Degustation

Degustation is the newest restaurant in Jack & Grace Lamb’s East Village mini-empire, anchored by the Michelin-starred sushi emporium, Jewel Bako. The two restaurants are located at adjacent storefronts, and they are physically connected via a narrow passageway. But they couldn’t be more unalike.

The menu at Degustation is loosely reminiscent of a tapas bar, although many of the dishes are well adrift from their Spanish moorings. Small plates range from $4–15, and the server suggests that three or four is enough for a meal. There’s also a tasting menu for $50, offering five savory courses plus dessert, and we went that route. (Click on the thumbnail at right for a full-size image of the menu.)

Slow poached egg, rice cracker crusted asparagus (left); Scottish langoustine (right)

The first course was arguably the best: a slow-poached egg with Serrano ham in a cheese foam, with rice cracker crusted asparagus. We were oohing and ahhing at the progression of flavors. Up next, a Scottish langoustine (shown on the menu as Cigalas) was split and cooked on the plancha. Nothing more was done with it, and it was gone after a couple of bites.

Grilled Spanish Mackerel (left); Grilled Quail (right)

Grilled Spanish Mackerel on a bed of apples had a crunchy crust, but was perfectly moist and tender inside. Grilled quail with pistachios and endive was delightful, yielding more meat than I expected from such a tiny bird.

 
Grilled Ribeye (left); Apple Tart (right)

For the last savory course, grilled ribeye was once again topped with foam, a needless repetition. Not much was done to the meat, but it was top-quality beef and perfectly prepared. The dessert, an apple tart, was not especially memorable.

The restaurant is tiny, with just 19 seats at a rectangular bar that “wraps around” the kitchen. Three chefs and three servers struggle a bit to avoid tripping over each other, but most of what they produce is delightful. We were seated right next to the finishing station, and we received a miniature culinary education while watching many of the dishes receive their finishing touches.

Most of the clientele are couples, as the bar line-up doesn’t really work for larger parties. Degustation is sometimes listed as a romantic restaurant, but I wouldn’t really think of it that way, unless you’re plotting a foursome, as the next couple is only a few inches away.

Not long after Degustation opened, Frank Bruni awarded two stars in the New York Times, in a double-review that conferred just one star on its older sister restaurant, Jewel Bako. There’s other evidence that perhaps Jewel Bako is no longer the main attraction. While we were there, we saw servers carrying plates out of the bar area. It turns out that Jewel Bako takes Degustation’s overflow.

We had a terrific time at Degustation. At $50 for five courses plus dessert, the tasting menu has to be reckoned one of the better deals in town.

Degustation (239 E. 5th St. west of Second Avenue, East Village)

Food: **
Service: *
Ambiance: **
Overall: **

The Modern (Dining Room)

For some restaurants, a favorable New York Times review is make-or-break. Alain Ducasse fired chef de cuisine Christian Delouvrier after Frank Bruni demoted his restaurant from four stars to three, and not long thereafter he closed the restaurant altogether. The owners of Gilt fired Paul Liebrandt after getting two stars from Mr. Bruni, at a restaurant clearly designed for a minimum of three.

Then there is The Modern—another restaurant with three or four-star aspirations that received a mere two. Owner–manager Danny Meyer was none too pleased, but he didn’t panic. Executive chef Gabriel Kreuther is still in place, offering his elegant interpretation of classic Alsatian cuisine. The meal price has gone up since the Bruni review came out. Judging by OpenTable availability and our own experience on Saturday night, the restaurant seems to be full most of the time. Deserved recognition came with a Michelin star, and Frank Bruni’s faint praise didn’t much matter.

Bruni thought that The Modern “will only become better,” but he has continued to take swipes at it, the most recent being an unprecedented three-star review for the Bar Room, The Modern’s casual cousin. I don’t believe there’s any other establishment where the Times has separately rated the casual front-room of a more formal restaurant. And if it had, there is certainly no precedent for giving a “bar room” a higher rating than the main restaurant itself.

The Modern is located in The Museum of Modern Art, although it has a separate entrance and is open for much longer hours than the museum itself. The main dining room is furnished in austere whites and blacks, with a spectacular view of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. Fine bone china and sterling silver table settings are paired with elegant and nearly flawless service. The room is lively, but with tables generously spaced, the noise level is not oppressive. However, there is not the hushed solemnity of some haute dining palaces.

The menu offers a three-course prix fixe at $85, a seven-course chef’s tasting menu at $125, or a seven-course winter tasting menu at $155. With amuse-bouches and mid-course treats, both seven-course menus are more like eleven courses. The more expensive tasting menu seems to derive its cost mainly from an over-dose of truffles. The chef’s tasting menu, besides being $30 cheaper, actually had more dishes that appealed to us, so we chose that.

