The Importance of Service

Posted on Wednesday. May 6, 2009 | 2 Comments

dscn2426Port View Seafood Village

I don’t really care about service. Food is the focus. I will tolerate slow service, put up with inexperienced or worse, incompetent servers if the food is good. I will endure rude or gruff waiters a la Peter Luger’s or like those in your local diner or favorite busy hawker. However looking back at my meal at Thomas Keller’s Per Se I realized that the service was so expert, subtle, warm and comforting that it elevated a superb meal to one that was sublime.

Two meals during my Brunei stay made me reevaluate my preconceived notions of the service-food relationship. They happened within days of each other as my parents and I embarked on a road trip across Borneo from Brunei to Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia.

The first meal was at Port View Seafood Village in Kota Kinabalu. We picked it because it was the closest to our hotel. All we were willing to do was walk no further than across the road after a whole day of traveling.

And in terms of food, I have to admit it was excellent. Every morsel of food was full of fresh flavor and expertly cooked. Sweet scallops were quickly stir-fried to showcase their pristine condition. There was a tender crunch to the huge prawns bursting with flavor. Plump oysters had a veneer of gratin-ed cheese, while the oysters itself was still delectably moist and slippery soft. Soft-shelled crabs were fried crisp yet lusciously juicy inside.

dscn2435Pristine Scallops

dscn2436Closeup

dscn2440Prawns

dscn2448It’s as big as my hand

dscn2456Oysters

dscn2459Fried soft shell crab

The problem was that while the prices of the seafood was very clearly spelled out, the amount you get when you order isn’t. The way the restaurant handled the situation when addressed also wasn’t very kosher. They weren’t cheating but they weren’t ethical. It definitely ruined the mood for dinner, as my mom was pretty upset for being taken for a ride, in fact I don’t think I’ve seen her so upset since I was a kid (and I don’t know anyone as calm as her.)

dscn27871The “Restaurant” at Sutera Resort Manukan Island

Three days later we returned to Kota Kinabalu from Mount Kinabalu. A short boat ride later, we docked at the Sutera Resort jetty on Manukan Island. The clear turquoise water of the South China Sea was too tempting to resist and an hour after stepping on the island I had checked-in, drank my welcome cocktail, gotten a quick bite and was out on a boat again, coasting through Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park to the dive sites. Wanting to cram as many dives in, I added a night dive.

The night dive unfortunately delayed dinner. 

dscn2795Going for my night dive

I was ravenously hungry, which happens every time after I dive, as I walked on the stone path to meet my parents for dinner. And I was pleasantly surprised to see them sitting in a private tent that the resort had set up for us on the beach, illuminated by hurricane lamps with a view of the sea and the soundtrack of lapping waves playing on repeat. We even had our own chef to barbeque our meal. Unfortunately the staff wasn’t told of my night dive and had prepared the food so that it would be ready for us when we came. But we came an hour and a half later than expected, causing the cooked food to sit on a charcoal warmer for the duration of time.

dscn2791Setting up

I still wolfed down the squid, fish and prawns. After looking at fish the whole day I was really craving seafood. The meal as a whole was actually immensely enjoyable. We felt so pampered by the resort staff. I had actually seen them setting up the tent while waiting for the residual nitrogen to bleed off from my body after the day dives, and I was wondering what that was for and it seemed to be a lot of effort. There was an intricate “tablescape” that was an exotic and beautiful garnish to the backdrop of the “restaurant.” Yes the food was overcooked (at least for the first platter, when we got seconds cooked to order it was delicious,) but the level of attention and effort we got from the resort staff more than made up for it. The genuine warm hospitality, which is so rare, made the meal so memorable.

dscn2817Check that tablescape out Sandra Lee!

I don’t go to a restaurant for the service or ambience, but I think I’d return in a heartbeat to Sutera Manukan Island. Would I go back to Port View View Seafood Village? I’m tempted to state an outright no. But the food was really good that it trumped the shady service.

dscn2810BBQ Seafood, Satay and Lamb.

I realize that I haven’t come to a definitive rubric on service. My two examples seem to contradict each other. If anything, my two meals have made me more aware of the role service plays.

