Country

I wanted to love Country. The dining room is breathtakingly beautiful with ostentatious chandeliers, tastefully cased in glass. The open kitchen adds another theatrical element to the experience. The well-heeled waiters skate through the room, contributing additional levels of charm. Country had all the workings of a top-notch dining experience. My family loved it, but somehow it missed the bar for me.

Country’s menu is a four course tasting menu, with optional supplements. It changes daily, an impressive feat for any restaurant. On the night we went they had a special whole white truffle which was showcased around the table for us all to smell. For an additional $80, the truffle could be added to any dish. The supplements all featured the white truffle as well. All fine and impressive, but not worthwhile in any of our opinions.

The meal began with an amuse-bouche of a fried frog’s leg in a cream sauce followed by a tiny quail egg, mini sweet potato tarts and some kind of salmon puff. Everyone around the table ordered differently. Duck stuffed with foie gras was a highlight: intensely flavorful and delicately accented with the foie. A butternut squash risotto appetizer was a real hit with my Grandma. All of my dishes were real misses though: a poached egg with proscuitto and frisee, bland pork cheeks, and a striped bass with squid (squid missing in action). It’s hard to place what was lacking but I wasn’t “wowed” by anything. Dessert was a bit of a recovery with a sorbet intermezzo followed by rice pudding and a chocolate mint dome with vanilla ice cream. The courses were timed well and the service was great. Plates arrived in a well-conceived manner, the real issue was the elements served on them.

Perhaps I ordered poorly and missed the real signature items? The New York Times gave it an “excellent.” At these prices however, every dish should be excellent.

Country: 90 Madison Avenue at 29^th in the Carlton Hotel
Cuisine: French
Word to the wise: There is also a café below Country, a more relaxed option.

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Nolia

I have mentioned a few under-the-radar winners in alphabet city in the past (Le Miu, Esperanto). These restaurants have had limited publicity despite their high quality food and affordable prices. Nolia can now be added to that list. Nolia calls its cusine “French Asian fusion”, offering dishes such as truffle risotto along side tuna tataki; goat cheese salad along side coconut chicken soup. I read the menu with slight trepidation- can they make this work? Somehow, they make it work rather well.

A filet mignon spring roll starter was filled with layers of filet and julienned daikon and carrots with a red wine miso dipping sauce. A robust shrimp and corn cake was accompanied by a fiery roasted red pepper sauce. Our “Sunrise” roll filled with assorted fish, crab, spicy tempura, avocado and red tobiko was elegantly constructed and fresh. Entrees at Nolia consist of both listed options such as grilled mahi mahi with hearts of palm and tropical salsa and the opportunity to choose a protein “simply grilled or roasted” with a custom sauce and side dish. I chose the second route and opted for a wild king salmon with champagne-wasabi cream and truffle risotto while a friend enjoyed free range chicken with Napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and a pineapple sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately the sauce on the salmon was a bit of a miss. The champagne-wasabi cream tasted like neither, though it was still a fair match for the fish. The presence of truffles however, was evident in the rich and creamy risotto.

Service at Nolia was cordial but spotty. Drink orders required reminders and bus boys were over-eager to clear then absent when needed. I hope they remedy these errors as I think that Nolia has tremendous potential.

Nolia: 158 Avenue C and 10^th Street
Cuisine: French- Asian Fusion
Word to the wise: Nolia offers a pre-fixed 3 course meal for $25 from Sunday- Thursday as well as drink specials on various nights. Make friends with the bartender and he just might offer you a free shot.

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Per Se

There are few restaurants in the world that consistently deliver perfection. These are the restaurants against which all others are measured. Thomas Keller’s French Laundry is one of those restaurants and Per Se, his New York replica of the French Laundry, is as well. Per Se was not given 3 Michelin stars by accident. Just as with anything that has notoriety, one wonders- will it live up to the hype?

It absolutely does. The 9 course menu at Per Se changes daily, consisting of either the “chef’s tasting menu” or the “tasting of vegetables.” We chose the regular chef’s tasting menu and incorporated some additional courses from the vegetable. Our waiter, Michael, catered to our every whim, making recommendations and adjustments as we saw fit. The attention to detail in the service at Per Se is unparalleled. A caviar dish is served with a mother-of-pearl spoon because of the poor effect that metal has with caviar. A gin and tonic is made with homemade tonic, taking the drink to another level.

