Authentic Artisanal

Last year I wrote a rave review for Terrance Brennan’s Picholine. This year, I herald my return by visiting another of his Manhattan restaurants, Artisanal. It is designed to look like an authentic French bistro, complete with weaved chairs, cushioned booths, black and white tile floors, and high ceilings. In appearance it reminded me of Café Luxembourg (a bistro near where I live) and L’Express (a favorite of mine in Montreal). However, Artisanal differs in a way as would be suggested by its name. Artisanal generally means traditional and small scale and the restaurant holds an astonishing array of artisanal meats and cheeses, many of which are aged next to the diners. I did not have a chance to try any of them unfortunately, but there was a very good reason for that decision.

It was restaurant week, when all of the expensive Manhattan restaurants cut their prices to $24.07 for lunch and $35 for dinner. Because of the recession though and the hit that fine dining has taken, restaurant week has become a month and a half holiday that fine establishments use as an excuse to keep prices competitive. Being in the midst of my favorite holiday, I had to take advantage of the deal instead of being more adventurous. Luckily, I was rewarded as Artisanal has an especially good deal, where you can eat dinner for $25 and add on a wine pairing for another $13. Since I recently turned 21, I felt compelled to try the wines too. The only downside to the deal is that it is only offered very early (6-7PM) and very late (10-11PM). I am by no means an early bird, so my dining companion and I chose the later hour.

The first course that came out was the sheep’s milk ricotta cavatelli a la carbonara, accompanied by a Torrontes from Argentina.





I am used to ricotta gnocchi, but the cavatelli was completely different. It yielded to my teeth easily, but was in no way overcooked, just comfortable like a plush pillow. The comfort was only intensified by the sauce, which was much more watery than I am used to. When I think of carbonara, I think of an extremely thick and rich yolk-based sauce. This was much more reminiscent of the texture you get when making a box of “The Cheesiest”. The taste of the cheese was muted and subtle. When paired with the wine, many new flavors jumped out at me accompanied by the crisp Torrontes taste. The cheese intensified and the sauce became easier to accept. I could taste the dry age of the cheese as it tightened around the insides of my cheeks, but this exciting sensation abruptly vanished and the dish became mundane once more. Overall, it was not an impressing dish.

The next dish was awe-inspiring in the complexity and depth of its flavor. This was the sauteed skate wing paired with a Grenache from Spain.





The wing was served on a bed of cauliflower, croutons, capers, raisins, and oranges immersed in a blood orange grenobloise. The dish was completed with pureed cauliflower combined with mascarpone cheese. Upon first bite, the exterior of the fish seemed so crispy that I thought the inside would be overcooked. Instead it was moist, flaky, and delicious. One of my favorite parts of eating skate is how easily the meat parts on each of its lines. They’re almost like nature’s “cut here” lines. Next, I tasted the fish with the grenobloise and the flavor of blood orange was tart and overpowering. It made me pucker, but it was still enjoyable, especially when accompanied with the sweetness of the raisins. Then, I tried to taste it with the cauliflower and mascarpone, which was far more soothing. The cheese was fatty and the cauliflower flavor also came through very effectively, though it was a little bland. Finally, I tried the skate with a dip in the grenobloise and another in the puree, combining both flavors. This was just right. The crispy yet tender skate was immersed in the flavor of a far too tart sauce and a bland puree, resulting in perfection. The puree cut the tartness and I could now see the capers coming through over the skate to meet the cauliflower in the middle. With the wine, another element came in. Its color was similar to that of the grenobloise and halfway through the dish, they even tasted similar. The skate more than made up for the cavatelli and it was a dish I will always remember.

Sadly, the dinner was drawing to a close and the crème brûlée ‘Le Cirque’ and baba au rhum came out with a Muscat dessert wine.







At this point in the meal, we were both so full that each of us could only try a few bites of each other’s dish. The Crème Brûlée was tasty, but by no means memorable. The Baba Au Rhum was even less interesting. Our waiter was very curious as to what we thought of it because he described it as mediocre and said that other patrons gave it a “B/B-“ as a grade, which I fully agreed with. There was a lot of rum in the bread and though I liked the plating, it was a little dull for me. I enjoyed the wine more than the desserts as it was crisp, refreshing, and sweet. It tasted like summer!

