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TOQUE
OF NEW YORK / BOSTON |
It
A Matter of Tasting
By Linda Kavanagh |
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One
of the many things I love about being a food writer is the
opportunity to taste such a wide variety of dishes. To break
it down even further, I enjoy experiencing various ingredients,
preparations, presentations, and combinations. I especially
relish the sights, sounds, and personalities of the numerous
restaurants I discover. As I bring along my trusty companions
to explore these restaurants, my usual plan of attack is
to ask the chef and the waiter if it’s possible to
have a tasting menu – a cross section of what’s
on the regular menu. This way I can get a good overview
of the menu without overeating, and more importantly, wasting
any food. I also appreciate when the restaurant is able
to pair the perfect wine with each course. Most places are
more than happy to oblige. On my most recent restaurant
visits to some new and exciting eateries, they more than
obliged me – they surprised me. The following restaurants
are a taste of what’s proving to be the dining style
of choice. Tasting menus are on the rise. No longer just
for food writers, these fabulous food and wine samplings
are being offered in some of the most amazing new restaurants
by some of the most innovative chefs. |
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Taste |
Taste,
the brainchild of New York City food guru Eli
Zabar, has given birth to a self-serve café
by day and wine bar by night, adjacent to Eli’s
Manhattan gourmet market. Chef Scott
Bieber creates flavor-driven New American menus
that change frequently and incorporate Eli’s
world of the finest and freshest produce, seafood, and
meat available to him. A small plate menu offers dinners
a chance to experience many different flavors and pair
them with a rotating selection of 30 wines served in both
tasting servings and by the glass. Roasted spicy mussels
with Italian sausage, pizzetta with red onion, figs and
blue cheese, swordfish pillard with salas verde, and even
Eli’s toasted cheese and tomato
sandwich come with intriguing wine recommendations. The
ever-changing dinner menu highlights the best market fresh
items such as wild salmon with roasted root vegetables,
Stone Church Farm poussin with soft polenta and collard
greens, and roasted whole branzine with asparagus and
grapefruit tapenade. A cheese cart of twenty or so perfectly
ripened cheeses is also a real treat for those experimenting
with the many wines by the glass. Winemaker dinners and
other special wine-focused events are part of what makes
this restaurant a special experience.
W.I.N.E.,
Eli’s wine shop, can be seen through the bar’s
glass back wall.
You try – you can buy!
Taste
1413 3rd Avenue at 80th
Street, New York
212.717.9798 |
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Meritage |
Chef
Daniel Bruce of the Boston Harbor
Hotel has recently launched his own signature
restaurant at the hotel called Meritage.
The new restaurant, overlooking a spectacular view of
Boston Harbor from Rowes Wharf, showcases Bruce’s
extraordinary dedication to fresh ingredients, thoughtfully
prepared to complement the characteristics of wines. Meritage’s
dishes are created matching food to wine, in
a progression of flavors from lightest to heaviest, as
recommended by Chef Bruce. We left things up to our waiter
on this particular night. We began with “sparklers”
paired with sturgeon caviar over melted leeks and frothed
crème fraiche. Our “light white”
wine was matched with a braised skate wing with crisp
lotus root chips and carrot ginger broth. Then came grilled
sea scallops with black truffles and porcini mushrooms
with a more “full-bodied white.”
Our “fruity red” was experienced
with a duet of pastrami cured and buttermilk-fried leg
of Sonoma squab with shallot confit. A “spicy/earthy
red” was just delicious with black pepper crusted
seared rare yellowfin tuna with a zinfandel butter. Finally,
the “robust red” wine was teamed
with a hearty dish of cabernet slow braised boneless short
ribs with parsnip and rosemary spoonbread. Need I say
more? Cheeses and sweets also come in tasting plates and
all plates are offered in small and large. The price points
are high, but taking into consideration the charming dining
room, waterfront view, superior service, and the flawlessness
of the meal, it’s well worth it.
Meritage
Boston Harbor
Hotel
70 Rowes Wharf, Boston
617.439.3995 |
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Serafina
Sandro |
For
the past seven years restaurateurs Vittorio Assaf
and Fabio Granato have been
serving up their brand of Northern Italian cuisine to
native New Yorkers and curious tourists in their various
“Serafina” eateries. With
three successful restaurants to date, the duo recently
opened Serafina Sandro with celebrated
chef Sandro Fioriti. This midtown gem
is an intimate, authentic Roman trattoria offering dinners
the most delicious and reasonably priced meal in the city.
Sandro is a real character. His waitstaff follows his
lead as he personally prepares each dish to order. While
the menu outlines antipasti, insalate, primi piatta, and
secondi piatta dishes, best to just let Sandro prepare
what he’s recently had imported and what the season
governs. Family style dining is recommended here so go
with a group who is prepared to “dig in” and
be surprised. Highlights include fabulous imported specialties
such as first press olive oil over Italian wild hickory
and anchovies, Italian smoked tuna with thinly sliced
artichokes, and special reserve prosciutto with house
made mozzarella and roasted tri-color peppers. Roast suckling
pig was on every table that particular afternoon, dusted
with aromatic fennel flour straight from Abruzia. Pastas
are perfectly chewy. Bucatini with pancetta, tomatoes,
cherry peppers and onions, as well as the garganelli with
imported Italian hillside tomatoes and basil are perfection.