Our meal, one of the best we have had in New York, unfolded over more than 3½ hours. Pacing, so often a problem with tasting menus, was impeccable. Even at restaurants that should know better, like Jean Georges and Gordon Ramsay, I’ve had to ask servers to slow down. Not here. When we arrived, we ordered a glass of champagne to start. The staff gave us time to enjoy it, rather than rushing us into ordering. And after we told our server that we had chosen the tasting menu, he asked if we wanted to defer placing the order until after we’d selected wine. I don’t remember that happening at any other restaurant, and we gladly took him up on the offer.

Paired wines would have been $95 apiece. I’m sure I’ll do a full wine pairing again, but I always feel like I need to be wheeled out on stretcher afterwards, so I asked the sommelier to recommend a single bottle at $100 or less that would go well with the whole meal. He offered two recommendations, at $100 and $105, which seemed a wee bit like gouging. (I like to see sommeliers come within my price limit, rather than trying to exceed it.) I chose the $100 bottle and was quite happy.

Bread service consisted of baguettes and olive bread, both served warm, with a cube of soft butter on an small two-tiered pedestal. The first amuse bouch was a trio of small bites: a foie gras truffle, a goat cheese linzer tart, and a cucumber ball, accompanied by a glass of roasted fava beans that could easily become addictive.

The second amuse (above, left) was a luscious salmon tartare sandwiched between potato blinis. This brought us to our first savory course, a foie gras terrine (above, right) that was sinfully sweet, thanks to an accompaniment of juniper marinated raisins. The apple compote and duck prosciutto (left side of the photo) were just fine, although arguably surplus for a dish where the terrine took a well deserved bow at center stage.

 
Next came a perfectly balanced tartare of yellowfin tuna and diver scallops (above, left) on a bed of cucumber, and speckled with Yellowstone River caviar—a breed of which, according to the menu, The Modern purchases the entire annual crop. Maine Lobster (above, right) came with winter vegetables and a spiced broth that was added tableside. This heavenly preparation was more exciting than Per Se’s rendition of a similar dish.

 
At this point I got caught up in the meal, and for the next two courses, forgot to snap the photos until after we’d started eating them. Chorizo-crusted Chatham Cod in a white coco bean puree (above, left) was another triumph. Long Island Duck Breast coated with a black trumpet marmelade and banyul jus added tableside (above, right) was the evening’s lone disappointment. It seemed too pedestrian after the increasing raptures of the fish courses, and it required too much effort to cut through the duck with the dull knife provided. A pastry called a “Fleischneke,” made from duck confit (top right of photo), sounded promising but was also rather uninteresting.

 
The cheese cart offered plenty of provocative selections, all expertly explained by the server. I was happy with all of them, but would particularly single out the orange one (third from left), which is actually a bleu cheese with notes of cheddar; and largest of the group (fifth from left), made from three different kinds of milk.

 
Pre-dessert was a concotion of fresh pineapple, citrus foam and pomegranate, with fresh cilantro that perhaps was a touch too dominant. Dessert was a trio of chocolates—all more than competently prepared, but not as memorable as what had gone before.

 
The traditional sweets came with a surprise—a miniature raspberry sundae in a cone. (Could it be an hommage to Thomas Keller’s salmon cone?) The tray of petits-fours came on the same style of bi-level pedestal used earlier for the butter, although much larger: it weighed about eight pounds. There was also a box of chocolates (not shown). We concluded with Ethiopian coffee, which was hand pressed and came in its own silver serving pot.

Our meal had a level of sustained excellence, with polished and professional service, that we judged superior to the tasting menu at Jean Georges that we had just over two months ago. If a couple of courses were less that fully inspiring (the duck and the dessert), this was only because everything else established such lofty expectations. During our long meal, we admired the plates coming out to other tables. One cannot judge food by looks alone, but everything we saw was beautifully composed and elegantly presented, with many dishes being finished at tableside.

When we were finished, the staff graciously honored our request for a tour of the kitchen—a gleaming beehive of copper and stainless steel. As we left, we were given a lemon coffee cake; we made fast work of it the next morning.

I’ve continued to read mixed reports about The Modern, which could suggest that it is uneven, or that Chef Kreuther’s brand of fine dining is not to all tastes. I don’t think there is any colorable argument, however, that it is not at least a three-star restaurant. Fortunately, The Modern has been wildly successful without Frank Bruni’s endorsement. But his continuing animus toward this restaurant must nevertheless be reckoned a professional disgrace.

