It's been eight months since our daughter Lilia was born. With parenthood comes some obvious limitations on the time and resources required to undertake a special dinner outing. Nonetheless, I was determined to celebrate Leah's 40th birthday in style, and, with a little luck and a lot of help from my parents, we were able to make it happen.
It had been fifteen years since my first and only time dining at Le Bernardin. I had always been curious to return and, having recently watched a video of the restaurant on the excellent Alexander The Guest YouTube channel, decided it would make a great candidate for a surprise night out with Leah, especially as Le Bernardin is situated only a half block from my office.
Le Bernardin
155 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019
Leah drove in and met me at my office. Traffic was bad so we were a tiny bit late. I feigned frustration as we walked and when Leah asked, "How much further do you think it will be?" I responded, "About ten feet."
As I mentioned, it was many years since my last visit, so despite the most recent renovation occurring in 2011, it was all new to me. I enjoyed the look, though it felt very shadowy.
Here I should note that we were somewhat disappointed with the service. The staff was professional but lacked the feeling of warmth and hospitality we've come to expect in a post-Will Guidara fine dining world. I feel like I'm not supposed to say this out loud, but all of our servers had very thick accents (Spanish or French), and as such we had a very difficult time understanding them, especially when they were describing the food. Our main server explained the menu in what felt like a patronizing fashion, as if we had never been to a restaurant before. He sternly reiterated several times that the tasting menu was only for all guests at the table, like he was preemptively reprimanding us lest we make a mistake in ordering. This all made it difficult to strike up a rapport with anyone, and made us feel like a pair of tourists going through a revolving door.
We set to work ordering a few drinks to start. Knowing that we were visiting a bar after dinner, we chose to limit ourselves to a cocktail and glass of wine each.
We were visited by our sommelier, who suggested a wine for me - it was the first selection off the full pairing, a crisp 2021 Austrian Zierfandler. Leah ordered hers later, and received a nice unoaked Chardonnay. I was mulling over the idea of a red with some of the later fish courses, but I took my time sipping what was a very generous pour. The sommelier never came back to check in with us anyway, so I decided to save further alcohol consumption for after dinner.
These were all quite delicious and a solid finish.
The interior is very dark, very cramped, and very loud. There's an energetic vibe, like you're at a party in somebody's basement, which could be fun for many people, however the close quarters and dense smoke in the air from all the smoked cocktails made me feel claustrophobic.
We set to work ordering a few drinks to start. Knowing that we were visiting a bar after dinner, we chose to limit ourselves to a cocktail and glass of wine each.
We were visited by our sommelier, who suggested a wine for me - it was the first selection off the full pairing, a crisp 2021 Austrian Zierfandler. Leah ordered hers later, and received a nice unoaked Chardonnay. I was mulling over the idea of a red with some of the later fish courses, but I took my time sipping what was a very generous pour. The sommelier never came back to check in with us anyway, so I decided to save further alcohol consumption for after dinner.
Cocktails
L'Ambassadeur
Branchwater Gin, Pomegranate, Za'atar, Pastis
Cap Chevalier
Avua Cachaça, Amburana, Giffard Pineapple, Clement Mahina Coco Rhum
Both of these were delicious, Leah's being light and refreshing, with a bit of herbal punch from the Pastis, while mine was warm and delicately tropical.
Amuse-Bouche
Crab Croquette
Salmon Rillette
Lobster-Corn Soup
A delicious start, though it felt a bit uninspired and generic. The salmon rillette was very tasty, and in retrospect was one of our favorite bites of the evening.
Bread Service
Baguette, Raisin Bread, Olive Focaccia, Brioche
We thoroughly enjoyed the bread service. The brioche and focaccia were especially good, though the former was more like a croissant than what I think of as traditional brioche.
One thing we greatly appreciated was that the bread service did not end with one offering. They continuously came back throughout the meal to offer us more and to replace the butter. This is something many other high-end restaurants don't do - the bread is served as basically its own course and that's it.
Hamachi (Japanese Amberjack)
Hamachi Sashimi, Pickled Mushroom & Watermelon Radish, Citrus Dashi
A nice light start. The subtly sour dashi was very complementary to the fish. While the mushroom and radish looked pretty and added a textural element, they didn't have much flavor.
Japanese Madai (Sea Bream)
Baked Madai, Fennel, Olive, Onion, Artichoke, Sauce Barigoule
A tender, savory dish with delicate sea bream. The flavors were great, but the onion cups felt outdated presentation-wise. The artichoke chips were excellent and added needed contrast, but I would have liked a few more.
Montauk Shrimp
Seared Shrimp, Fennel Mousseline, Sauce Bouillabaisse
This course was delicious, but I thought it suffered a bit from being fancified. Bouillabaisse is a hearty dish and this more delicate version felt a little tone deaf to me, especially the tiny, barely noticeable cracker with pea-sized dot of aioli.
