Robot Journal : Then there was Le Bernardin

9/22/2010

Le Bernardin
Our anniversary was last week (maybe you heard). Mrs. Robot and I have been married for ten years. That’s crazy talk. Because ten is a pretty milestone-y milestone, I figured this anniversary dinner would have to be a little snazzier. Mrs. Robot wanted to go to Le Bernardin.
I’m sure she wanted to go because it’s a restaurant that was described once as “experience the thrilling sensation of having everything that surrounds you perfect” and it has gotten a trillion Michelin Stars and four stars from Senor Bruni at the NYT.
But, I am kidding myself. She’s sweet on the chef Eric Rippert. Alas.

No Photos

I took one photo with my phone during dinner. It wasn’t of the food but of myself with this great painting that was behind me. The painting featured this dog who was kind of giving the viewer the ‘stink eye’.

There was a table across the room where someone was taking photos of their dishes. I wanted to put down my glass of Champagne (2000 vintage (2000! Our wedding year! (DP!))) and walk over and ask them, “Really? You are photographing your plate at Le Bernardin? Is this an appropriate venue for lo-fi food blogging? Do you not think that this exact dish has been photographed professionally dozens of times by people with actual real cameras? This is Le Bernardin! Four stars! They are very well documented!”

I’m grumpy.
You know, I will continue to photograph the food we make (as we have a great daylight bulb in the kitchen) as well as tacos and pho and other dishes that I find beautiful. This is especially true if the restaurant is new or off the white-kid beaten path or needs love from the interwebs.
But, a four-star restaurant in mid-town?
No.

(not that I didn’t want to photograph every dish they gave me. beautiful stuff. their lighting is a bit dark and really really warm. i also wanted to eat it. i also didn’t want to look like a boob.)

Chef! Tasting!
We did the ‘Chef’s Tasting’ menu. It’s eight courses. Eight. It seemed like a lot more.
This is what we had. My idiot amateur comments in italics.

Tuna
smoked yellowfin tuna "prosciutto"; japanese pickled vegetables and crispy kombu.
the tuna was visually gorgeous - so red. I don’t recall what I liked so much about this dish except that I liked it very much.

Egg
Caviar poached pastured egg; osetra caviar; marinière broth and english muffin.
I always, somewhat jokingly, talk about my skills in toasting english muffins. I’m a amateur in comparison and on top of it, they make their own. The egg is poached for something like an hour. Runny egg, caviar, and toasty bread? More please.

Langoustine
seared langoustine, mache, wild mushroom salad; white balsamic vinaigrette. riesling feinherb,
Has langoustine always been in every restaurant, or did I only start noticing it a few years ago? Mrs. Robot believes that their langoustine is what the do best. I will say that it was stupendous.

Monkfish
pan roasted monkfish; hon shimeji mushrooms; turnip - ginger emulsion; sake broth.
Monkfish I like. I should eat more. I don’t recall if it’s sustainable. The sake broth: holy awesomes.

Lobster baked lobster
pickled golden beet, fennel and citrus "a la nage".
Who doesn’t love lobster? I mean except for the oddly large number of friends I have who don’t eat seafood (you people are crazy). This dish was the only one that I was kind of like, “eh”. In my amateur and untrained palate, I thought the the citrus sauce that accompanied the lobster was a bit overwhelming. A little too (surprise) citrusy.

Black Bass
crispy black bass, lup cheong and beansprout "risotto", mini steamed buns, hoisin-plum jus.
No, really. Black bass. Steamed bun. Hoisin sauce. I could have bathed in this dish. Possibly my favorite.

Apricot
apricot sphere, fig, sour cherry pearl, candied angelica.
The final courses and my brain was getting fuzzy and my body was like, “Yea. No more food.” If I remember this one correctly, the apricot sphere thing looked like a little egg and acted the same way. If you touched it, it would break like an egg and go all runny. The trick was to eat it all at once. It was quite exciting. There was an apricot party in my mouth and I was invited.

Plum
roasted santa rosa plum, spiced dried fruit, pistachio ice cream.
I think I had this? Anyone?

I’d like to go back.

Snappy!
We traded little anniversary gifts. Mrs. Robot gave me these charming antique cuff links. The old ones would snap together. They are nifty.

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