Picholine

For our birthday over the summer, Laura treated me and David to a really wonderful dinner at The Modern. She had heard great reviews from her coworkers and she wanted to help me cross off another Michelin restaurant before the end of the year so it was a perfect place to celebrate our birthday. For her birthday, I decided to get her a dinner at Picholine; it was on my list of restaurants to visit and I figured it was something we could both enjoy. I also invited my brother and decided it would be strange to be a third wheel, so I invited a date.

We met up at Picholine on the upper west side and were very excited for dinner – I purchased a four-course tasting with wine pairings for two people and figured we’d order a la carte for the rest. We started off with some olive baguettes and whole wheat bread:

And the amuse bouche of cured salmon and squash custard with chocolate granola:

For our first course, we started with the chestnut veloute with cepe marmalade, chocolate granola, and bacon-maple mousse:

And the chestnut veloute:

And Laura started with the heirloom beets and apples with mache and horseradish-mustard coulis:

The pictures from the night were a little sub-par because I didn’t use flash at the restaurant (a problem I’ve been having with my Canon SD 770 recently) – Ken started with the sheep’s milk ricotta agnolotti with artichokes Barigoule, Bottarga, and parsley pistou:

And David started with the foie gras shabu shabu with root vegetable pearls, sweet and sour bouillon:

Out of all of the first courses, I liked the heirloom beets and apples and the foie gras shabu shabu the most; the foie gras was “cooked” at the table with the shabu shabu broth and was
the most interesting.

For our second course, we ordered the squid ink fideos with shrimp, piquillo peppers, and Pimenton-aioli:

The wild mushroom risotto with fall squash, duck cracklings, and truffle butter:

I’m don’t actually like squid ink because it turns your mouth black and I find the taste not worth the pain of wiping black ink out of your mouth but the shrimp was good enough on its own. The wild mushroom risotto was cooked well and very creamy and hearty.

For our main courses, I ordered my favorite type of fish, the skate wing “pastrami” with cabbage rouge, mustard fondue:

Laura ordered the heritage pork presse with endive-apple coulis and gooseberry mostarda:

David ordered the painted hills farm sirloin with Cipollini onions and a Béarnaise cloud:

And Ken ordered the Casco bay cod with escargot, parsley broth, and garlic chips:

(Ack that picture is giving me a slight headache just looking at it and I’m not quite sure why I couldn’t get a clear photo!) The skate wing pastrami was probably the most heavy preparation of skate I’ve ever had but was actually really quite delicious; the cabbage was a bit sour and the mustard added a spiciness to the lightly flavored fish. Everyone really enjoyed their main courses; I liked both fish preparations and the beef but thought the pork was a little too heavy.

For dessert, we ordered the chocolate-hazelnut marquise with coffee and cinnamon salt:

And the pear Helene with chocolate soup:

The restaurant also prepared a chocolate torte for Laura’s birthday:

The pear Helene had a cool chocolate syrupy soup and had a nice sweetness to it when paired with the pear and whipped cream. The chocolate hazelnut marquise was rich, decadent, and thick. We all liked the dessert options – and then the servers brought by some petit fours and chocolates:

We all enjoyed the meal at Picholine and Ken liked the restaurant a lot more than Corton, where we went on one of our first dates because the food wasn’t as avant garde. The restaurant had pretty dated decor but had a couple of nice chandeliers scattered throughout the restaurant. I’d definitely return to the restaurant in the future, especially for their pre-theater menu.

Gilt

One of the last restaurants I visited was Gilt at the Palace Hotel. Originally, the plan was to visit with a reader (and chef!) but our schedules never worked out because our work schedules were so different. I ended up visiting with my mom right before Christmas – the courtyard is already really beautiful and unexpected in New York City but with the addition of trees and lights, the entrance really was breathtaking:

The hotel is where Gossip Girl is filmed (I’ve only watched a handful of episodes from the first season but I’m pretty sure everyone knows that the Gilt kitchen is where Chuck Bass whips up a grilled cheese sandwich with truffle oil to lure Serena…or something like that). The entrance to the hotel had two additional trees and the overall decor was very festive:

The main dining room is through the Gilt bar, which was actually really packed for their daily happy hour but the main dining room was pretty empty for our 7:30 reservation. We started with a server bringing by a bread tray with lots of interesting selections:

The breads reminded me of Bouley’s bread selections – we had fig and walnut, butternut squash, and apple bread to start:

And then I went back for their brioche and baguette because I figured I might as well have sampled all of the breads that were being offered! They were all on the greasy side and weren’t as flavorful as they were nice to look at, but it was an interesting differentiator from all of the other Michelin restaurants I’ve visited this year.