I really enjoyed exchanging banter with the female sommelier who spoke to me like an equal. Sometimes sommeliers forget that the purpose is to listen and help the patron, rather than showboat their wine knowledge. She was fun to rant with and helped us select the perfect bottles as we progressed through each course.

The décor at Per Se is meant to mimic the French Laundry, with its famous blue door and simple, quiet tones of brown and white. The space is not highly stylized, allowing the food to shine without distraction. Its high position in the Time Warner building, however, allow for spectacular views of Central Park. Seats by the windows are worthwhile.

The meal kicked off with the signature Thomas Keller salmon tartare ice cream cones along with some mini gruyere filled puffs. Now begins an absolute circus of dishes. We began with the celery root veloute then had two dishes each of a confit of young fennel bulb with mission fig marmalade as well as a soft boiled hen egg with hen of the woods mushrooms. Following this was a cauliflower “panna cotta” with an oyster glaze and white sturgeon caviar. A Gruner Veltliner that Michael suggested was an appropriate partner for the veggies.

We move on now to two foie gras dishes: the peanut butter “financier” which is composed of layers of foie gras and concord grape gelee with a balsamic glaze. A fancy PB and J. The other foie dish was a sautéed foie gras with frisee. We gobbled up both on brioche. A silver tray with tiny pots of exotic salts was placed on our table, containing anything from red Brittany salt to “Jurassic” salt, to a black volcanic salt from Hawaii. These were fun to match with each subsequent course.

We then sampled pastas including a papardelle and a risotto with corn and Parmigianno-Regianno, both served with a mountain of freshly shaved truffles on top. Seafood came next with langoustines “a la plancha” served with a confit of Yukon gold potatoes. A sea bass followed with chanterelles, artichokes, carrots and a violet artichoke emulsion. Both seafood preparations were delicate, allowing the freshness of the fish to be in the spotlight. Seafood was paired with a 1996 Mersault which was showing really nicely after being decanted for us.

Next came a braised pork belly with cream peas, sweet potato puree, and pea tendrils, hedonistically salty and rich. Cervelle de veau (veal brains) with beet, Burgundy truffles, and caramelized endive arrived next. This was my first veal brains experience. They certainly had a distinct, chewy texture but were cooked perfectly, erasing any squeamishness. My friend has a love for Amarone so we ordered a Giuseppe Quintarelli to enjoy with our final meat courses. A saddle of lamb was tender with rainbow swiss chard and pepper scented yogurt. Finally a sirloin of Wagyu beef melted in the mouth with bone marrow and matsutake mushroom.

It is difficult to compete with such an array of explosive flavors during the main meal but desserts held their end well. Two cheese courses followed: an aged goat and then a blue. Our dessert wine was an Amabile del Cere Bandito, a 1990 late harvest. It was honey sweet and had a beautiful amber color from its old age. The real sweets began with individual creme brulees, a testament to traditional French desserts. A “tentation au chocolate” followed with a milk sorbert and hazelnut streusel. Dessert continued (can you believe it?) with the famous coffee semifreddo with sugar coated doughuts, a course of espresso with candies and then finally the king of all chocolate trays. A server emerged with a tray containing nearly 60 individual chocolates in unique flavors like fennel, pumpkin, and quince. They were lined up and separated into milk, dark, and white. We each selected our final few sweet bites. I was amazed at the server’s ability to recite each choice by heart. We exited with amazingly full bellies and a gift of Per Se macaroons in hand.

The cuisine at Per Se is a graceful fusion of borrowings from Asian, French, and Italian cuisines. Very high expectations were surpassed with course after course of successful dishes. With nearly twenty courses, one would expect some to fall flat, but I was consistently impressed for the entire six hour meal and full for three days afterwards

Per Se- 10 Columbus Circle at 60^th Street, 4^th Floor
Cuisine- New American, French
Word to the wise- Those blue doors don’t operate. Use the glass doors on the sides when you enter the restaurant. Learned that lesson the hard way.

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