I wish I could rave about Artisanal the way I did when I reviewed Picholine, but sadly I cannot. Might I go back? Yes, because the skate was so fascinating. That dish was amazing and I can still taste it on my tongue. I even dream about it sometimes. It is rare that I can get such an experience out of a restaurant and the fact that Artisanal could do so leads me to believe that I need to go there again. Until then, my opinion of the restaurant is slightly disappointed, yet hopeful. So if you are ever around the city and want a truly memorable dish, just go to Artisanal, get the sautéed skate, and be prepared for a taste that will not leave you for days.

You can also see this post at: http://cornellsun.com/node/37869

Picholine Perfection

The night before I came back to Cornell, I had the pleasure of eating at Terrance Brennan’s Manhattan restaurant, Picholine. Though I had had an unpleasant experience there five years ago, complete with terrible service and even worse food, recent reviews had piqued my interest in returning. I was willing to give Picholine another chance and I was glad that I did.

From the moment I walked through the door, I could sense a distinct change in the atmosphere of the restaurant. Though the décor was still outdated compared to other bastions of haute cuisine, the proprietor had certainly made an effort to modernize.





When I took my first look at the menu, I was astonished with the selection of innovative dishes. I had never heard of ricotta gnocchi, foie gras “shabu shabu,” or chicken kiev with liquid foie gras. This was far different from the more mundane rack of lamb or duck confit I had come to expect from Picholine. For dinner, my friend and I opted to skip dessert to try more appetizers and we got the foie gras “shabu shabu” with root vegetable pearls, sweet and sour bouillon; wild mushroom risotto with local squash, duck confit, and truffle; sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi with artichokes barigoule, bottarga, and parsley pistou; and warm maine lobster with vanilla milk to start. We had the heirloom chicken “kiev” with chanterelle mushrooms and liquid foie gras and the wagyu beef rib-eye with pomme confit, grilled trevisio, and béarnaise sabayon with bordelaise sauce for the entrees.

Before our appetizers, we received an amuse bouche of manchego tempura, pea soup, mushroom barley soup, another soup. On one plate was a glass filled with “soil” and “grass,” from which the manchego tempura “grew;” on the side of the plate was a small bowl of pea soup. The theme of spring and growth was apparent throughout the meal, but this amuse bouche took it quite literally. On top of the sticks, the manchego tempura looked like marshmallows roasted over an open fire and it had a similar consistency as well. The exterior was slightly crunchy while the interior was soft and squishy, pleasantly accompanied by the mild bite of aged manchego. Compared to the manchego, the pea soup tasted cold and bland, but it helped to clear my palate for the next two soups. I cannot remember the soup in the tall glass, but I do remember the sweet taste of the foam at the top. Unfortunately, the soup was very difficult to drink through the foam and most of the flavor that came through was from the foam. The soup in the small bowl next to it was the mushroom barley, which had the consistency of gelatin. It took on the shape of indentation from the spoon, but other than the interesting texture, just tasted like mushroom barley.







After the amuse bouche came the first two appetizers. These were the foie gras “shabu shabu” with sweet and sour bouillon and the warm maine lobster with fried vanilla milk. Shabu shabu is a type of Japanese cuisine where you cook your own meat, fish, and vegetables in a pot of boiling water. I assume that the quotation marks are meant to indicate that it is not a true “shabu shabu” as it is not served as such, but only cooked in a similar fashion. The dish was presented as a bowl with uncooked foie gras on the bottom. Then, hot sweet and sour bouillon was poured over the foie gras. Most interesting about this dish was the fact that the bouillon was just hot enough to cook the foie gras, but just cool enough so that after combining with the cold foie gras, it cooled down enough so as to not overcook the meat. The end result was a texture of foie gras I have never tasted before. It was luke warm and separated upon touch, but the flavor remained on my tongue long after swallowing. Combined with the bouillon it resembled the traditional fruity and fatty mixture that I have come to expect from foie gras, but it was presented in a new and exciting way.



