Taking advantage of both Restaurant Week and my self-employed status last week, I had the opportunity to visit three restaurants participating in this New York tradition. First established in 1992 in celebration of the Democratic Convention hosted in New York City that year, Restaurant Week participants offer a special prix-fixe menu. Originally, the cost for the luncheon corresponded to the year, i.e. $19.92. However, this has changed over the years and the current price is $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for those restaurants offering a dinner menu.
On Monday, I dined with the lovely Marisa D’Vari of A Wine Story at Cafe Boulud. I started with the Gazpacho soup, while Marisa ordered the Hearts of Palm salad. We both followed with the Seared Sea Scallop and then shared the two desserts — a peanut butter and raspberry tart and an apricot creme brulee. The restaurant offered two wines with lunch — a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon — both for $24.07 each. We ordered a bottle of the Chardonnay.
Tuesday afternoon found me at Artisanal Restaurant with my dear friend Sharon. If you have not been to this restaurant, Restaurant Week is not the week to go, as the options do not provide one with the true flavor of the restaurant, which focuses on cheese as an art form. While the menu was nice, goucheres, fondue and general selections from the fromagerie were not available. I enjoyed a plate of parmesan gnocchi, which was particularly wonderful with its accompaniment of summer vegetables. A Scottish salmon was equally lovely. My friend started with the soupe du jour, which was a chilled, beet soup, replete with horseradish ice cream. She still had this soup on her mind a few days later. For her main course, she enjoyed the Summer Vegetable Risotto. For dessert, we ordered the Marquis au Chocolate and a plate of cheeses du jour ($5.00 supplement), the latter permitting us to better appreciate the fact that we were in a cheese-oriented restaurant. However, as I am very finicky about the kind of cheeses I like, I really did not like the selections and simply ate enough to be polite. Artisanal has nearly 100 wines by the glass, offered in both glass and taste pour sizes, which is fabulous. I selected a glass of the Lirac Domain Lafond, Roc-Epine white wine, which comprises 50% Grenache Blanc, 30% Rousanne and 20% Viognier. This beautiful, Southern Rhone blend was full-bodied with rich fruit flavors and notes of almond/nuttiness, which we both found to be quite agreeable.
I finished off the week with lunch with my wonderful husband, Jared, at South Gate at the Jumeirah Essex House. We actually spent our wedding night at this hotel, opposite Central Park, so the setting was near and dear to our hearts. Arriving a few minutes ahead of Jared, I ordered a glass of an Argentine rose of Malbec, which had a vibrant, deep pink hue and aromas and flavors of red fruits and spice. Upon tasting the wine, Jared also ordered a glass of the wine. I kicked off lunch with a pea flan, which highlighted the beauty of fresh vegetables, coupled with the richness of morels. Jared had shellfish in a saffron sauce, which he graciously permitted me to taste. My main course consisted of mahi mahi, served with eggplant "caviar" while Jared had trout in a brown butter sauce. Although Jared’s creme fraiche cheese cake dessert was nice, my choclate pot au creme with chocolate madeleines was the highlight of the meal (and best dessert of the week), with crunchy chocolate pearls mingling with creamy chocolate mousse and airy whipped cream, complemented by a cup of cappucino.
I ended the week a few pounds heavier, but just as much happier, having enjoyed three fabulous lunches.