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Brunei Bites: Treasures Within

Posted on Wednesday. March 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

dscn40241Bought various cakes from the night market to see that was inside their leaf enclosures. 

dscn40281Close up

dscn4035It’s like a boat

dscn4038I didn’t like this one. I think it was made with beans. 

dscn4041?

dscn40441??

dscn4046Aargh! It’s the face-hugger egg from Aliens! But this one was filled with coconut

dscn4047Hmmm?

dscn4054Spicy. glutinous rice and shrimp paste. It sounds gross but it was really good.

Read about where these cakes came from here: Gadong Night Market 

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Brunei Bites: Gadong Night Market

Posted on Tuesday. March 10, 2009 | 5 Comments

dscn39641 A row of vendors at Gadong Night Market

Asia. I’ve been back long enough that I’ve forgotten just how exotic it is. The everyday exotic food that is so abundant and diverse has turned into just the everyday now. When I arrived back in Asia, to Singapore, by way of a sojourn in Brunei over a year ago, I was so taken with those first few heady bites that were at once familiar and foreign. 

dscn39673Delish BBQ, notice the chicken “tail” at the top left hand corner

Now that I’m writing this, I’m reminded of the bountiful gastronomic treasures right at my doorstep in Singapore and in my regional backyard. One of the highlights of my Brunei trip was Gadong Night Market. As I got out of the car, far from the market, I could smell the fragrance of deliciousness before I saw the smoke rising from the numerous miniature pyres of charcoal, pristine fish and fresh meat. 

dscn2311Chicken Butt

The market is huge, about the size of a football field and it’s divided into two sections. One sells vegetables and fruit, the other houses rows and rows of food vendors. There are whole skate wings and fish cooking on banana leaves. Lamb chops, beef steaks marinated in special sauces, and chicken thighs rubbed in spice mixtures sizzle from the heat of glowing embers of charcoal, the smoke perfuming the meat. There are drink stalls with drinks in every hue of the rainbow. There are parcels of food wrapped with leaves, hiding their treasure within. Cakes, noodles, desserts and a cornucopia of other dishes, it is gastronomic overload for me as I wander down the rows of stalls, coins clinking in my pockets, munching on something as I eye my next morsel with my brain and stomach debating on how much more I can ingest. 

dscn39801I heart anything cooked over charcoal

I have never seen such diversity of food in Asia, compared to anywhere else in the world. It really is quite staggering and I want to taste it all. But the dish I find myself coming back to on every visit to the night market, and in fact eating multiple times on a single trip is the chicken “tail.” Tail being a polite term for the butt of the chicken (not to be confused with the asshole.) It comprises mostly of fat and skin with a little meat and, if you are lucky, bits of crunchy cartilage. The butts are skewered on a stick; sometimes they are rubbed with a special reddish orange spice blend, and roasted over an open charcoal fire. It is essentially a delicious and addictive roasted chicken marshmallow. And it is culinary crack. 

dscn39771Fish!

dscn3987Before open kitchens became trendy in restaurants they were doing it here

dscn2294Coconut rice in leaves

dscn3969Skate wings grilled with sambal, fish cooking.

dscn3979So many drinks!

dscn3978Food Food Food!

dscn3982Cockles

dscn3983Skate browning

dscn3998BBQ Corner!

dscn3993BBQ meat and bones, makes me want to get medieval.

dscn2307Colorful Cakes

dscn3999Looks wonderful

dscn4017My favorite fruit, durian and champedak, fried. It just got so much better.

dscn4000Using a fighter jet engine for a stove. It has two settings: high and afterburner.

dscn2318I have absolutely no idea what all this colorful stuff is.

dscn3975Leaves hide hidden treasure.

dscn3992MOAR colorful cakes

dscn4001Colorful people

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The Importance of a Dining Companion

Posted on Saturday. February 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

dscn8269

In the months leading up to my departure from perhaps the best dining out city in the world, I went on a restaurant binge, hitting up all the restaurants I’d read about and always wanted to go. I was extremely sad to leave but in those last few precious months, I was the happiest I could ever be. I was eating at the finest New York had to offer and spending quality time with my closest friends. I savored the food and company, knowing that I would not have the same opportunity for a prolonged period of time. 

It was during this time that I realized the importance of a dining companion. I was at Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50 with a friend. Now I have nothing but the deepest respect for her, but she just did not get Chef Dufresne’s molecular gastronomy inflected techniques. She didn’t understand the thought that went into the food.

I realized that whom you eat with affects what you think of the food. Your dining partner reinforces or challenges your perception of the dining experience. I thought it was excellent, she thought it was decent to good. My overall perception of the restaurant was an approximate average of our combined experience.