The wine list is strictly comprised of Antinori
Family wines. Nothing wrong with that in my book!
Serafina
Sandro
38 58th Street between
Park and Madison, New York
212.832.8888 |
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Saint |
What
do you make of a restaurant that tags itself as “sexy
food, mini cuisine?” Saint is just
that. A hybrid of a chic downtown boutique nightery and
sophisticated lounge/restaurant that offers an eclectic
array of tapas style dishes created by acclaimed Chef
Rene Michelena (Food & Wine Best
New Chef 1998). Michelena was born in the Philippines
and grew up in Manila, which is evident in his Mediterranean
and Asian influenced cuisine. While Saint’s
space takes on an almost underground aura with
such rooms named as The Bordello and The Threshold, the
menu is not as covert. Unconventional seating in the form
of lounge chairs, sofas, ottomans, and cocktail tables
are clustered about. Various taste sensations cover these
tables on any given night with Michelna’s two and
three tiered plate holders. “Chilled”
items include Thai beef tartar, zucchini and crab
meatballs, and spicy tuna maki roll. “Warmer”
plates such as sweet pea and mint ravioli, veal potstickers,
and lemony chicken and beet fries, begin to take on a
full meal effect, bite-by-bite. “Hot and Heavy”
dishes are a must share, as they all tend to be exactly
that. Grilled monkfish medallions, macaroni and cheese
with truffle butter, and bbq pork tenderloin and oyster
mushroom skewers are all delicious and decadent. “Communal”
offerings include mini sampling menus, artisanal cheese
selections, and various caviar services (including champagne
pairings). Creative cocktails and mainstream wines abound,
the music is just as intoxicating, but the food is the
real showstopper here.
Saint
90 Exeter Street, Boston
617.236.1134 |
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Fleur
de Sel |
Seasonal
tasting menus only make sense. I’ve often wondered
(and marveled) how some restaurants keep up their extensive
menu as the season’s change. Relationships with
various purveyors, near and far, are obviously key, but
does that mean the consumer ends up paying more for off-season
items? Wouldn’t it just be easier to offer dinners
what is available without raising the price points just
to keep to the printed menu? Chef/Owner Cyril
Renaud of Fleur de Sel (flower
of salt) offers seasonal tasting menus at his modern French
bistro in the Flatiron district of New York. A six-course
tasting menu can be paired with wine for a reasonable
up-charge. Our warm summer evening dinner consisted of
blue point oysters with shallot-tomato mignonette, goat
cheese and artichoke ravioli with American caviar, Florida
shrimp swimming in a lobster bisque-like reduction with
mussels, and almond crusted soft shell crab with wild
ramps and spiced port wine sauce. We then had a choice
of potato-crusted wild grouper or Mississippi Farm quail
with morel sauce and seared foie gras. For dessert fresh
banana mousse with crème de café and chocolate
dentelle prepared by Pastry Chef Yvan Lemoine,
had us planning our next seasonal visit!
Fleur
de Sel
5 East 20th Street, New York
212.460.9100 |
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Bambara |
The
Hotel Marlowe, a contemporary/17th century colonial
styled boutique hotel in Cambridge is the home of Bambara,
an American Brasserie created by Executive Chef Thomas
Berry. Berry, best known for his years as sous
chef for Ming Tsai’s popular Blue
Ginger restaurant, embraces all that is American with
a strong influence on New England fare. The menu is perfect
for grazing. Berry has a simple approach to food –
and to his menu. “Crispy” dishes
include clam rolls with tartar sauce, Maine crab cake,
and brie and wild mushroom dumplings. Some “fancy”
items are tuna tartar served with salmon carpaccio and
avocado with spicy aioli and a grilled quail with truffle
white bean puree. “Leafy” salads
are simply sinful: Caesar salad “cocktail”
with shrimp toasts and a frisee salad with duck confit
and foie gras drizzle throws thoughts of low-cal out the
window! “Soupy” concoctions are tomato
bisque with mini grilled cheese, sweet potato and chipolte
soup, and steamed PEI mussels with smoked bacon, escarole
and tomatoes. “Munchy” creations
include black pepper chicken wings, focaccia sandwiches,
and pommes frites with two-peppercorn aioli. “Mainly”
dishes are ample size portions of braised lamb shank,
Dijon grilled hanger steak, and crab-crusted Pacific halibut.
The dining room is inviting with jewel-like colors, cushy
booth seating, a grand open kitchen, handcrafted light
fixtures and magnificent floor to ceiling windows. Anything
goes at this casual, sometimes dressy, contemporary brassiere.
Bambara
25 Edwin Land Blvd, Hotel Marlowe, Cambridge
617.868.4444
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