The Modern (9 West 53rd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues, West Midtown)

Cuisine: Modern French/Alsatian, beautifully executed
Service: Pampering and attentive; Danny Meyeresque
Ambiance: A gorgeous modern room overlooking the MoMA sculpture garden

Rating: ★★★★

Cafe Mozart

Note: Cafe Mozart closed in July 2008.

*

Cafe Mozart is a respectable casual dining option before a concert at Lincoln Center, in a neighborhood where many of the restaurants are over-priced. I was there last night with two friends.

I loved a Duo of Goat Cheese Tarts ($9). One of the tarts was made with herb-roasted Roma tomatoes and Niçoise olives; the other with mushrooms and onion marmelade. Plenty of restaurants would charge over $10  for that appetizer. An accompaniment of salad greens was entirely superfluous.

Pignoli and dijon crusted salmon ($22) was a far less happy affair. The fish was too dry, and it was not rescued by an overpowering tomato sauce or dull risotto. One of my companions ordered, I believe, a chicken caesar salad in which the chicken was barely more than a rumor, but my other friend was pleased with her choices.

My friend tried to make a reservation, but she called repeatedly for several days, and the restaurant never answered. The host was surprised to learn this was the case. Luckily they weren’t busy last night, but I hear the place fills up on weekends. Service at Cafe Mozart isn’t fancy, with the crew who deliver the plates not knowing who ordered what. We had two different versions of the menu between us, each with different spelling errors. However, wines by the glass are under $10, and that at least is something.

Both the website and business cards promise “World’s Finest Desserts.” We were too full to test that claim, but we noted that there are more desserts than appetizers and entrees put together, so it’s clear where the restaurant’s priorities lie. The decor is unpretentious, but adequate for a casual restaurant.

Cafe Mozart (154 West 70th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, Upper West Side)

Food: Satisfactory
Service: Acceptable, but sometimes careless
Ambiance: Casual
Overall: Satisfactory

Gordon Ramsay at The London

Note: Gordon Ramsay at The London closed in October 2014. Local professional reviews were uniformly terrible, but the restaurant had two Michelin stars for most of its run, losing them only in its final year. The New York media paid practically no attention after the opening period, but somehow it remained open for eight years, outlasting many other imports, including two Alain Ducasse fine-dining restaurants, Alain Ducasse at the Essex House and Adour, both of which had far more critical acclaim than Ramsay.

The visit described below was from the restaurant’s early days, with founding chef Neil Ferguson, who was quickly fired after bad reviews. We paid a later visit in 2007, where we had a “Master Class” meal prepared by Ferguson’s replacement, Josh Emett. Later on, Markus Glocker took over; he later moved to Bâtard, where he earned a Michelin star.

*

Gordon Ramsay at The London Hotel is the latest New York restaurant vying for four stars from the Times and three from Michelin. The loudmouth chef already operates what is arguably the best restaurant in London (the three-star Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road), along with a bunch of others, including The Savoy Grill, which I visited last summer.

The pathway to hell is littered with chefs that opened New York restaurants with four-star aspirations, only to fall short. We’ll have to wait till late 2007 for the Michelin Guide, but Frank Bruni in the Times and Adam Platt in New York both delivered withering two-star smackdowns to Gordon Ramsay.

Meanwhile, plenty of people are making reservations to find out for themselves. It isn’t quite the hot ticket that Per Se was (and still is), but prime times nevertheless fill up quickly. I booked my date at Ramsay exactly two full months in advance, and a 6:15 p.m. reservation was the best I could get.

Ramsay offers two seven-course tasting menus at $110 or a three-course prix fixe at $80. While no one would call it inexpensive, it a bargain compared to other top-echelon New York restaurants. Had the major reviews been favorable, I suspect these prices would have gone up promptly. Now, perhaps they’ll be stable for a while.

I was keen to order the tasting menu, which Ramsay calls the “Menu Prestige.” My friend chose the vegetarian tasting menu, and we tried a few bites of each other’s plates, so I got a pretty good idea of what Ramsay’s cuisine is about. There aren’t any “Wow!” dishes, but there are no duds either. It is very classical and correct cooking, all executed to a high standard.

The bread service came in two flights. First, there were slices of crisp bread with two spreads: cream cheese and foie gras. I could do with plenty more of that foie gras spread. There was also a choice of sourdough or multi-grain bread with unsalted butter.

This was the tasting menu:

1. Amuse bouche: White bean and mushroom soup with black truffle. Served in an capuccino cup with the soup whipped in a foam, in fact resembling capuccino.
   
