New York, Part 2, Finally.
Sorry it took so long to finish the New York food report, but after I got back to work the rest of the back room bad boys left to film the 2009 Bordeaux harvest, leaving Kathy and me to do all of the emails and web work, etc. We pretty much covered the meals up to Spice Market, Wednesday’s (Sept 23rd) lunch. Dinner that night promised to be a most eccelctic affair, dinner a t a place called WD50 on the lower east side, about a half hour cab ride from Rockefeller Center where we were staying.
50 Clinton StreetNew York, NY 10002
Phone: 212.477.2900
The area was somewhere between grungy and emerging BoHo, but we were led directly to the door (the cab dropped us about a block away because of the streets or something…whatever) of the restaurant by a lovely woman who recognized we weren’t from around there. Inside it looked like fusion of a nice local restaurant and an artsy 50′s bar. Dark, small booths, seated maybe 50-60 people, the chef here had a rep as an unabashed innovator. A Jean-George Von Reichten expatriate (http://www.wd-50.com/bios.html, Wylie Dufresne likes to push the envelope and try unusual combinations. We actually needed the help of a business associate that used to cook in NY and knew his way around to get in.
Rather than describe it again, we’ll show the tasting menu below and insert brief comments…As to the wines, it was half price night so we hit on a couple of unusual things, the Emilio Rojo Ribeiro 1997 and a Syvain Cathiard Nuits St George.
Mackerel, white bean, persimmon, black olive
Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese 
Foie gras, passionfruit, chinese celery
Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi
Cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tabasco, caviar
The first five dishes were very exciting. Even though Kathy is no big fan of mackerel or salmon, the freshness lift and interest to the dishes made it hard not to like them. The everything bagel was particularly visually striking as the ingredients were made into ice cream and formed to look like a little bagel. The foie was firm nicely framed by the passionfruit flavors, and the egg ravioli was probably the most satisfying dish because the texture of the egg was somewhat comforting amid all of this avant garde mixology, though the little slices of kampachi seemed almost superfluous. The cold chicken, apparently something of a signature dish, was such a unique play with varied textures, it was almost like he was just screwing with you for fun and, frankly, getting away with it. Everythingwas really interesting up to that point, and all was accompanied by the lightest, most delicate sesame craker bread we had ever experienced. It proviede just enough of a hold onto normalcy as to keep everything grounded.
Perch, kohlrabi, ‘dirty’ grape, cocoa nib
Beef and bearnaise
Lamb loin, black garlic romesco, soybean, pickled garlic chive
The next three dishes provided even more ‘adventure’ though they almost derailed the evening. The Perch with the kohlrabi, cocoa nibs, ‘dirty grape’ and some dried angelfood cake must definitely be an acquired taste. It simply did not work for us and frankly made us wonder how he ever arrived at this dish. The beef dish wasn’t enough to pull us out of the tailspin, in fact I barely remember it, and the lamb, while interesting conceptually, was simply unfortunate in that when you are only getting two small, thin slices of lamb loin, they weren’t the ones from the part of the loin that has the thicker membrane (and that’s from a guy whose family was in the meat business and it fairly easy going about that sort of thing compared to most people). We left this set of courses a little unsettled and wondering where it was going to go from here.
Hazelnut tart, coconut, chocolate, chicory
Carmelized brioche, apricot, buttercream, lemon thyme
Cocoa packets. Chocolate shortbread, milk ice cream
The desserts were pretty darned interesting, particularly the hazelnut tart, and it sort of reinforced the old addage of why dessert can save the meal. These were bright, complex and very tasty, and we are not dessert for the sake of dessert folks at all. Overall, I would say that we would recommend everyone try this place and do the tasting menu…once. Not sure if I lived close how often I’d be back and we like to try a lot of different things. The wine list was interesting and had some cool, esoteric selections and one might guess that, once you got to know the dishes and honed in on things, you could find a lot to like. But this is definitely not the place for meat and potatoes types and would even challenge a lot of ‘foodies’. So would I recommend it? It would depend on who I was talking to, but there is definitely talent here and purpose.
11 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10010 phone: 212.889.0905
The final lunch before the awards ‘banquet’ Thurs night and the trip home was a place across from Madison Park in the flatiron district. Eleven Madison was created in an existing, really stylish art deco building with elevated windows looking out to the trees swaying in the park across the street, a high decorated cieling, and two (or was it three?) levels of an open, airy, really grand room. Very spacious tables, this was an old school elegance kind of place. We didn’t do the serious tasting menu or anything. This was just having a nice lunch.
The menu apparently changes relatively often and, since I just sat down to write this piece recently, I went back to reference the menu items and didn’t recognize them. The restaurant was kind enough, and extremely quick, to send a copy of that weeks menu. As we have been doing, the first course/cocktail choice was a crisp Txakoli Etxomin, very versatile and usually well priced on a list because it’s one of the kinky things sommeliers like to geek on. We found a half bottle of Burgundy for the second course, and the drinking menu was in place.
My choices were the Octopus Salad with Mizuna, Avocado and Radishes and Atlantic Salmon Mi-Cuit with Horseradish, Cucumber and Dill. The appretizer was exactly the play of fresh flavors and textures that I had expected. The salmon, presented in something of a ‘foam’ was perfectly cooked, translucent, and really highlighted the flavor and delicacy of the fish. It was one of the most memorable presentations I had in this style (the others were Water Grill in LA and Zazu in Sonoma). Nothing heavyhanded here…everything nicely done.
Kathy had the Slow Poached Organic Egg with Farro, Sweet Corn and Chanterelles and Bone Marrow Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Summer Beans. For someone who would pick eggs as her ‘desert island’ food, the recent trend of having fresh eggs featured in recipes more often is about as good as it gets. In this appetizer, the egg adds a richness that brings all of the varied flavors and textures together in a very satisfying way. The main course was beaufully appointed and prepared, the marrow adding both texture and breadth to the tenderloin. They set a bowl of what appeared to be pillowy mashed potatos next to her plate, her first forkful only to reveal a layer of earth, crusty, meaty short rib (would be my guess) and rich jus underneath. We dubbed this potato surprise. Yes it was rich and indulgent…we were OK with that.
Though we usually aren’t dessert types (I’m not at least), the sound of a couple of bites of a chococlate caramel treat sounded like a superb ending. After a couple of tastes, we rememebred they had put little dishes of sea salt on the table earlier in the meal. We asked if they could perhaps find one of those dishes. We had been taught the virtues of chocolate, caramel and salt combinations by Michael Recchiuti, one of our favortire chocolate indulgences, we first found at his stand in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. A few grains of salt on this confection put it at another level up for us, the salty/sweet/savory interplay really working the palate. The server probably thought we were a little off the wall, but it worked.
The wine list was good, thoughtful and diverse, and,really, we agreed that this was probably our top experience in NY. Only one nagging thing kept it from being flawless. In both cases, when we ordered the wine, it arrived after the dish, in one case several minutes after. We don’t know where they had to go to get the bottles, but to arrive after the plates were set down would seem a notable fault, especially for a place that got a Beard Foundation award for wine service in 2008. That’s maybe a little picky, but we are wine types first and that doesn’t seem too much to ask to have your wine there when the food comes. Other than that, we would highly recommend this place and offer that it’s at least on the level of a Michelin ‘one star’. The highlight of a diverse and serious ‘eat our way through New York’ foray. Collected our web award that night and left the next morning to come back to work, and dieting…..