To start, the amuse bouche was a tortellini with autumn vegetables:

For my first course, I ordered the Nantucket Bay Scallops with black truffles, grapefruit, and parsnip veloute:

And with the parsnip veloute:

I used to be a fan of cooked scallops but after experiencing scallop sashimi and one too many experiences with sandy scallops, I no longer get the same enjoyment from eating a warmed scallop. The parsnip sauce was velvety and very creamy and the dish was executed well, but I didn’t think it was a knockout dish.

My mom’s first course was the ruby red shrimp with nori, toasted sesame, turnip, and roasted shrimp jus:

For my main course, I went with a lighter choice – Tasmanian sea trout with Romano beans, cockles, flowering herbs, and green tomato vinaigrette:

And my mom ordered the dry-aged Niman Ranch strip loin with alliums, bone marrow, and hen of the woods:

The trout’s coloring was more orange than I’ve ever seen and looked really similar to salmon but the taste was much lighter and paired well with the light vinaigrette. My mom’s dish was cooked really well; medium rare but not too rare (a problem I’ve encountered with a lot of restaurants in the city) and very tender and juicy. The green bread was dehydrated parsley bread – an interesting experiment but way too hard to chew.

For a palate cleanser, the server brought some lychee sorbet:

For dessert, I ordered the tropical – mango, banana, and frozen pink peppercorn cappuccino foam:

And my mom ordered the chocolate souffle with chocolate cake and caramel custard:

The tropical dessert had interesting temperatures; the banana and mango ice cream/custard weren’t very cold but had a consistency like creamy ice cream. I didn’t taste much pink peppercorn (actually, none at all), but the kiwi and passion fruit custards were really delicious and tart with the sweet banana and mango custard.

My mom’s chocolate souffle was a little tough and by the time it arrived at the table, I felt like a crust had formed and the souffle lost it’s airiness.

Finally, the server brought by some chocolates:

The meal at Gilt was satisfactory and my mom enjoyed herself but I thought it was definitely not two-star worthy and I also thought it was a tad stuffy just in general. While I thought the meal was adequate, I definitely think GIlt belongs in the one star category.

Gordon Ramsay at The London

I hate to admit it, but I’ve seen an entire season of Hell’s Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay’s reality show on Fox where cooks from across the US compete on teams (and eventually as individuals) to run dinner service at a restaurant. I love the way Gordon Ramsay is so tough on the cooks and he’s such a caricature on the show that it’s quite entertaining to watch (most of the contestants are actually line cooks, not chefs that have been through formal training). He’s also quite funny on Kitchen Nightmares, the show that features a restaurant in trouble because they don’t know how to clean up after themselves (that show is actually pretty disgusting because restaurant kitchens can be pretty disgusting). Well, I ended up visiting Gordon Ramsay at The London hotel with a reader, John, and waited until the end of the year to visit because there were rumors floating around that 1. the restaurant wouldn’t be able to keep their Michelin stars and 2. the restaurant was going to close because business wasn’t going well. Luckily for them, they kept their two stars AND the night I went they were fully booked.

I met up with John at the restaurant after work and we walked past the casual dining area, Maze, which was surprisingly packed for a Wednesday night (they are in a hotel and most of the people there were dressed in suits so I’m guessing the majority of them either work nearby or they’re staying in the hotel on business and have expense accounts for their meals). The first impression of the formal dining room: the perfume or air freshener of the room was way too strong and was beginning to give me a headache. There were fresh flowers all over the room which might have been the culprit because the only other possibility was someone spilling an entire bottle of perfume ALL OVER THE ENTIRE restaurant. I’m usually not a huge complainer when it comes to perfume, but this scent was really off-putting and made me want to sneeze all through dinner.

To start, a server brought over some mushroom onion soup as an amuse bouche:

As well as some crisps with creme fraiche and micro-basil:

The crisps were very buttery and were delicious with the creme fraiche but the mushroom soup was a little too oniony and heavy for an amuse bouche.