   
2. Pressed foie gras and game with port sauce and pickled mushrooms. A rather unmemorable terrine.
   
   
3. Lobster ravioli with celery root cream and shellfish vinaigrette. An excellent dish, and I would have liked more of it.
   
   
4. Striped bass fillet with pak choi and caviar velouté. Probably the highlight of the meal.
   
   
5. Roast cannon of lamb with candied onions, confit tomatoes and marjoram jus. A peculiarly named dish, and for no good reason. There were several slices of rack of lamb, off the bone, and 8-hour braised lamb shoulder. My friend, who usually does not touch lamb, enthused about the braised shoulder, saying it was “the kind of lamb I could eat.”
   
   
6. Cheese cart. Not as impressive as at several other high-end restaurants (e.g. Chanterelle, Picholine), but certainly very respectable, and I thoroughly enjoyed all that I had.
   
   
7. Apriocot soufflé with Amaretto ice cream. A can’t-miss dessert.

The vegetable tasting menu had the following:

1. Amuse bouche: Vegetable soup
2. Marinated beetroot with ricotta and pine nut dressing
3. Sweet onion gratin with Parmigiano Reggiano
4. Cep risotto with shaved truffles
5. Chef’s Preparation, seasonal vegetables
6. Chocolate mousse [substitution]
7. Apricot soufflé with Amaretto ice cream

My friend’s two favorites were the amuse bouche (which, like mine, came in a small coffee cup) and the chef’s preparation of seasonal vegetables. You wouldn’t think a plate of sautéed vegetables could stand up as an entree, but Ramsay made it work, and my friend couldn’t stop singing its praises. The kitchen was also happy to accommodate my friend’s request for a substitution, as neither of the standard choices for the sixth course (grilled pineapple or the cheese cart) appealed to her.

I requested a wine pairing, and the sommelier did an excellent job for $60 each. We hadn’t discussed price, and I actually expected him to come in considerably higher than he did.

Service was friendly and generally excellent, with only minor flaws that at a less-expensive restaurant one wouldn’t even bother to notice. Our meal took a bit more than two hours, which seemed just a tad rushed. It’s difficult to pace a tasting menu, and this one needed a bit more leisure. At one point I asked a server to slow down, but it didn’t seem to make much difference.

The room is comfortable and elegant, with tables widely spaced, and heavily padded armchairs to sit in. Our table would have been large enough for a party of four at many restaurants. 

After dinner, we were offered a tour of the kitchen. It is a huge space, as the same kitchen is responsible for the main dining room, the adjoining London Bar (a casual “tapas” restaurant), and I believe the hotel’s room service operation as well. Everything is immaculate, and you can easily see why they are proud to show it off. We walked by the chef’s table that blogger Augieland raved about. I’m sure the guests there are fed like kings, but with servers and touring diners constantly walking by, it’s no place for privacy.

Ramsay did not earn the coveted four-star ranking from Frank Bruni. The Times critic has been on the job for 2½ years, and has yet to award four stars to a restaurant that opened on his watch. (For the record, Bruni was the first to rate Per Se and Masa, but they were already open before he landed the job. His other four-star write-ups have been re-reviews.) Surely he is itching to pull the trigger. But Bruni has made it clear that he has little interest in traditional formality. Bruni also has the modern critical bias (shared with many others) against restaurants that do classic things well without generating a lot of excitement.

I have only one meal to go on, but if I were reviewing for the Times, I would have awarded three stars. In its elegance and polish, Gordon Ramsay is in some respects better than many of the three-star restaurants I’ve visited, but it doesn’t have the “Wow!” factor that the best restaurants deliver.

Gordon Ramsay at The London (151 W. 54th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues, West Midtown)

Food: ★★★
Service: ★★★
Ambiance: ★★★½
Overall: ★★★

Knife + Fork

Note: Click here for a more recent review of Knife + Fork.

The new restaurant Knife + Fork (spelled thus) has attracted a lot of attention lately. Andrea Strong gave it a great review in late July, and it was the recipient of a somewhat longer-than-usual blog post by Frank Bruni a few days later.

Knife + Fork turns out food of unusual ambition for its neighborhood. It’s a small space in the East Village, owned and operated by chef Damien Brassel and his wife. The six-course tasting menu for just $45 puts the shame to other restaurants’ offerings at double the price. Although Bruni complained about the over-use of truffle oil (something we did not notice) he added, “I’m hard pressed to think of another restaurant in New York that packs as much ambition into a price that restrained.” He clearly liked the place, as he mentioned having paid several visits. I suspect he’s going to give Knife + Fork time to shake out the kinks before considering a formal review in the newspaper.