The warm maine lobster was delicious, moist, and sweet. However, the most interesting part of the dish was the fried vanilla milk. It looked like a yellow baby bell cheese fried on the outside. The waiter said that it was made by flavoring the milk and chilling it until it was hard enough to work with. Then it was battered and fried. It tasted very sweet (a little too sweet for my taste) and had the consistency of melted cheese.



Next came the wild mushroom risotto with duck confit and the sheep’s milk ricotta gnocchi. The taste of mushrooms permeated the risotto and the duck confit was also very prominent. It was a very well done risotto where the cheese was very well balanced with the mushrooms and duck and each flavor came out equally. My favorite part of the dish was the duck confit, which came in shreds throughout the dish. It had a slight tomato taste that reminded me of a duck ragu I had previously had.



The gnocchi was served in a cream sauce and together with the cheese in the gnocchi itself made for a very rich dish. I have only had potato gnocchi before and the texture of this gnocchi was very unusual as it was much softer than that of potato gnocchi. It had a parsley pistou that was incorporated into parts of the cream sauce that gave the dish a spring flavor along with the artichokes. The rich savory elements of the cream sauce and ricotta gnocchi contrasted nicely with the vegetables to make it a delicious dish.



Finally, it was time for the entrees. These were the chicken kiev with liquid foie gras and the wagyu beef rib-eye. Chicken kiev is traditionally a breaded chicken stuffed with butter and baked so that when it comes out of the oven, the butter is melted and explodes outward when the meat is cut. This particular chicken kiev was filled with butter and foie gras. I assume that goose foie gras was used, as it melts much easier. When served, the waiter made the first cut to ensure that we did not get hot butter squirted into our eyes (this happened to me once with chicken kiev). The picture was taken after the initial incision and the result was an overflowing of brown foie gras butter. It worked perfectly with the taste of the chicken and I was pleasantly surprised at how prevalent the taste of foie gras was. I had my doubts about foie gras chicken kiev, but it turned out to be amazing.



Wagyu refers to several breeds of cattle whose meat has intense marbling. It used to only be produced in Japan, but now wagyu is produced by America and Australia. I have no idea where this wagyu came from, but I love rib-eyes and this was no exception. When the dish was served, the waiter poured the bordelaise sauce around the circumference of the plate. This meant that there were two sauces for the steak: the béarnaise sabayon and the bordelaise. The béarnaise sabayon tasted had the rich and tart taste that a perfect béarnaise should have, but with a whipped and foamy texture as well. I have never been a fan of bordelaise, but together with the béarnaise the savory and sweet tastes were very interesting with the meat. The steak itself was incredibly tender even if it was not as rare as I like. That is the amazing thing about wagyu. With most steaks, they lose so much of their tenderness if they are cooked even a degree above rare, but wagyu maintains its tenderness, providing room for error and deliciousness at all temperatures.



Even though we did not order dessert as I do not particularly like sweets, the restaurant provided a few petit fours and some more novel dessert creations. The petit fours were an assortment of five different flavors of chocolates. Next was an assortment of cotton candy flavors and flavored sugar candy on top of sticks coming out of a glass, quite similar to the way in which the manchego tempura was served. Lastly was a spoonful of raspberry sorbet topped with chocolate salt. We were instructed to eat this in one bite. The flavors were very unique, especially that of the chocolate salt. It tasted salty on the portions of my mouth where there was no contact with the sorbet, but chocolaty on the parts where it met with the sorbet.







The meal as a whole was fantastic and it changed my opinion of Picholine from an overpriced, overrated, washed-up restaurant for old people to an innovative, respectable, home for haute cuisine. I had a great time, the wait-staff was friendly, and I got to try food that I never thought was possible. It challenged my perceptions of how chicken kiev, gnocchi, and foie gras could be made and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Picholine’s interpretations. I highly recommend eating here if you feel like celebrating and happen to be in the Manhattan area.

You can also see this post at: http://cornellsun.com/node/36574

California Cuisine Part 2

In this second installment of my trip to LA, I will discuss some of the dishes I tried at Koi and at Spago. They were both fun experiences, but I was definitely not as wowed by the expensive food as I was by the cheap eats around the city. Maybe it’s just my Manhattan snobbery speaking, but I think my city does haute cuisine better. On the other hand, I did get to experience the differences in food and service, of which there were many.