I started with three types of bread – the baguette, cranberry walnut, and the sourdough roll:

The baguette was much lighter and airy than French baguettes but still had a substantial chew factor to it. The cranberry walnut was also really delicious and fruity but the sourdough roll was a little too tough for me.

For another amuse bouche, a server brought by cured salmon:

For my first course, I ordered the Sautéed Hudson Valley Foie Gras cipollini onions, black olive caramel, balsamic toasted brioche:

And John ordered the Butter Poached Maine Lobster arugula, beurre rouge:

Foie gras is really difficult to saute because if you leave it on the pan too long, it turns into oil, however, the foie gras course was a little too soft for my liking. Also, the toasted brioche was tough and too savory AND they didn’t bring any more brioche after we had finished the brioche but not the foie gras (Chef Ramsay, maybe you should go through service at a three star restaurant to see what you should be doing).

The lobster was a bit better; poached in butter and not overcooked but it didn’t taste any more special than the poached lobster special I’ve had at Minetta Tavern.

For our main courses, I ordered the Roasted Colorado lamb, confit potatoes, fava bean tapenade, lamb vinaigrette:

And John ordered the venison with a side of roasted yellow beets:

The entrees were both well executed but both were a bit on the bland side; in the beginning of the year, I thought everything was overseasoned or too salty; now I feel that the last couple of restaurants I’ve visited have been on the plain side (maybe my taste buds have gotten used to over-salted foods).

For our palate cleanser, the server brought by some sorbet:

I’m not exactly sure how this dish tasted because I took one bite and saw that there was something in my micro-basil that was moving…specifically, a spider that wasn’t cleaned from the basil! I was sitting in my own Gordon Ramsay kitchen nightmare, except this time it was Gordon Ramsay’s fault for not teaching his sous chef’s to clean the vegetables and herbs better.

For dessert, we ordered the pistachio souffle with milk ice cream:

And the Concord grape tart:

Both desserts were very sweet but the pistachio souffle was sweet to the point that it was like eating spoonfuls of sugar. Strange, considering how sweet Concord grapes usually are; the milk ice cream and pistachio souffle combination was sickeningly sweet and I had to pass the dessert to John because I felt cavities forming with each additional bite.

At the end of the meal, a dessert cart was rolled by but we were both really stuffed and I also had to get back to my apartment to finish some work. When the check came, John took out cash and I figured we’d split it (which is what always happens when I go out to eat with a reader and in the past, it’s actually worked out pretty well). However, John realized that he was short on cash and then said that he didn’t have enough money on his credit cards to charge the rest of the meal on his card, which surprised me and REALLY annoyed me. I seriously thought it was some kind of joke since the dinner conversation hadn’t been extremely interesting or entertaining (was it some kind of hidden camera show where they were trying to see how much pain I could put myself through before walking out on dinner?). In the end, I paid the difference because I really couldn’t stand sitting there while John just looked at the bill aimlessly (I wonder what would have happened if I just asked to split the bill and leave John to pay the rest).

Sure, I think it’s fine to pay for friends and I am definitely generous when it comes to going out to dinner but it’s one thing to not have enough money when you’re dining with a stranger…it’s completely unacceptable to not even bother to THANK the person that just paid your bill. The bad experience with John and the forgettable food at Gordon Ramsay really ruined my evening and makes me hesitant to meet up with readers in the future.

If something like this had ever happened to me, I would be incredibly apologetic and I would probably run to the closest ATM to pick up cash to pay the person back immediately. John has my email address and didn’t bother to thank me the next day OR even follow up. I figure it’s a sign of immaturity (he was only 23 or 24) but seriously, if you don’t have the money to dine out at a Michelin star restaurant, why would you offer to eat with me in the first place?