We weren’t in a tasting-menu mood, but our selections from the à la carte menu convinced us that Brassel is doing great things. The amuse was a shot of clear, hot tomato soup. Seared foie gras sent me into orbit, and it was about double the portion size that many restaurants serve. My friend had a warm goat cheese and polenta appetizer that she pronounced amazing. I found a Mahi Mahi entrée a bit stringy, although I enjoyed the crisp skin. I’m not sure whether it was entirely the chef’s fault. I would have preferred a regular knife to cut it with; fish knives are always a burden, except with the most pliant flesh. My friend found lamb loin almost revelatory. Platings were all attractive and creative.

With starters all $15 or less, and mains $25 or less, Knife + Fork delivers an outstanding value. Because it is near a school, there is no hard liquor license, but they do serve wine. Actually, the establishment bills itself as a “restaurant and wine bar.” The list is very reasonably priced, with about a dozen choices by the glass.

Brassel and his wife are practically a two-man band. Brassel does all the cooking. His wife and one waitress do all the serving. Another hand in the kitchen washes dishes and does light prep work. I didn’t do an exact count, but it looks to me like the restaurant can seat about 30–35 people. When it starts to fill up—as it’s doing more and more, as the word gets out—Brassel has trouble keeping up. We were there at a slow time, but we can well imagine what happens on Saturday nights. His wife mentioned that he’s considering adding another hand in the kitchen, although one look at the space tells you that it will need to be someone who’s used to working in close quarters.

I’ll look forward to giving Knife + Fork another try.

Knife + Fork (108 E. 4th St. between First & Second Avenues, East Village)

Food: **
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *½

The Savoy Grill

Despite my keen interest in Gilbert and Sullivan, I’ve never dined at the Savoy Hotel (though I had high tea there once, many years ago). I had wanted to dine at three-star Gordon Ramsay, but that restaurant is closed this summer for refurbishing. I chose the Savoy Grill instead, which turned out to be another restaurant in Ramsay’s large empire, though I didn’t realize this when I booked.

The Savoy Grill is more formal than its name would suggest, with fussy French-style service and tuxedo-clad waiters reminding me a bit of Alain Ducasse in New York. It is a much larger restaurant than Ducasse, and only one star, rather than three, so they are not quite as attentive, but many of the ideas are similar. The previous evening, I had a lovely window seat facing the Tower of London. At the Savoy Grill, I was seated next to a large column with a view of the hotel driveway.

After I sat down, a server wheeled over a cart with several champagnes, from which I was invited to choose. In this type of restaurant, I’m always wary of getting stuck with something that costs $20 a sip, so I asked him for a printed list. He was apparently confused about this, and asked if I’d like bottled water. I said that tap water would be fine. With barely concealed disgust, he slid my water glass to the edge of the table (apparently a signal to his colleagues that this chump doesn’t want the bottled variety) and moved on.

When a server arrived, I explained that I did want champagne. He apologized and sent the champagne guy back over. He remained quite irritated that I wanted to see a list of the choices, but he managed to point out where they were on the wine list, and I chose one. For all that trouble, it was worth it—a glass of sparkling rosé that was surprisingly sweet and smooth.

The regular menu is a £55 prix fixe, but on weekends there is a £30 alternative, which they call the “grill menu,” with six appetizers and six main courses to choose from. Several of these looked compelling, so I decided to save myself £25. Smoked salmon (£4 supplement) was unimpressive. It came without sauces or any other accompaniments, and the taste was no better than average. Particularly for a dish that carries a supplement, I expected a better performance.

Wiltshire pork belly was a tour de force. (After I ordered it, the server mentioned that it was a particular favorite of his.) It was cut in a long strip, in the shape of two thick cigars placed end-to-end. It was tender, fatty, and flavorful. As the server had proved he and I had similar tastes, I accepted his recommendation of the white chocolate cake for dessert, and this was most enjoyable.

There was, again, a reasonable selection of half-bottles available. Remembering my happy experience with Chablis at Le Pont de la Tour, I chose Chablis again (£25), but this was a more pedestrian bottle that reminded me why I don’t usually order Chablis.

After the champagne fiasco, the server went out of his way to ensure I was taken care of. If anything, the service was a bit too rushed, and I was out of there in about an hour. When I’m paying this kind of money, I’d prefer that the meal unwind a bit more slowly. However, to their credit the champagne was comped. (At least, I think it was—nothing was said, but it wasn’t on the bill). In total, dinner came to £59 before tip.