The best dining companion I ever had, by far, is my best friend from college. Our affair started out in Syracuse, where on the weekends we would check out different restaurants or revisit our favorite ones.  And Syracuse for such a small town had really good places to eat. When I moved to New York City, she would visit and we would explore the vibrant dining scene.

So what makes a good dining companion? Well I think a love for food is the first requisite. Now you might think that it’s obvious. But I’m not just talking about liking to eat, because who doesn’t like to eat. But really understanding the food, where it comes from, the concept and techniques.

She is as adventurous as I am. She’s always willing to try new food. We were at Wesley Genovart’s charming and intimate restaurant, Degustation, where we had sweetbreads for the first time. We couldn’t stop talking about that dish and the rest of the dinner for the whole night. There is just something magical when you discover something new together.

But most important of all I think that we have similar taste.  Now I say similar, as opposed to same, because if we had identical tastes, we’d be forever doomed to ordering the same stuff. Variety as she likes to say is the spice of life. We like the same general food but order different things so we both eat things that we wouldn’t have normally. It expands our comfort zone with food in a very manageable way, but similar enough that eating together is always a joy and not a compromise. It’s that beautiful chemistry that makes the two of us click.

This post is dedicated to the best dining companion I could ever ask for.

I miss you.

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Birth of a Blog

Posted on Friday. January 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

dscn2033Empire Resort

There isn’t any food porn in this entry. Sorry. But I’d like to show you where this blog was conceived. In my last few months Stateside, I’d been photographing, cataloging my memorable last meals. These were mementos, postcards from my culinary tour of the city that I thought would be my home. 

dscn2019A small part of the lagoon. It’s (Billy Fuccillo) HUGE!

And while back in Asia, in the first week of my trip to Brunei, with my brother and his family here, my parents took us to spend a few days at Empire Resort. For someone who had been living in Brooklyn, Empire seemed really over the top. As the crown jewel of the small sultanate (population approximately 380,000) everything is done on a lavish grand scale. Yet there isn’t really much to do. I took a wakeboarding lesson (it’s hard!) Swam around the huge “pool” well it’s more like a manmade freshwater lagoon (awesome!) But that’s all I really did. You can’t drink in Brunei so there was no partying at night, and that’s when this blog was created. 

dscn2024A really beautiful place to unwind and get lost in your thoughts.

dscn2042The main atrium at the resort.

dscn2035This restaurant is the best place to be on a friday night in Brunei for the weekly BBQ buffet.

While I’d been toying with the idea of a blog, those few uneventful nights spent in my luxurious room proved to be optimal conditions to put my thoughts to pen and paper. I wrote down the recipe for my blog. I started to write the stories I wanted to tell, thought of the different segments (which you’ll start to see once we get into the Singapore stories,) and decided the angle and what I wanted out of my blog.

Soon I had scrawled on numerous pages of my legal pad and the story of my journey was starting to develop. 

dscn2022The sun sets on MOAR lagoon.

dscn3759Colors, I have to say my little Nikon takes pretty good night shots. 

dscn3748Walking around as night falls.

dscn37731I thought the resort was going to be empty (like Jerudong Theme Park) but it wasn’t.

dscn3781I swam to that small island and hid behind it’s waterfall (now switched off.)

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Becoming a Food Snob

Posted on Friday. January 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

I have never thought of myself as a food snob. But in college, my friends never cooked for me because they felt intimidated.

“I can’t cook like you.”

“But you know so much about food”

“You have great taste and I’m embarrassed to cook for you.”

They would say. Finally when a girl did cook for me, I slept with her out of gratitude. Well I did say I was going to bring dessert. Her food wasn’t Keller but it was cooked with care and consideration, effort. The fact that someone had taken the time to go get groceries and prepare made it lovely.

Over vacations when I stayed with friends, the cook of the house would make the disclaimer that the food wasn’t fancy, having heard that I love to dine out. But some of my favourite meals were in those very homes.

I love food. All types of food. I’m obsessed with the dumplings at my neighbourhood Chinese place in Brooklyn. I love fast food, one of my favourite foods is a hot dog. My boss was shocked to find out that I like Papa Johns pizza. Her taste was to the more refined and authentic New York pizza places around our office in downtown Manhattan. She rolls her eyes every time I bring in my leftover pizza for lunch. “I thought you were some foodie,” she would always accuse.