Adour Alain Ducasse

I was quite excited to visit Adour at the St. Regis hotel because it seemed like the restaurant was on the higher end of the one-star Michelin restaurants. A lot of critics of the Michelin review guides say that the reviewers just don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to anything but French food. Four of the five three-starred restaurants in New York are French (or French/American) and there are many more three-starred restaurants in Europe than there are any where else in the world. While I thought the restaurant should’ve remained in the one star category, it’s definitely one of the better one-starred restaurants I’ve visited:

I was really early for dinner because I had a meeting in the neighborhood and had my laptop with me so I requested that I sit down at our table. The server was very accommodating and didn’t even flinch when I took out my laptop and charger to finish up some work for the night. We sat in a nice little nook within the restaurant and I was able to do some work before my date arrived without disturbing the other diners (although I’m sure they were wondering what I was doing with a laptop out at dinner). When my date arrived, we were presented the menus and we decided to do one regular tasting menu and one vegetarian tasting menu so we could maximize the variety of dishes we sampled. My date also suggested we do the wine pairing (something I’ve never done with a pre-fixe menu).

To start, a server came by with a basket with different types of bread and two types of butter:

The tasting menu’s first course was Spicy Consommé ruby red shrimp, sea urchin, californian abalone, confit lemon:

And the consumme:

And the vegetarian tasting menu’s first course was Cranberry Bean Veloute with quail eggs, chanterelles, and a balsamic reduction:

And the balsamic reduction:

I preferred the spicy consumme because I love seafood and the consumme had notes of lemon and also a briny sea taste. The shrimp was large and had the perfect bite to it, too. My vegetarian dish had great chanterelle mushrooms but otherwise, I thought it was a little too heavy for a first course.

For the tasting menu’s second course, we were presented with Sauteed Duck Foie Gras roasted honey crisp apple, champagne grapes, floc de gascogne:

And the vegetarian second course was Autumn White Vegetables Carpaccio apple, pear, black truffle vinaigrette:

I’m totally obsessed with foie gras and will order it if it’s ever on the menu so of course I liked the regular tasting menu’s dish more than the vegetarian course, but both were very enjoyable. The maitre’d noticed that I was photographing every dish and even came over to help me get a better light to photograph the vegetable carpaccio dish. The foie gras was rich and tasted so incredibly wonderful with the pops of champagne grapes and matchstick apples. The vegetable carpaccio was a bit on the plain side and when you have a foie gras so flavorful, it’s tough to eat the carpaccio after.

The next tasting menu course was the wild striped bass:

And my next vegetarian tasting menu course was the Yukon gold potato gnocchi with broccolini and tuber melanosporum:

I’ve never seemed to find gnocchi cooked to the texture I remember from my travels to Italy but the bite from this gnocchi was probably the closest to what I remember from my summer adventures with my family. The fish course was also really delicious for the regular tasting menu; fresh, light, and a slight departure from the other heavier courses.

I think the regular tasting menu must have been more extensive than the vegetarian tasting menu because the next course was a scallop that wasn’t quite memorable enough for me to write about:

My main course for the vegetarian tasting menu was the figs and wild mushroom cookpot with olive oil and black pepper condiment:

And the final savory course from the tasting menu was the Nebraskan Beef with celery root and syrah sauce:

The mushrooms were surprisingly meaty but the combination with the warmed figs just didn’t do it for me. It was a simple dish presented in a rustic way (in a fig leaf) that was really beautiful but I wasn’t a huge fan. The beef was a bit on the heavy side especially after drinking so much wine (their pours were *very* generous) and I felt as if I’d eaten way too much by the time the beef arrived.

I had leftover wine from every course because there was just too much food and wine:

So I thought I was full, but then the most awesome desserts arrived – contemporary exotic vacherin with mango marmalade, coconut, passion fruit:

And Roasted pink grapefruit with earl grey jelly, mascarpone sorbet:

And a dark chocolate crisp with coffee cremeaux and cocoa nibs:

And wonderful chocolates:

And finally, homemade macarons:

My favorite was definitely the contemporary exotic vacherin, which had so many different fresh tropical flavors that even though I was extremely full from all of the food, I managed to polish off the majority of the dessert on my own. The other two desserts were from the regular tasting menu; the pink grapefruit appealed to me because of the citrus and surprisingly light mascarpone sorbet and the dark chocolate dessert was just plain delicious.

I enjoyed the meal at Adour very much and I was slightly surprised that it was on the one-star list (especially after dining at all of the two-star restaurants). The service was very accommodating and attentive without being overbearing, the food was delicious, and the wines were paired really well (even though I have very little wine knowledge and I didn’t write down what each course was paired with, I enjoyed all of the wines!)