When I told the server that I’m from New York, he introduced me to the house manager, who will be transferring to New York later this year to manage Gordon Ramsay’s first American restaurant, which will be gunning for three Michelin and four New York Times stars. We had a pleasant chat and exchanged business cards. Obviously my Savoy Grill experience is not indicative of Ramsay’s three-star cuisine, but I’d advise him to focus hard on the kind of service glitches that the Times’s current reviewer tends to penalize.

One wonders how much time Ramsay will be able to spend in New York. The house manager said that Ramsay will be there for “the first few months,” and then occasionally thereafter. Ramsay has something like nine restaurants in London alone. Coincidentally, during my stay I saw him on a TV show called “The f word,” which features Ramsay swearing at everybody in sight. In the show’s main vignette, four amateur cooks do a service in the kitchen with Ramsay, in which he hurls expletives at them on the slightest provcation. The guests don’t seem to mind, as they all seem to know about Ramsey’s famous temper. Being told to shut the fuck up is obviously part of the game.

The Savoy Grill (Savoy Hotel, Strand, London, WC2R 0EU)

Food: **½
Service: *½
Ambiance: **
Overall: **

The Waterside Inn

There are three Michelin three-star restaurants in the United Kingdom. One would certainly have to question the inspectors’ objectivity, when an entire country has fewer restaurants with the top rating than Michelin awarded in New York City alone.

In an odd quirk of fate, two of the UK’s three-star restaurants are within 100 yards of each other, in the unlikely town of Bray, about 45 minutes west of London by train. I tried to get into The Fat Duck, but I hadn’t realized how hard it is to get in, and I didn’t book early enough. The Waterside Inn, which has been around a lot longer, was able to accommodate me on a Sunday evening. The restaurant opened in 1972. It earned its first Michelin star in 1974, its second in 1977, and its third in 1985. The original chef, Michel Roux, is semi-retired. His son Alain now runs the kitchen.

Michelin’s definition of three stars is “worth a special journey.” The proprietors of The Waterside Inn took that to heart. Their hotel exists, it seems, solely for patrons who want to dine at the restaurant. As the house manager put it to me, “we have 11 rooms and 11 tables for two.” The dining room faces a quiet part of the Thames, well upstream of London. There are no buildings on the opposite bank to disturb the view. Ducks paddle by, and there is the occasional pleasure boat. Green moss floats on the water near the shore. This was a gorgeous evening—not too hot, as it had been for much of the week, and with a mild breeze. The dining room’s picture windows were wide open, and every table had a slice of the gorgeous view. It was one of the most romantic dining spots I’ve seen.

I began the evening, as many guests do, with a drink on the terrace. The staff brought out a plate of canapes (the beef tartare being my favorite), a glass of champagne, and a menu, and I lingered a while. My order was taken while I was still on the terrace. When I finally took my table, it was already laid with the flatware and glassware that went with what I’d ordered.

You can order a la carte, with appetizers in the £20-38 range, main courses generally £35-53, and desserts about £20-25. When you bear in mind that the exchange rate is almost $2 to the pound, you get the idea that you’re in for an expensive evening. I chose the “menu exceptionelle,” which offered three savory courses and dessert.

I wasn’t expecting an amuse bouche after snacking on the wonderful canapes on the terrace, so a vegetable terrine to start was a happy surprise. I have to wonder, though, at the wisdom of that particular choice when another terrine, foie gras and chicken, was one of the appetizer options. The latter was just fine, although not as creamy as some of the better foie gras terrines I’ve had elsewhere.

The fish course was a scallop, perfectly sweet and just slightly seared on the outside. The other choice for the fish course was lobster, and a glance at other tables showed it was a more elaborate production. I wasn’t unhappy with the scallop, but I had a bit of regret about not choosing the fancier lobster.

The palate cleanser was a rose petal sorbet, which seemed to be a strawberry sorbet with a small rose petal elegantly garnishing the top of it. Then came the evening’s only dud, a duck breast with classic orange sauce, potatoes and peas. The duck, although an ample portion, was slightly tough and over-cooked. I suspect the duck breast had been cooked too a bit too, and it dried out on the stove. I finished it, mind you (at those prices who wouldn’t?), but it was not up to the level of everything else.

An excellent cheese course, carved tableside, was partial redemption. And because I complained about the duck, the restaurant comped an extra dessert, a heavenly strawberry soufflé.

Service throughout the evening was impeccable, yet never haughty. The staff seemed to be mind readers; you would merely think about something, and in a matter of moments someone would appear. The one cheesy moment came early on, when a server appeared with an already-open bottle of Evian poised for pouring, and asked if I would like some water. Human nature is to say ‘yes’, at which point one will have purchased the bottle. I resisted that temptation and asked for tap water. The server replied, without any hint of irony, “Perfect!!” I dwell on the incident only because it was the cleverest ruse I’ve seen yet to steer diners towards bottled water.

