The impetus for the trip was to collect an award for the website from Market Watch Magazine, an an alcoholic beverage industry publication of sorts owned by the people who own Wine Spectator. Don’t really know who decides on these things but that, and the occasion of Steve and Kathy’s 35th anniversary, made for reason enough to go back to the Big Apple for the first time in quite a while. Naturally activities were planned around meals as we had only so many available time slots in the period from Monday night (sept 21) and Fri afternoon (sept 26), with one taken up by the awards banquet. Our basic list stemmed from a list published in Wine Spectator about eating out in NYC by one of their staff who obviously lives there and eats out all the time.
What may be as evident as the group of very interesting and varied restaurants we speak of here, but the ones that aren’t there. A word on that. If you are going to do any kind of culinary adventure, it seems you need to visit at least one or two of the icon establishments. Trying to do that with some of these places required a rare combination of survival and game show skills in remembering when it was allowed to attempt reservations (some were 30 days, some were 7, it varied). Given the economy, the general state of the restaurant business nationally and what we have heard from friends in the business, it was a little surprising how difficult some of these culinary establishments made it to get reservations. How hard does one have to work to reserve the right tospend a silly amount of money on dinner and an overpriced wine list?
Frankly, with so many great eateries in New York, we quickly tired of the game with places like Per Se (30 days yet fully booked within 5 min of the opening bell?), Momofuku (7 days…what if you wait and don’t get in then you’ve missed all of the others?), etc. . Mind you we are not tallking about 8:00 PM on Friday, but about mid-week and pretty flexible time Even though there was a big UN thing going on that week, and traffic in parts of the city was a bit difficult at times, Pres. Obama couldn’t be eating everywhere, could he? As to the restaurants, pretty much actual people wouldn’t talk to you in some of these places either. Wish I was in a position to run my business like that but I’m not and I’m not sure I could do it if I was. In any case, it isn’t hard to find interesting eats in New York, and we’ll toss up our notes over the next few days.
CASA MONO/ BAR JAMON
52 Irving Place, New York
Casamono
We put the two together since they are connected (owned by the same folks) and next door to each other. The Jamon Bar was a small, noisy, lively place that very much has the feel of tapas bars we had been to in Spain. Therestaurant had a pretty extensive wine list, reds, whites and sherries by the glass and a list of pretty traditional Spanish nibbles scribbled in the mirror behind the massive slicing apparatus. We ordered Jamon Serrano (very thinly sliced and pretty good) and spanish tortilla (traditional potato/egg fritatta style that was authentic though a touch dry and a little on the salty side…a smear of aoli helped a lot). Glasses of Txakoli poured from high up to accentuate the spritz in the traditional manner of the pintxos bars of San Sebastian. We have had better executions and drink better Txakoli at home but that’s to be expected. All in all satisifying, very spot on theme-wise, and and a pleasant, slightly nostalgic experience.
Moved next door to get to our table which wasn’t quite ready (we were a little early and the place was small and jumpin’) so we waited outside. It wasn’t a long wait, it was a pleasant evening and we only got hit up for money once. Sat down to again a pretty serious tapas menu with an extensive Spanish wine list (bottle of Contino 2001 and a glass of La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza 2000 to finish the cheese plate of three different ages of Manchego with quince paste. Kathy apologizes for ‘deusching’ but she thought it was important to mention that Lawrence Fishburn sat down at the table behind us. Very close, quite loud, but it was OK within the framework of this place which had a lot of energy, played upbeat music and was quite a bit of fun. The food was overall quite good. The Sardinas Fritas with simple lemon wedges was spot on if you like that stuff…I do. The ensalada mono with manchego was mostly a frisee type of green dressed with a slightly sweet, slightly tart, slightly creamy concoction that worked beautifully, possibly the most interesting dish to both of us, though unusual as green food (veggies, lettuce) is pretty rare in our experience in Spain…can’t imagine being vegetarian there in the land of salted pig parts and fish.