Salmon-Caviar
Slowly Baked Salmon, Beets, Leek, Royal Osetra Caviar, Horseradish Emulsion
The undisputed best plate of the evening. Everything about this was absolutely perfect - the rich, tender salmon, salty caviar, crunchy beets, and tangy horseradish sauce. Fantastic!
Halibut
Steamed Halibut, Baby Vegetables, Jus de Viande
This dish was a miss for me. Nothing was wrong with it on paper (it was executed perfectly), but by this point the service style of a piece of fish with garnishes and a poured sauce became monotonous.
Hiramasa (Yellowtail Amberjack)
Grilled Hiramasa, Roasted Maitake, Bone Marrow-Red Wine Bordelaise
The star here was the mushroom, which was far more interesting than the fish. The sauce was rich and delicious, with an unctuous gloss and viscosity.
Apricot
Roasted Bella Jewel Apricot, Yogurt Sorbet
A nice balanced palette cleanser which refreshed us before the very indulgent final course.
Peruvian Dark Chocolate
Warm Peruvian Chocolate Tart, Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream
Another contender for best dish of the night, probably a close second to the salmon. Chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream isn't that exciting in theory, but everything about this was perfect. It was rich, warm, melty, crispy, and creamy. What a dessert.
Cupcake
Blueberry, Chantilly Cream
I had noted in the reservation that it was Leah's 40th birthday. I said that she had been working very hard and doing a great job as a first-time mom, and I really wanted to do something special for her. I asked if there was a possibility that they could offer their smoked salmon in some form, since that's Leah's favorite food of all time. I can certainly understand if they were not able to fulfill the request (which they didn't), but I didn't even receive any acknowledgement. I would have appreciated somebody contacting me and saying "Unfortunately we won't be able to do this - is there anything else we can do to make your evening special?" I would have gladly talked through any other possibilities and if there were none, I'd at least have felt ok knowing that they responded and we tried.
As a sort of consolation prize, they did serve us what I imagine is their standard birthday dessert, a blueberry cupcake. It tasted nice, and the cupcake "paper" was edible.
Petit-Fours
Counter-clockwise from bottom:
Mint-Chocolate Macaron
Orange Cream Bonbon
Blueberry "Muffin"
Chocolate-Rum Truffle
Overall, I was disappointed. I can't say the problem was necessarily all on the restaurant's shoulders - it's not like they advertise themselves as being an avant-garde modern dining establishment. They perfectly cook fish in the classic French style, nothing more and nothing less. But in my opinion, at this price point, there are too many other outstanding experiences to be had that are at least equally well-executed and much more unique. There's so much more that can be done with fish while still treating it right. I would want to see more creativity and variety, but I suppose then it would be a different restaurant. Food aside, the impersonal conveyor-belt service did not help the experience.
Ultimately, Le Bernardin feels like a restaurant in the past - whether it's stuck there and in need of updating or rightfully carrying the torch of a fading tradition is up to the individual diner to decide.
After dinner, we took the train down to George Bang Bang, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that I had wanted to try, especially once I saw that they accept reservations, a rarity for any bar. After losing 25 minutes on the subway to a disgruntled passenger and subsequent change of train, we arrived quite late. Nevertheless, they were kind enough to honor our reservation and sat us right away.
After dinner, we took the train down to George Bang Bang, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar that I had wanted to try, especially once I saw that they accept reservations, a rarity for any bar. After losing 25 minutes on the subway to a disgruntled passenger and subsequent change of train, we arrived quite late. Nevertheless, they were kind enough to honor our reservation and sat us right away.
13 East 30th St, New York, NY 10016
Cocktails - Round 1
Hocus Pocus
Michter's Bourbon, Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Timut Pepper, Lemon, Delicate Ginger Ale, Ginger Candy
500 Days of Summer
Caravedo Pisco, Truffle Honey, Burdock, Gentian Root, Cinchona Bark, Black Cardamom, Quinine, Lemon, Aperol, Pear Cider, Thyme
This first round of drinks was very tasty, however I struggled to identify more than two or three of the ingredients in each. I love creative cocktails, but the ingredients need to be in service of something. While good, I felt like for all the work and ingredients that went into these, the resulting flavors were pretty simple.
Cocktails - Round 2
Don "Michael" Corleone
Bacon Fat Washed Woodinville Bourbon, Dubonet, Maple Syrup, Angostura Bitters, Rosemary Smoke, Homemade Bacon Dark Chocolate
Seed
Michter's Bourbon, Korean Red Ginseng 6yr, St. Germain, Roasted Rice, Roasted Pine Nuts, Ginger, Lemon, Clarified Milk, Angostura Bitters
After an unfortunate ordering mishap (I said we wanted to order "another round", and our waitress took that to mean two more of the same drinks), we received our correct second set of cocktails, which I enjoyed a lot more than the first. Here, the complexity of the ingredients was more notable and the flavors reflected everything written on the menu.
Though not everything was as perfect as I hoped, Leah and I still had a fantastic time. It was wonderful to get out for a more formal night alone, and I'm grateful we were able to pull it off.