My brother had brought his family to Brunei to visit our parents. I had flown in a few days ahead. My parents decided that we would spend a few days at Brunei’s premier resort. This place was lavish. It felt like the sultan’s palace. They also had one of the best restaurants in the country. I was excited. My parents had called ahead for their tasting menu. 

dscn2238Appetizers were good. Beef and a seafood salad

dscn2242Soups in shot glasses? Please. Mussels. Nothing stood out.

dscn2248Flavorless beef or lamb which was very tough, tuna which I would have preferred to be rarer.

dscn2251Desserts were decent

The food was mediocre. They had a new chef, a very young man and had just changed their menu concept to something more bistro-like. Apparently haute cuisine wasn’t making money. I’m usually a voracious eater, a human Hoover. But I picked at my food this time, I admit with a little distain. I had just left the foodie capital of the world and was homesick. I think my parents sensed it. They were splurging on their son and he was leaving his plate half eaten, pushing the rest away.

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Transitions

Posted on Wednesday. January 14, 2009 | Leave a comment

dscn20462Home

I boarded the plane at JFK on a Thursday night. I arrived in Singapore at dawn on Saturday. I was back in the army for training on Monday for two weeks and right after that I was on a plane to visit my parents in Brunei. From a Brooklyn apartment to an army bunk with 20 other guys to an absolutely palatial house. The house in Brunei was huge; there were even three, yes three kitchens. Although I didn’t cook at all because the house chef, a proud woman from Miramar didn’t take too kindly to my intrusion into her domain. But I wasn’t complaining. The food was good and it felt great to have everything done for me. I didn’t have to walk down Jefferson Street in the dead of winter to do my laundry, all I had to do was toss it into a hamper and it would reappear the next day clean, ironed and folded. I slept in as late as I wanted to, I didn’t have to wake up just before five to get ready for the day’s training.  I didn’t have to worry about work at the office. 

I enjoyed my time in Brunei, it was restful, a little unreal with all the luxury and pampering but not much else, there is almost absolutely nothing to do in Brunei. I missed my friends and life in New York and would trade all of this to be back. But that was a closed chapter of my life and as I sat in the comfort of my new but temporary room, the best accommodation I’ve had in years, I was excited to be writing a new one.

rscn29342Home from the back

dscn21142The “living room” is bigger than my NY apartment

dscn41033The main kitchen

dscn21693Halal kitchen adjacent to the main kitchen

dscn21522Catering kitchen on the lower floor next to the “official” dining room

dscn21532Catering kitchen

dscn40562You know you are living it up when you have a few of these scattered around

dscn30253Good eating, when you have a chef in the house: Passionfruit cucumber and calamari cups

dscn30262Dressed wonton and tofu with wasabi

dscn35702  Prawn, jellyfish and dragon fruit

dscn37962Radish Cake

dscn38372Starfruit salad

dscn38402Baked crab with cheese

dscn38422Stuffed Fish

dscn30332Passionfruit custard

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Yummy Honeys: Aishwarya Rai

Posted on Monday. January 5, 2009 | Leave a comment

1Image from www.page03.com

I was back in Asia at the Empire Resort in Brunei, relaxing in a luxurious hotel room overlooking the South China Sea when I first caught snippets of The Mistress of Spices on TV. I’m not going to lie, it’s a totally sappy movie, made and destined for TV. But it made me realize how I underutilize spices. I seldom use anything more exotic than salt and pepper.

aishwarya-rai-signs-robot1Image from www.extramirchi.com

The movie also made me realize just how breathtakingly beautiful Indian women are. I’ve written about another Indian beauty, Padma, here. (She is coincidentally in this movie too.) But Aishwarya is one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen. Add to the fact that there was some culinary element involved and it made the movie otherwise watchable and enjoyable. 

aishwaryarai55ff_04_16001Image from http://photos-aishwaryarai2.blogspot.com/ 

aishwaryarai31Image from bollywoodmp3.110mb.com

aishwarya-rai-pic-020Image from www.bollygallery.com

Excerpts from the movie:

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The Last Dinner: Le Bernardin

Posted on Thursday. January 1, 2009 | 3 Comments

dscn1651With a culinary giant: Chef Eric Ripert

My last week in New York and I went all out, Degustation, Lupa, Daisy May’s BBQ, Peter Luger’s, Nathan’s, Tailor and on my last night in the city: the three Michelin-star Le Bernardin.