Koi is a favorite of the friend whom I visited, so I went with him to it on his behalf. It was located in West Hollywood and that was certainly the vibe I got from the interior. The atmosphere of the restaurant was like a Japanese garden mixed with a nightclub. There was a quiet stream and next to the bamboo-decorated patio in the outdoor section where we sat. Though close to empty, the few people there were gorgeous and I got the feeling that this was less of a place for serious dining and more or less a cool place to take people out to. I should have taken pictures of the drinks and décor because those were definitely the selling points. Some of the interesting martinis I got were Ginger Sidecar (cognac, canton ginger liqueur, sweet and sour), Wasabi Praise (vodka, sake, simple syrup, lime juice, fresh wasabi), and Berry Bliss (gin, raw agave, pomegranate juice, raspberries) Most of the dishes were small plates that we ordered like tapas.

The first dish we got was the spicy seared albacore with crispy red onions. Like many of the dishes here, they overdid the crunchy aspect. However, the thinly sliced albacore buried among the tinder was thin, moist, and delectable. It had a pleasant spice and was very light. Its lightness was a complete contrast to the fried mess around it though. I think it would have been improved if they took a salad interpretation of this. Instead, it tasted like good tuna with bad French fries.



Next, we tried the spicy rock shrimp tempura hand roll. The light doughy exterior was more like a spring roll than a hand roll though. On the inside was Koi’s signature spicy rock shrimp tempura. The sauce was orange, creamy, and very mild. It was definitely a gigantic rip-off of Nobu’s rock shrimp tempura. The sauce and texture were identical. That doesn’t mean that it was bad, just lacking in originality.



Then we tried one of their most popular dishes, the crispy rice. Though the name is incredibly generic, this dish was amazing. It was topped with a jalapeno pepper and spicy tuna that resembled a mousse in texture. The rice was crunchy and complemented the soft mousse. It was an interesting feeling, biting through the crunch of the pepper, sliding through the mousse, and then meeting resistance at the rice. After you make your way through the rice crunch through, all of the flavors come together, spreading in your mouth as the crunch continues to echo. If I ever come back to Koi, it would be for this dish.



Just because it’s a Japanese place, I had to try the sushi. We got salmon, fresh water eel, sea eel, and tuna. These weren’t very impressive. The tuna was low quality and the salmon was good but average. As far as the eel goes, I love it. I’m a big eel fan. It’s my favorite type of sushi next to the elusive and expensive oh-toro. Oh-toro is the fattiest type of tuna, which few restaurants carry. The rankings from least to most fatty are maguro, toro, chu-toro, and oh-toro. The tuna that we had tasted and looked like maguro, though I did like the slight searing on the outside. For eel, both had the generic “BBQ” sauce that they always do. The fresh water (darker one) tasted like it came out of one of those vacuum-sealed packages that are all over Japanese supermarkets. However, the sea eel was delicious. I was pleasantly surprised since most restaurants mess up here. Usually it comes overcooked and rubbery. This was cool, light, and supple. It wasn’t good enough to make up for the under-performers though. After the sushi, I got the distinct feeling that people don’t come for their nigiri.



What people do come for are their special rolls. The one we got is what they’re known for and it was incredibly tasty. Completely lacking in the arts of subtlety, the Koi Dragon Roll pounded me in the face with eel, baked crab, and shrimp tenpura. It wasn’t perfect though. The crunchy panko was drowning the dish and I had to take a bunch off. Other than that, the flavor was intense and the texture was great.



The grilled lamb chops with roasted shishito mashed potatoes and ichimi glaze came next. It was rare and tender, but the glaze was a too sweet and lacking in flavor. I love lamb and they did a good job cooking it, but the dish as a whole was uninspired and completely behind the times. If I were to give this dish a make-over, I would have used a wasabi-infused demi glace for the glaze and paired it with matsutake risotto. This dish was a rip-off.



I’m not much of a dessert person, but my friend was so intent on getting one that I conceded. We had the flourless molten chocolate volcano cake with vanilla ice cream, raspberry sauce, and fresh berries. It wasn’t anything to write home about and tasted the way you would expect it to. The only difference between it and the premade ones you can buy in the grocery store was the ice cream and powdered sugar.



