. While some days I would prefer a burger and fries, I had been looking forward to this meal for a week and it went beyond meeting my expectations. One four star restaurant down, four to go. Thanks Chef Ripert!
No comments:
Post a Comment