The hostess opened the door, “Good Evening, welcome to Le Bernar-daan.”

I felt exhilarated as I stepped into the fabled dining room of Chef Eric Ripert’s restaurant dedicated to seafood.

The exhilaration rose further when I asked the captain if it were possible for Chef Ripert to sign my Le Bernardin cookbook and he came back to say that the Chef would be out shortly.

I looked over the menu and ordered the Chef’s tasting menu for Mahnaz and myself. I looked at it again. I told the captain I would also like to add the Conch (which I have never eater and promptly mispronounced, It’s CONK) and the Surf and Turf, which in this rendition had Kobe beef and white tuna. I was intrigued by the “Korean BBQ style” and I wanted to see how such an elegant restaurant would pull it off, but also because I love white tuna. During the first few months when I moved to New York, living in a cell of a room at the Y in Flushing, I would pamper myself and splurge on an order of white tuna sushi from the sushi joint down the street. It was one of the small luxuries that kept me sane though the long commute, isolation from friends and living in a sketchy place. I had savored the buttery fish when I first moved to New York and it would be the last thing I tasted as I left.

Shortly after, Chef Ripert came out to talk to me and I think I heard the din of the dining room cease as New York’s elite wondered whom this young man was (or maybe I imagined.) Awed in his presence I managed to cobble an explanation that this was my last night in New York and if it were possible, to get a photo with him. He sincerely said that he was honored that I chose Le Bernardin for my last meal and led me to the kitchen where we had our photo taken. I was stuck by just how humble this great man was. Here was one of the best chefs, probably the greatest chef to deal with seafood, and he said he was honored that I chose his restaurant. Uhhh excuse me chef, but I’m honored that you’re even talking to me, hell I’m honored that I can just eat at your restaurant. Meeting him was a dream come true.

Although, I must have almost given him a heart attack after our photo and brief chat as I turned and headed for the door. Chef Ripert immediately pulled me back saying that was the wrong door (it was for coming in the kitchen) and that the right one (going out) was just beside it. A waiter had just come in as Chef Ripert pointed out the right egress route. I would have caused a pile up!

dscn1656Amuse (the pictures are posted in their served order)

I settled back to my table. The week had been a whirlwind of activity, packing and meeting friends. Each meet-up was emotionally draining, as I knew it would be a long time before I got to see my friends again. Tonight I shook a living legend’s hand and was riding the crest of elation. But as the amuse came out, I let the experience of eating at a restaurant enfold me. I felt calm and content as I focused on the food. 

dscn1657Fluke: White Soy-Yuzu Marinated Fluke; Seaweed and Spiced “Rice Crispies”

There is finesse and exotic elegance in the food at Le Bernardin. The pristine ingredients, exciting concepts and flawless execution of the kitchen made this one of my best eating experiences, second only to Per Se.

Every single ingredient seemed to sing, there was a depth and clarity of flavor.  An exquisite fluke, augmented with the subtle symphony of flavors from the white soy-yuzu marinate, caramel, salty and sour in harmony. The conch, my special request, had a briny sweetness and a slight crunch that made me very glad I had requested it. It was like hitting a three-pointer.

dscn1674Conch: Thinly Sliced Conch Marinated Peruvian Style; Dried Sweet Corn

dscn1682Conch: Side view

dscn16882Lobster: Warm Poached Lobster; Sweet Pea-Verbena Mousseline; Chilled Grapefruit Broth

dscn1707Calamari:  Sautéed Calamari Filled with Sweet Prawns and Wood Ear Mushrooms; Calamari Consommé

It’s impressive how the food in an establishment like Le Bernardin seems so exotically enticing; there were many global inflections on our menu. I was particularly taken with the stuffed calamari, which tasted almost like a wonton with its sweet prawn and mushroom filling, but with a small  calamari body as the wrapper. The consommé was so flavorful that I wanted to lift the plate to my lips and drink it to the last drop. I didn’t but I wanted to. Instead I agonized with my spoon as I tried to harvest every precious milliliter. 

dscn1713Wild Salmon: Barely Cooked Wild Alaskan Salmon; Snow Peas and Enoki Salad; Sweet Pea-Wasabi Sauce 

dscn1729Turbot: Wild Turbot; Shiso-Maitake Salad; Lemon-Miso Broth

The fish courses had me in awe of the skill of the cooks in the kitchen. Each morsel of seafood, coaxed with just the right amount of heat was cooked to perfection; inattention for twenty seconds would have ruined the delicate ingredients. The salmon was just lightly cooked so that its flesh was still silky. Turbot was tender and firm. The escolar was lush and rare, its buttery-ness contrasting with the saline snap of the sea beans.  