As a whole, Koi is way overrated. The crispy rice was amazing and some of the drinks were really fun. However, whoever is working the bar needs to find a strainer because I got really tired of chewing the ice in my drinks. The atmosphere was cool though and supposedly a lot of celebrities go there. I could understand it as a place to get a few drinks and hang out, but the food is not worth the price. Spago was a much better value.

Luckily, I came just in time to catch the tail end of restaurant week in LA, so we hit up Spago. Spago is located in Beverly Hills, but unlike Koi, seemed to lack a regional personality. It is Wolfgang Puck’s big restaurant here and I wanted to see what the restaurant was like on home turf. I went to a Spago’s in Vegas that was awful, but I was willing to give Puck another chance and I was glad I did.

We had to wait for a while before getting a table and during the wait, the service was abysmal. They treated us like children as they kept letting parties go ahead of us. It took a lot of complaining on my part to actually get seated. Once at the table, the waitress was very nice and the service improved. Choosing not to go all out, I got the restaurant week menu with the wine pairings. It was much more expensive than New York restaurant week, but I guess that’s LA for you.

The bread that came after ordering was decent. Blaufränkisch was the first wine the came out. I wish I could remember more about it, but all I remember was it being pretty mediocre, as were the rest of the wines. I got the feeling that the restaurant was catering towards the high rollers dropping $5,000 on a bottle, which is completely understandable.





We started out with a round of oysters. They were iced kumamoto and fanny bay oysters with marinated Japanese seaweed, fresh horseradish, and ginger-sherry mignonette. These were delicious, especially the kumamotos. They were served with lemon and cocktail sauce as well. There was no sand or particulates in the oysters, which is really the only difference I can tell from good restaurant oysters and store-bought. The mignonette was good, but a bit thin, making it hard to eat with the oysters.



Someone got a salad with something in it, but I am foggy on the details. What I do remember is the ravioli that I got. Oh my god they were awesome. The ravioli were filled with some of the best short ribs I have ever had. Unlike the mousse-type fillings I am accustomed to, this had real texture. It was fatty, tender, and had the sinews-falling-apart texture of good short ribs. For the chefs, I’m sure it’s a dream. They use all the leftover short ribs for ravioli filling. The sauce was creamy yet light. It was an incredibly tasty dish and I found good use for the bread, getting every last drop of the sauce. The wine tasted much better with the ravioli.





The next wine was a Grenache and Syrah blend that was a bit hot. When paired with the food though, it mellowed out a lot and complemented well. The dish was a very tender Kurobuta pork chop. What that means is that it comes from Berkshire pigs in Japan. It’s like what Kobe beef is to cows, Kurobuta is to pigs. I got a very generous serving of this incredible meat. It made everyone else at the table jealous as they ate their lackluster halibut.





For dessert, I had a Muscat, which seems to be the trendy dessert pairing these days. It worked really well with the chocolate purse. This dish didn’t taste amazing, but it looked really cool, which is what I look for in a dessert more than anything else. It was a chocolate center cleverly encapsulated in a “purse”. I don’t know how they got the amazing texture on the purse. The top was crunchy, but the bottom that held the chocolate was soft. It was really fun to eat. The fruity sauces and ice cream were all pretty ordinary, but so is everything compared to the purse. Nancy Silverton is the famed pastry chef at work here and I can definitely see why she is so renowned.





Spago was really fun and the food was outstanding. I would definitely go back if it weren’t so far away. It more than made up for the disaster I had at the Vegas one. Wolfgang Puck has a great restaurant here, fully deserving of its two Michelin stars.

Fine dining in LA had mixed results. Koi was egregiously overpriced, but Spago was delicious and semi-affordable due to restaurant week. For how much I spent though, I would have gotten a lot more in New York, but that might just be because I know the area better. The cheap eats in LA impressed me a lot more and those are probably what I’ll remember the most. They had so much personality, while the fine dining scene resembled the bland capitalist mush that seems to follow large bankrolls. There definitely lacked originality, with the exception of Koi’s crispy rice. However, I still enjoyed myself at both places and at the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.