The River Cafe

On the last day of my Michelin adventures, I celebrated with a brunch at River Cafe in Brooklyn. It’s supposed to be one of the most romantic restaurants in New York because it’s right on the water with great views of Manhattan’s skyline. Whenever I mentioned that River Cafe was on my list of restaurants to try, a lot of people told me that they knew someone that got engaged at the restaurant. I went with my family (so there was no pressure of a proposal) and we went on a clear and sunny Saturday afternoon.

The restaurant was decorated for the holidays and reminded us of Tavern on the Green in terms of decoration and I did a little prayer under my breath that the food wouldn’t be similar.

We started off with warm bread and very spreadable butter:

We ordered some appetizers for everyone to share – the octopus salad with char-grilled portuguese octopus, niçoise style vegetables, white bean purée, lemon and olive oil vinaigrette:

I’ve become extremely fond of octopus, olives, and uni during this year of eating and the octopus salad here was phenomenal; flavorful with a lightness from the green beans and tomatoes. The dots surrounding the octopus were olive paste and added just the right amount of salt that the dish needed.

The other appetizer we shared was the Foie Gras Two Ways classic pressed terrine with caramelized fig and banyuls wine poached roulade with coffee, date and almond crust:

The foie gras on the right was absolutely amazing; slightly sweetened from the almond crust and a flavor combination I don’t think I’ve experienced before with the coffee and foie gras combination. I wasn’t a huge fan of the toast that was paired with the foie gras, but I ate it straight from my knife to go around that problem.

The chef sent over two appetizers – Ceviche Of Taylor Bay Scallops chilled on the half shell, sea beans, tomato, coriander:

The scallop ceviche ended up being one of my mom’s favorite dishes of the day; really fresh scallops were marinated in tomato and citrus and the sea beans added just enough crunch and saltiness.

The second dish the chef sent over was one of their signature dishes – Warm Goat Cheese And Potato Terrine marinated golden beets, aged sherry wine vinaigrette, baby greens and toasted walnuts:

The dish was really beautifully presented and we almost didn’t know where to start digging into it! The potatoes are cooked and layered with goat cheese that adds a nice contrast to a bite of the beets and baby greens. It was surprisingly light even with the potatoes and goat cheese.

For my mom’s main course, she ordered the branzino fillet:

The sea bass came with chorizo sausage and shrimp “stuffing”, smoked tomato petals, petite zucchini, and charred lemon confit.

For my main course, I ordered the crisp duck breast:

The duck breast came with truffle honey and fennel pollen glaze, duck leg and potato croquette, organic carrots, and julienned bok choy.

Laura ordered the lobster and lobster:

The lobster and lobster was a rock lobster tail, green beans, sugar snaps, saffron chick peas, and a main lobster and black truffle grilled cheese sandwich.

David ordered the Scottish Salmon:

The salmon came with wild hen of the woods mushroom vinaigrette, port pine and shallot reduction, and baby romanesco cauliflower.

All of us at lunch:

My favorite main course was probably my mom’s sea bass; it was light but had a great crunchy texture because of the toasted bread on top of it. My duck was alright but the truffle honey was too sweet for me (my mom was a big fan). Laura’s grilled cheese and lobster sandwich was more cheese and filler than anything (and I bit down really hard on a lobster shell!). The lobster and lobster was probably my least favorite dish from the main courses. David’s salmon was really light but I felt that it wasn’t really extraordinary.

For dessert, we ordered their signature Chocolate Marquise Brooklyn Bridge:

The Brooklyn bridge is handmade chocolate with a terrine of toasted hazelnut and tahitian vanilla ice cream and really much more delicious than it looks (if that’s possible!) Simple ingredients but really well prepared and really beautiful to look at!

The kitchen sent our second dessert, the coffee caramel parfait with salted caramel chantilly and espresso caramel sauce:

The espresso caramel sauce was actually poured into a hole in center of the dessert and oozed out of the parfait after we cracked open the layer of sugar. It was a bit sweeter than the Brooklyn bridge but also delicious.

After lunch, we took some photographs in the first room of the cafe by their Christmas tree decorated with poinsettias and also took some photographs outside in the garden. The restaurant decorations aren’t exactly classy but the food, service, and the views of Manhattan definitely makes The River Cafe worth a visit.