Entries tagged with “NYC” from Sketchy's Kitchen
We had high expectations for this one -- I've read tons of good reviews about Jean Georges restaurants. I called to make reservations and I was given two options. I asked the reservation lady -- she told em that there was a formal dining room, and a casual dining room. Formal means you have to have a suit/jacket combination, the "casual" dining room required nice clothing, but no jackets. I was told that all the food was prepared in the same kitchen by the same staff. The two restaurants are literally next to each-other. So, I said the casual dining room. Prices are comparable, same chef, same cook staff, excellent reviews in NY Mag and Zagat, critics pick from the NY Times. Well.. lets just say that our evening at the cuban place with the one hour wait was better.
It all started off well. They took our bags, sat us down, asked if we would like to see the drink menu. All was going well. We placed our drink order and placed our dinner order (they only had 12 options to choose from). While we did this, I informed the waiter that I was allergic to shellfish, he said he would inform the kitchen. A few minutes later our drinks came back, and the waiter brought us an amuse bouche. This is the same waiter I told I was allergic to shellfish. Well, it was a shrimp, topped with pomegranate Israeli couscous and a little cup of carrot soup. This is when I started noticing everything. One -- our table was TINY. ALL the tables were tiny. When we sat down, there was silverware, 4 glasses, napkins, and small plates. When they brought our drinks, they had to rearrange almost everything at the table. When the bread came out, then the appetizers -- there was no room on the table. I had to fish my drink out from under a plate edge. Another problem -- I was up next to a wall. My right hand side was up against a partition wall that came up over my head. We looked around and 50% of the tables were built with one of these partition walls.
Well -- they made room for the appetizers, after a very long wait. I got the Tuna Tartare, with avocado, spicy radish, and ginger marinade. My wife got the Foie Gras Brule with pineapple-myer lemon jam. Mine started off very well. Then slowly, I noticed that it was really salty. I think my drink hid the first notes of saltiness, but it was defiantly there. The ginger marinade was excellent, and the radishes were refreshing, but the tuna started to become overpowering. It was very salty. My wife had never tried foie gras before, and she deemed it yucky. though she liked the way it tasted with the jam. But overall, she did not enjoy the dish.
Once we finished out appetizers, we started the waiting game. After they cleared out plates, we waited 18 minutes for our main courses. No sign of the waiter. when we finally get our main courses, they have to rearrange the table again. Plates are hanging over the edge of the table. I got the steamed red snapper with zucchini noodles and lemongrass broth. Well, the zucchini noodles were mandolined zucchini on a bed of (I think ) cream fraiche. The plate was sauced at the table (broth was poured around the central mound of food. The first thinking I noticed -- the fish was a little salty. I like to try each element alone when we eat out. I managed to grab a 'noodle' before they were brothed. They were a little salty. I say to myself -- how to you over salt steamed vegetables?
I tried the broth. It was salty. Everything was salty. I tried the noodles with the cream and the broth. It had a pleasant taste, but would have tasted much better if they cut out 50% of the sodium content. I know lemongrass has some acid in it, but I think they might have added some actual lemon juice to the broth. Well, when the broth mixed with the cream, all hell broke loose on my plate. My appetite started to go south when the cream started to curdle on my plate, but that was ok, I'd had enough of the salt. I showed down on bread and the unsalted butter.
Jen ordered the Grilled dry aged sirloin, tempura potatoes, and creamed spinach. Her steak was a little overcooked, but not enough to send it back. The creamed spinach was unimpressive, and the potatoes tasted like potato chips (IE: very salty). Neither of us were very happy with our main courses. But the drinks were good!
We both ordered dessert, I got a battlebot, and Jen got something.
After our dessert plates were cleared, we started waiting again. It took over 20 minutes for us to get our checks. Someone offered to take our dessert order, I had to inform them that we already finished dessert . 20 to 25 minutes of just sitting there, looking for our waiter. Before we even left and could compare notes, we both determined that we were really disappointed with this dining experience. I don't know if we had a bad day at the kitchen, but the person sitting next to us had an identical event. He was very unhappy with his food.
Would I recommend this to anyone -- no. And based on the cooking -- I would not recommend Jean Georges (the fancy dining room, either. They are the same kitchen, the same cooks, the same wait staff. About halfway through dinner, we could smell burning, burning coming from the kitchen. Not the greatest thing you want to smell when eating.
Thursday was a day of great culinary finds. It started in the morning. Cookies at Ferrara Bakery, donuts at the doughnut plant, and cupcakes at Sugar Sweet Sunshine.
The Doughnut Plant is a tiny little shop on the corner - they only take cash, so make sure you have some. The doughnuts are fresh, and interesting. They all seem to have the same insides, though some are filled. It's the glazes that are unique. They dip some in exotic chocolates, others in vanilla bean glazes, and others in banana bread/pecan. Other donuts are filled with jams and custards. The filled donuts are square and have holes in them. But my favorite was the tres leches donut. It was dry on the outside, but pleasantly moist on the inside. It wasn't a cream filling, but part of the donut.
Sugar Sweet Sunshine is a little cupcake place up the road a few blocks from the Doughnut Plant. they had an assortment of inexpensive homemade cupcakes. I brought back a bunch cupcakes for $1.50 a piece. A few red velvet cupcakes, some lemon, a pumpkin one. They were all good, the cake was nice and fluffy, but not dry, and the assortments of icings were pleasant. Some cream cheese, some buttercream, all were yummy.
Ferrara's is Ferrara's, and it's available online. I'll let the picture do the taking for me :D Side note -- that's my wife taking pictures. :D
On to Lunch -- I got an email from fellow Daring Baker, Kiersten Traina, to try a place called the ShakeShack. It's on the corner of Madison Square Park, and when we saw it, we knew we had a winner. I think the best street food can always be identified by who eats it. When you see a line of 80 people, outside, in light rain, with umbrellas - you know you have a winner. When you see people at the little metal tables whip out their umbrellas an keep eating - you have a winner.
The food was great! Burgers, hotdogs, fries, beer, and custard. The burgers were on potato rolls. The fries were very crispy, and the Flat Top Dog was excellent. Vienna all - beef dog butterflied and griddled. Topped with carmelized onions and cheese sauce.
After killing the afternoon doing stuff at the Rose Center, we headed to WD~50. But there will be another entry for that one.
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