dscn1740Escolar: White Tuna Poached in Extra Virgin Olive Oil; Sea Beans and Potato Crisps; Light Red Wine Béarnaise

dscn1747Surf And Turf: White Tuna and Seared Japanese Kobe Beef “Korean BBQ Style”; Fresh Kimchi; Lemon Brown Butter Emulsion

My favorite dish of the night was the Surf and Turf. It was daring in concept, bold in flavor and exciting in ingredients. I surprised to see this humble Korean inspired dish here and surprised again to see it so elegantly reinterpreted. The Kobe and white tuna had a smoky char, that added a complexity to the two, and their inherently delicious buttery texture was brilliantly contrasted with kimchi and melded together with the lemon brown butter emulsion. 

dscn1757Closeup

Desserts at Le Bernardin are some of the best in the city. There was a smooth black sesame panna cotta that reminded me of the Chinese desserts of my childhood. And then there was “The Egg.”

dscn17611Plum: Roasted Black Plum, Black Sesame Panna Cotta, Cherry Granité, Soy Caramel

dscn1771“Egg”: Milk Chocolate Pot de Crème, Caramel Foam, Maple Syrup, Maldon Sea Salt

Pastry Chef Michael Laiskonis’ creation is a complex intertwining of flavors and layers of texture. If I had to pick one dessert for my last meal it would be this one. A pudding like milk chocolate pot de crème with caramel sauce, airy caramel foam and maple syrup enhanced with the barest crunch of Maldon sea salt. I remember once having indulged in some herb and looking for something to eat, sprinkled some Maldon sea salt on a piece of white bread slathered with Nutella. I was blown away by what the salt did to the chocolate. It enhanced the taste, but there was something more, it seemed to make the flavors dance. The Egg did just that, it danced. 

dscn1785Mignardises

dscn1774Mahnaz and I

dscn1793In every ending there is a beginning

Someone recently commented that I should start posting my Singapore material, enough of my New York stuff, which is more than a year old. Perhaps I do it to come to terms with my leaving of a city I’ve fallen in love with. It took me the longest time to complete this last post on the city. In my last few weeks in New York, I lived with the ardent desperation of someone spending the last few days with a lover. And I had some of the best times of my life. I was sad when I left, but it was tempered with the contentment of having lived, felt and eaten to the fullest.

Related Three Michelin Star Eating: Per Se part one and part two 

 

Le Bernardin

155 West 51st Street (Between 6th & 7th Avenue)

New York, New York 10019

(212) 554-1515

www.le-bernardin.com

Lunch from Noon to 2:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Monday to Thursday. Extended to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday.

Price Range:

Lunch Prix Fixe: $68, Dinner Prix Fixe: $109, Le Bernardin Tasting Menu: $135, Chef’s Tasting Menu: $185

Dress Code:

You’ll be dining with New York’s moneyed elite. You better suit up. 

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Made: Tailor

Posted on Saturday. December 13, 2008 | 2 Comments

Dear Becca:

How are you? It was great meeting up before I left. Remember that story I was going to tell you, but didn’t have time when I called from the airport. Well here it is.

It was a Monday, during my last week in New York. Actually the day before I met you at Lupa. I was out for dinner with a friend at Wesley Genovart’s Degustation. As I walked into the tiny restaurant, I was surprised to see a familiar but unexpected face. The hugely talented pastry chef, Pam, from Room 4 Dessert, which was closed, devastating, as it was one of my favorite places in the city.  She was a waitress. It was a waste of talent. But I was excited; I had so many questions for her. In between her harried service, (she was out of her element,) we chatted and caught up – Why Room 4 Dessert closed. What she was doing since, what Will Goldfarb was doing, and was it going to open again.

Pam added that she was starting a new job that Thursday, in the kitchen at Sam Mason’s highly anticipated Tailor. Sam Mason, the rock star pastry chef of WD50 fame was opening a new restaurant that would meld sweet and savory together. She said to check it out before I left New York. I wanted to, but I was tight on time.