I drank a little more liquor than I usually do—a pre-dinner glass of champagne (£15.50), a half-bottle of white wine (£26.50), and a glass of dessert wine (£10.50). None of it came cheap, but it was all excellent. The wine was decanted for me in advance, as naturally it should be at a restaurant of this quality. I was once again pleased to see—as I had at all the other restaurants I tried—a reasonable selection of half-bottles.

The Waterside Inn serves mostly classic dishes. There’s no foam or culinary fusion here; no molecular gastronomy. But it nevertheless serves up a special kind of magic. The duck gaffe was significant, but I would like to assume it was atypical. I would still put The Waterside Inn on my list of places to return to.

All told, the final bill came to £142 before gratuity.

The Waterside Inn (Ferry Road, Bray, Berkshire, SL6 2AT)

Food: ***½
Service: ****
Ambiance: ****
Overall: ***½

Chanterelle

Note: Chanterelle closed in 2009, after plans to remodel and update the restaurant fell through.

*

On a recent celebratory occasion, my friend and I chose Chanterelle. Though I’ve dined there a couple of times in the past, I’d forgotten the magic of this restaurant’s quiet, refined atmosphere. With its widely spaced tables, its luminous chiffon shades, and high chandeliers, Chanterelle offers an elegant escape. On a Sunday evening, it was never more than half full. It was delightful to note that we could speak barely above a whisper, and have no trouble hearing each other.

Chanterelle offers a three-course prix fixe at $95 or a tasting menu (which we had) at $125. Both are written in an extravagant longhand on one of the famous artistic menus, which change about monthly. Although Chanterelle may seem old-fashioned, it is one of the few restaurants at its level that keeps its website up-to-date with the latest menu, which was as follows:

• Green Gazpacho with Chesapeake Bay Crabmeat & Black Caviar
• Foie Gras Sauté with Pickled Farm Peaches & Baby Lettuce
• Sautéed Speckled Sea Trout with Sorrel, Tomato, Mussel Broth
• Niman Ranch Beef filet with Sweet Onions and Cracked black Peppers
• Cheese Course
• Vermont Goat Cheese and Purple basil Soufflé with Tuscan Melon Sorbet
• Petits Fours, Coffee/Tea

We started with a double amuse bouche, a warm gougère and an oyster on a spoon. The gazpacho was (to borrow the cliché) so thick you could almost eat it with a fork. The foie gras was heavenly, and I loved the crisp sea trout. The beef filet was the only dud; it tasted like pot roast, except that pot roast would probably be better.

The cheese course made up for it. A server brought a cheese tray to the table and patiently explained more than a dozen choices, of which I had five—all superb. A cheese course never looks like much food, but by the time you’re finished you feel stuffed. (On the prix fixe menu, the cheese course is a $25 add-on, which makes the tasting menu look like an even better deal.) The selection of petits-fours after dessert was awesome, but I counted something like 15 bite-sized pieces, which is way beyond what two humans can consume at the end of a long tasting menu.

I’ve been to only two other restaurants in the city (Per Se and Alain Ducasse) that make a point of presenting two contrasting butters, with the server explaining the characteristics of each. I particularly liked the unsalted butter, which I believe came from Vermont (the other was from France). Bread rolls were served warm, but I would have liked a choice of breads, to go along with the choice of butters.

Chanterelle’s renowned wine list is a tome that looks like a telephone directory. I believe $55 was the least expensive bottle that I noted, and most were well over $80. I settled on a $95 bordeaux, which was near the bottom of the list, but was nevertheless superb. The staff decanted it without prompting, a service few restaurants offer any more.

The restaurant takes a team approach to service. I had noticed this the last time I was here and wondered if it was an anomaly, but they did it again. Every server seems to perform every function, and no particular server seems to be assigned specifically to your table. On my last visit, this arrangement led to some minor glitches (e.g., being asked twice whether we wanted bottled or tap water), but this time it was seamless.

Service, indeed, is first-class, but without the stuffiness of some high-end places. There is the occasional mistake (a roll dropped on the floor; a spoon forgotten), but it hardly detracts from a delightful evening. Unlike the tasting menu at Bouley, which I had just a couple of weeks ago, this performance was leisurely (taking nearly three hours), and never seemed hurried. The preparations are generally first-rate, but platings are classic, without the wild swishes of colored sauces and the widely varying plate shapes at Bouley.

