Another Take on Seafood

Last Friday night I was craving crudo. I went into Esca extremely early hoping to grab a quick drink and some crudo while picking up my paycheck but was promptly sent away by one of our managers. Still craving crudo and seafood in general, I decided to try out one of New York City's only 4 star restaurants - Le Bernardin. I had been updating my blog earlier in the day and had stumbled upon another blog that was raving about Eric Ripert's take on French seafood so I figured I would give it a try despite the price tag.

I walked from Esca to Le Bernardin (only about 10 minutes) and asked for a seat at the bar. I was there shortly after opening but the restaurant quickly filled up. The restaurant only offers a prix fixe menu for $112 of four courses: almost raw, barely touched, lightly cooked and a dessert. I began my meal with my favorite drink - a straight-up, dirty Hendricks gin martini.

There are about 12-15 options for each of the four courses and it was hard to decide. I was, however, immediately drawn to the almost raw Vietnamese-style hamachi. Not only do I love anything Vietnamese but Esca does a hamachi crudo and I was interested in seeing the difference in preparation between the two chefs. For my barely touched course I chose an octopus. I have only recently been interested in this eight-legged creature and have only tried it twice - once at Esca and another time at Cafe Colette. For lightly cooked, I chose the black bass with hoisin-plum jus.

Before I talk about any of the food, I must say the service was impeccable. Attentive but not over bearing. Informative but not pretentious. And most importantly, right where they needed to be when I need them. There were two bar tenders - a French man and a French woman. They took equal responsibility of my dining experience but the male bar tender helped me make some great decisions about the meal; he recommended the black bass and a wine for pairing.

My hamachi was unbelievable - much better, in my opinion, than Esca's preparation; however, very different. The hamachi was cut extremely thin and used as if it was the seaweed in a sushi roll. In the middle (instead of cucumber, avocado and imitation crab) was a roll of crispy green lettuce, cilantro and spinach. Once presented in front of me, the server poured - ever so delicately- a nuoc mam sauce around the roll. Nouc mam is served with every Vietnamese meal and is something I have grown to love and crave whenever I am eating something as fresh as this hamachi and greens. It is made of fish sauce, sugar, citrus juice, water and, usually, it is finished off with some fresh red chilis, carrots and daikon radish. The flavor of the nuoc mam complemented the fresh hamachi so well and gave the fish a light coating of sweet, tart goodness. Needless to say, my "almost raw" course was gone rather quickly.

Next was my octopus. I hate to say it, but it didn't do anything special for me. In fact, it left me rather disappointed. The dish reminded me of everything a diner is afraid of when ordering octopus - it's going to be too rubbery and chewy. The octopus was served in four or five small pieces instead of as one, intact tentacle - visually disappointing. There was a little purple basil on the plate as well as some very thin apple slices. Once again, after being presented with the plate, a sauce was put around the dish. This time is was a fermented black bean and pear "salsa" of sorts. The flavors were nice but not something that really stuck in my mind and definitely not something I would order again.

I finished my cocktail while eating my octopus so I asked the gentleman behind the bar to pick a wine that would complement the rest of my meal. He brought me a Barbaresco - a bigger, fruitier wine similar to a Barolo that is also from the Piedmont region of Italy. I loved it from the second it hit my lips and it worked well with the octopus.

Shortly after the octopus was gone, my black bass arrived. A plate of bean sprout risotto with a perfectly seared piece of bass was placed in front of me. Once again, a small portion of sauce was poured around the fish - this time a hoisin-plum jus. This dish was perfection. The fish balanced so well with the acidity and flavor in the jus and the risotto added the perfect texture and creaminess needed for the dish. Every bite sent me into sensory overload because the smell, taste, feel and touch of every ingredient met perfectly on the palate. Definitely a dish worth trying. Also, a great pair with the Barbaresco.

Dessert was next and I selected one that had a few of my favorite ingredients in it - goat cheese, fig and bacon. The menu described: "Caramelized Mission Fig, Red Wine Caramel, Hazelnut, Goat Cheese Fondant, Bacon Ice Cream." Yeah, bacon ice cream! It was amazing. The figs were roasted perfectly and the goat cheese fondant was in beautiful little rounds all over the plate. Getting a bite with the creamy goat cheese, yummy, yet subtle, bacon-flavored ice cream and a sliver of the fig was one of the best flavor combinations that have ever hit my palate. It might sounds strange and different but this is a strange and different worth trying!

Over all my experience at Le Bernardin was unforgettable. The space is majestically beautiful with fresh flowers every where, high ceilings and a spacious dining room. I will be going back as soon as I can rationalize anouther $215/person meal. My birthday is in a few weeks...

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Currently Eating/Cooking: Zabar's Yellow Curry Thai Chicken with leftover rice from Margot. Absolutely unbelievable and I will definitely be buying this again some time soon.

Currently Craving: Barolo. In Italian wine a Barolo is king. Barolo is made from the Nebbiolo grape and is grown in the Piedmont region in Northwest Italy. The wine is the

traditional pairing for white truffles - also a specialty of Piedmont. It is full bodied, usually fruit forward and needs rich and heavy foods to stand up to. I bought a bottle of 2004 Barolo Fontanafredda today and I cannot wait to try it tonight.

Currently Reading: Edible Manhattan. Esca is one of the restaurants that carries this magazine. It covers food and wine around the city and is a great read on the subway!

Currently Obsessing Over: Sea Urchins. The urchin season begins in early fall. As soon as they are available, we have them at Esca as crudo - our Italian-style sashimi. So far this season, the urchins have come from Maine and have been about the size of a tennis ball. Customers would get three to an order for their crudo. This urchin (on the right) was one of a group of 30 or so that came in today from Santa Barbara - our first from the west coast this season. As you can see it was HUGE! I originally took the picture without the lemon next to it but there was no size reference. I asked our sous chef, Katie, for the lemon as a reference. Everyone in the kitchen was afraid to cut it open (aka kill it) but Katie finally did it and we all took turns taking pictures of it. Personally, I don't like urchins but if you do come to Esca!