I fitted it in. Saturday night. I was to meet a bunch of friends at Tailor for dessert and drinks. It was hard to find as there wasn’t any information on the website except for an address. There wasn’t even a phone number. The place was unmarked. I only ventured in after my initial reconnaissance before my friends arrived because I saw a pair of legs through the translucent frosted glass. I had guessed correctly. They were the hostess’s and they were great. I had found it. I was relieved. However I was informed that they had stopped serving food.

“Excuse me,” I said. There wasn’t anymore time. “But I’m leaving New York,” I pleaded.

“I’m sorry but until Sunday we stop serving at 9 p.m.,” she said sympathetically. “Would you like to make a reservation at 6:15 p.m. tomorrow,” she asked sweetly. I took it knowing full well I would be at Coney Island. I had never gone and it was on my list of must-sees before I left.

I was at the aquarium when I called to ask if I could delay dinner until 8:30 p.m., I could. So after the aquarium closed, I rushed down. Everyone in the restaurant was impeccably dressed. I had ketchup stains on my jeans (I was squirted on at Nathan’s.) I was in a T-shirt and flip-flops and I still had sand in my hair. But I figured that they had seen me dressed up the night before. We were seated and my dinner companion and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that dinner and drinks were free! 

dscn15941Butter, it was a perfect quenelle, but the knife was faster than the camera.

gazAmuse bouche of cantaloupe gazpacho with tarragon oil and pickled mung bean. The cup magically tilts!

Tailor was doing this as a way to thank their friends, fans and the lucky few that stumbled through those unmarked doors in Soho, as well as to work out any kinks. My free drink was atrocious, even for free alcohol. (Sorry Mr. Eben Freeman, to be fair I hate anything bubblegum flavored that isn’t gum. I don’t know why I chose the bubble gum drink.) The food however, was original and well executed. There was a buttery char poached and balanced with passion fruit. The most exciting dish I had this year (Note: 2007. I wrote this letter last year) was Mason’s miso butterscotch pork belly. Succulent slow cooked pork belly combined with two seemingly dis-seperate elements: the miso and butterscotch. Never have I tasted anything that melded, complemented and amplified like those two together. The synergy of the ingredients was amazing. I was in awe. 

dscn15971Passion Fruit Poached Char, Lime Pickle, Coconut

dscn1604Pork Belly, Miso Butterscotch, Artichoke

One of the reasons for wanting to go to Tailor was to re-experience the avant-garde desserts of Room 4 Dessert. But desserts at Tailor, while avant-garde are different from Will Goldfarb’s creations. I have to admit I was a little disappointed. They were good, but I wanted something else. I wanted to experience my favorite place in New York again. I don’t think any restaurant or pastry chef could have measured up. 

dscn1606Lemon Curd, Blackberry, Thai Basil Meringue

dscn1618Black Mission Fig, Bay Leaf, Chufa Ice Cream

As I was eating, I noticed a striking lady at the table beside me. Then I realized that she was eating alone. No one that cute should eat alone in the city. Low and behold after finishing her dish she took out a pen and pad and started writing. aahhhh….

Who was she writing for?

“Are you a food writer,” I politely gushed.

“Because I am such a food groupie,” (internal voice of course.)

She answers in halting English.

“Yes.” A French accent.

“Très Sexy,” (again internal voice with a French accent.)

We start talking about this place, the food we ordered or should have ordered, the city and food.

Omaima, the French food writer leaves for a second.

My dinner date is by this time furious.

“But the poor girl is eating alone,” I try to appeal.

She’s having none of it.

“Hey I tried to get you into the conversation,” I reasoned.

I’m still in the doghouse. Although I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.

Omaima comes back. We talk about food again. She says that her publication has flown her out from Paris to cover some restaurant openings. Then she asks…

Pause for effect…

If I would want to write for them!!! To be sort of a New York correspondent for them!

I am only too delighted. Holy fucking crap! My dream job.

Oh wait I’m leaving New York.

dscn16201Yellow Cherry Tomato Jellies

dscn1626Pamela Yung

dscn1625Chef Sam Mason

 

Tailor

525 Broome Street (Between Thompson St. & 6th Avenue)

New York, New York 10013

(212) 334-5182

www.tailornyc.com

Price Range:

It was free when I went. Check their website for the menu and price. 

Dress Code:

Like it’s namesake, the staff at Tailor is superbly dressed and it’s Soho address almost guarantees that everyone else in the place will be looking good. That said I went wearing ketchup splattered jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops. 

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