If the overall performance is a step shy of extraordinary, Chanterelle is nevertheless one of New York’s restaurant treasures.

Chanterelle (2 Harrison Street at Hudson Street, TriBeCa)

Food: ***½
Service: ***½
Ambiance: ***½
Overall: ***½

Bar Room at The Modern

Last weekend, I wanted to try a couple of the “little sister” restaurants of the city’s fine dining rooms. After our food orgy at the Aquavit Cafe on Friday night, we proceeded to the Bar Room at The Modern on Saturday. The atmosphere here is far more raucous and lively than at the sedate Aquavit.

It is located in the Museum of Modern Art, although there is a separate street entrance. The Bar Room has been a hit – Frank Bruni even suggests that it is more enjoyable than the fine dining room adjoining it – and there is the ever-so-slight hint that the staff know you’re at they’re mercy. However, I was pleased that they were willing to transfer our bar tab to our table, something that even much fancier restaurants will often refuse to do.

The menu is in three columns, labeled One ($9-19), Two ($12-16), and Three ($15-19). Column One are the cold appetizers, Column Two are the hot appetizers, and Column Three are the entrees, which the menu says are half portions.

We were still feeling over-fed from Aquavit the night before, so we ordered a bit less of chef Gabriel Kreuther’s food than we might have had under other circumstances. My friend ordered the gnocchi and the Austrian pork sausage (both from Column Two). I ordered the Warm Veal & Goat Cheese Terrine (One) and Crispy Tuna (Three).

I was struck by the complexity of both dishes I tried, and they were both terrific. I was also impressed with my friend’s sausage. (I had only a bite of her gnocchi, not enough to form an impression.)

Chef Kreuther’s cuisine deserves a more serene environment than the frenetic Bar Room gives it, but service was generally acceptable, and the place is impressive when you consider it’s the cafe attached to an art museum. If I lived in the neighborhood, I’d stop by often just for a plate or two. Just about everything on the menu looks appealing.

Bar Room at The Modern (9 W. 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves, West Midtown)

Food: **½
Service: **
Ambiance: *½
Overall: **

Return to Café Gray

Note: Café Gray closed on June 21, 2008. A branch of A Voce will replace it, though not with its original chef, Andrew Carmellini. Click here and here for my parting thoughts on Café Gray.

Last night, I returned to Café Gray, my first visit since November 2004. My early impression remains my impression today: it is a wonderful restaurant, but not without its share of miscalculations.

Chief among these must be the boneheaded interior design, surely the most obscene waste of a great view in dining history. Instead of giving customers a priceless view of Central Park, Café Gray puts an open kitchen in the way. Walls studded with hard surfaces ensure that the noise carries—and, oh boy, does it carry.

At the table next to us, a man was delivering what sounded like a lecture in musicology to a hearing-impaired companion. The next table over had a Japanese family with two toddlers, one of them quite loud. Ninety minutes later, thanks to the din, I left Café Gray with a mild headache.

I have the Café Gray website open in another window as I write this. I’m not fond of websites with a sound track, but this is one of the dumbest ones ever. People chat and laugh, glasses clink, wine is poured, music flits in and out in the deep background. About its only merit is that, if you quintuple the volume, you have precisely the aural experience of a meal at Café Gray.

The food is an altogether happier story and deserves better surroundings. My friend was grateful to be steered towards the mushroom risotto ($22) and the braised shortribs ($36), both signature dishes that Gray Kunz made famous at Lespinasse. They are indeed special, but as I’d already had them the last time, I wanted to see what else the kitchen could do.

I started with the Seared Foie Gras and Quail ($24). Foie is pretty much infallible, but the quail was a succulent surprise. For the entrée, I chose the sautéed pork chop with housemade sauerkraut ($35). The chop was about half again as thick as one normally sees. To get the interior to the house-recommended temperature of medium, the exterior had to be slightly over-cooked. The sauerkraut was wonderful.

We didn’t have dessert, but I noted that the available choices were between $14-18, which is excessive for this type of restaurant. (My friend and I got into a long discussion about how high the rent must be.) Wine options under $50 were in short supply, but when we chose something at around $48, it was one of the better wines we’ve enjoyed at its price point.

Many restaurants in town have a disappointing bread service, but Café Gray served a loaf of homemade sourdough bread that I’d love to eat every day. The amuse bouche was a small beet in a mildly spicy sauce that I’ve now forgotten.

Overall, the kitchen at Café Gray does a first-class job, but the surroundings disappoint.

Café Gray (10 Columbus Circle, 3rd floor of the Time-Warner Center, West Midtown)

Food: ***
Service: ***
Ambiance: *½
Overall: **½