Fideos with chorizo and clams was very tasty but kind of difficult to eat in combinations as the fideos, sort of a fried angel hair pasta, was blanketing the clams in shell, and the chorizo bits had fallen through mostly to the bottom. The pumpkin and goat cheese croquetas leaned a little more to the pumpkin and less to the piquent goat cheese so they came off a touch sweet for me but definitely balanced and interesting. The Pork Belly with Spicy Sandia was salty, sweet and savory with a bit of a crisp chicharone edge that was comforting to a guy who’s history ranges back to a butcher shop in East L.A. All in all we’d go back here. It was fun and there are other dishes that looked interesting. Good date place, wouldn’t want to have a business meeting here and, if it’s cold and the windows aren’t opened out to the street, one could get a little claustrophobic. Great for what it is trying to be, but probably a little too intense for some folks.
Website http://www.casamononyc.com/home.cfm
Menu (http://www.casamononyc.com/menu_casamono.cfm).
Wine List (http://www.casamononyc.com/pdf/wine_list.pdf).
THE MODERN
The Museum of Modern Art
9 West 53rd Street, New York
(between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)
This was our one foray off of the Spectator generated list, recommended to us, and was a complete hit for our taste. We went on a Tues hoping to catch a quick look at the Monet exhibit before lunch. Alas no one told the dumb California tourists that MoMA was closed Tues, nor did the website mention it. Oh well, a ten block stroll to Central Park, stumbling across a unique cigar bar/store along the way (ain’t never seen one of these in Cal if orn I yay but we hadn’t looked for one either), and then back for lunch. We got the tip, sort of left handed although it would seem that the place is no secret, not only being right next to a famous arts center but having won the James Beard award recently as well, from someone we know in the trade.
The sommelier there, Belinda Chang, was someone we met at the store with another sommelier/represenative at large for the Jorge Ordonez portfolio. We had been to Belinda Chang’s last stop, a very cool family style Italian place in Chicago, Via Stato, where the list was all Italian. Here, there are no holds barred and the list is massive with all kinds of who’s who bottlings from California, Bordeaux and Burgundy, verticals of stuff like Guigal single vineyards, and a huge Alsace lineup (chef Gabriel Kreuther is from Alsace, so I guess that part figures) Nine vintages of Marcel Deiss ‘Burg’, anyone? Eight Huets from 71 or before? They had Spanish wine, too, (Vega Sicilia and Valbuena verticals and one other…Urban Ribera del Duero?). There was representation, albeit generally icon/high end, from most significant wine venues in the world. It was one heck of a list but we wonder how much of that kind of super upper end thing gets sold these days. The markups didn’t seem excessive as restaurants go, but it was pretty high priced stuff by and large simply because of what it was. It wasn’t any easy matter to find deals on the list and this from someone who kind of knows his way around. In any case, for lunch, a Chateauneuf Blanc 2007 from Usseglio and a Pinot Blanc 2005 from Boxler were great matches to most of the lighter handed, very precise dishes we had here. The room was just that, modern, open, high ceilinged and spacious with open windows looking out on a sculpture garden that opened it up even more. The food, as mentioned, was generally lighter handed and precise and the service very crisp and professional. One point to make there is that they changed my amuse bouche to something tomato based from the custard they served Kathy because that one was too similar to one of the dishes I ordered. Impressive attention to detail.
view from the sculpture garden/ahi-scallop tartare
Kathy made her own tasting menu choosing three appetizers, starting with Field Greens with Goat Cheese Ravoilis, Beet Carpaccio and Truffle Vinaigrette, then a Pea soup with Barley and Cream and Tartare of Yellowfin Tuna and Diver Scallops seasoned with Yellowstone River Caviar. I did the same with Foie Gras Terrine flavored with Juniper Marinated Raisins, Pistachio Joconde, Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Yellowstone River Caviar, Cockle Clams, and Orange Emulsion, avioli, Zucchini Blossom Risotto with Heirloom Tomato Confit, Shiso and Flounder Carpaccio.
The Foie was creamy and had an nice touch of crunch as it was coated with the pistaccio mixture., the cauliflower notes very subtle to the panna cotta, the pea soup showed great purity of flavor and refined ‘peaness’. The slightly tart dressing brought the greens on the salad alive. The favorite was the tartare combination that really showed the freshnes and salinity of the sea cut nicely with the caviar and dressing. The zucchini blossom risotto was the one weaker dish, in part because it was dominated by the tomato and clashed with the other dishes and the wine. It seemed radically different in concept than everything else we had and came across, far too blunt amongst the other more delicate dishes. Overall, though, this was good eats if not necessarily for really hungry folks. Definitely recommended.
website: http://www.themodernnyc.com/
