163 Duane Street New York, NY 10013
Cici and I love a great deal, so we decided to go for the $55 prix-fixe 5 course lunch at Bouley today. The restaurant was beautiful, with fresh flowers everywhere. Cici commented that the waiters were serving like a well-rehearsed symphony. Once in awhile, you would get a whiff of truffles.
The lunch started with an amuse bouche: pumpkin soup with candied pine nuts. It reminded me of the soup I used to buy at the now closed Bouley Market. The soup was so creamy and pumpkin-y that I wished Bouley Market is still open.
For our first course, we both chose the Carpaccio Of Kampachi, Young Blue Fin Tuna And Striped Amber Jack prepared in a mediterranean manne. The plate was so pretty, it looked like fish swimming in a pool of pretty green flowers. The carpaccio was melt in your mouth fresh with the most wonderful sauces.
We were fascinated by the guy wheeling around the bread in a cart like one of those dim sum ladies. He was so into methodically cutting the bread that he belonged in a movie about Bouley, or bread, or just any movie. He suggested the Saffron walnut bread with the porcini flan. I also tried the apricot walnut bread (sweet, chewy and fresh) and olive bread. I still think Del Posto has the best bread in the city though.
The second course was the famous Porcini Flan with Alaska Live Dungeness Crab black truffle dashi in its own little pot. The presentation was so cute. I can see why so many people recommend the flan. The crab meat was outrageously crabby and fresh. I believe this dish is what makes the air smell like truffles every once in awhile, when someone is served the porcini flan and they open the little pot and let the aroma envelop them (an apparently everyone else) in a cloud of truffle bliss.
For the third course, Cici picked the All-Natural Pennsylvania Chicken with carrot ravioli, chanterelles, pain d'empics dressing and I picked the Slow Braised Kobe Style Beef Cheeks with blue kale gnocchi. Cici gave me a bite of her chicken and carrot ravioli. This was not the usual frozen chicken you get at other restaurants. I want, no NEED, the secret of how they make the chicken so tender. Is it because it's all natural or from Pennsylvania? We need to know. This chicken was so tender, it makes other so called "chicken tenders" taste like leather (Cici said "old shoe" but I'm not as gross as her). "They are like chicken meltaways!" Cici later texted me as she finished her chicken that she took home in a doggie bag (more on that later). Also, the carrot raviloli was so sweet and the pasta delectible, it tasted like pumpkin. (Before this, my only other taste of a sweet vegetable ravioli are the butternut squash raviolis at Costco. This aint no Costco ravioli, people! I am not a snob, I just like good food.) The beef was delicious as well, with gnocchi on the bottom, but by then I was too full to fully appreciate the beef, however yummy it was.
Next, came a palate cleanser of Honey Tangerine Soup with sancho pepper, lychee sorbet, crystallized honey. Very refreshing and perfect after all the courses.
We both picked the Hot Caramilized Anjou Pear,valrhona chocolate, biscuit breton, hot toffee sauce, lemon verbena and tahitian vanilla ice creams for dessert. I did not like the lemon verbena ice cream too much, reminded me of Lemon Pledge. Sorry.
The chef provided us an extra dessert: bulgur wheat ice cream. It was a unique taste, creamy and kind of salty.
Cici tasted the bulgur wheat ice cream and said that I would like it because it was salty.
I said, "I was raised on salty plums."
Cici said, "What do salty plums taste like?"
"Olives," I replied.
"Why would you do that to a plum? It's so sweet," wondered Cici.
The chef also presented some complimentary, gorgeous little macarons, wafer thin cookies, chocolates and nut crunch. By then, we were so stuffed that Cici took one of the wafer thin cookies and said, "Have you seen that guy in Monty Python who was at a restaurant and ate a lot, and then he said, 'I'll just have one more bite, it's wafer thin,' and he exploded?" I thought that was hilarious.
Not wanting to explode, we did not finish our desserts so we asked for doggie bags. The server who cleared the table acted like this was an unusual request. Yes, we are Hoi polloi. We take doggie bags. We are not on a date and we don't care. Plus, it's a Michelin Star doggie bag.
If you think we are declasse for asking for doggie bags, witness what happened at the next table: The two guys next to us (not in jackets, as required by the restaurant rules) obviously tourists due to the hotel room key card on the table (see, no little detail escapes me, a skill I honed after watching almost all the Monk reruns), sat down later than us, so by the time their table was cleared for dessert, we were done with our meal. One of the guys (with an accent) asked for *gasp* more bread. The server said incredulously, "More bread, with DESSERT?" Amateurs. Tourists. Didn't they know that we New Yawkers don't eat bread with dessert? Suddenly, it was as if the perfect symphony came to a screeching halt for a second. The bread guy was notified of the request, and he went over and asked which bread they would like to enjoy some more. They chose the apricot walnut (good choice). Bread Guy said, "Let me get you a plate, would you like butter with that?" Then all was well again as the two bread-loving gentlemen were served their desserts.
Note: The doggie bags were given to us by the receptionist/coat check girl. Very discreet. I like it.
Pardon the low lighting of the photos. I took them with my iphone with no flash (BTW, does anyone's iphone flash actually take good photos? Mine does not) and the restaurant was kind of romantically dimmed.
