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THE NYC RESTAURANT WEEK winter 2016 is near!
May everyone have a delicious year!!
Food & Pixels Posts
Ever since the New Whitney museum opened next to the High Line park in May 2015, we were excited to pay a visit to the museum’s ground floor restaurant by Danny Meyer, Untitled. Whitney is the second museum to choose Danny Meyer’s operation, the first one is Modern at MOMA, which we love heartedly! We came close once, when we dined at Santina, we got a sneak peak at the “glass box” restaurant, but it took us half a year to circle back in.
The Renzo Piano-designed Whitney Museum is a contemporary building with an industrial character. It’s asymmetrical ground floor entrance created a convenient tucked away space for the restaurant. It’s floor to ceiling glass exterior put the restaurant in full display for every patrons and museum goers that pass by, and vice versa. The cement floor on the street transition to bluestone in the restaurant. During warm season, when out-door dinning is appropriated, it makes outdoor/ indoor dining seamless. The large doom overheard lamp and the “EAT” light box above the bar makes this clean-line design restaurant ties in well with the museum and eye pleasing. But, there’s always a but.
No offense to Mr. Renzo Piano, we can called this museum restaurant very cleverly designed, or, it was an afterthought. The space is already there, let’s put up glass panel to block the perimeter and call it a day. And once we settled down, we felt that this minimalism could use some touch up. First, those cute little red chairs are very uncomfortable. It sits too low for the “sleek” wood furnish table. Stone floor makes rainy days messy and slippery. Glassware feels like cheap plastic. And the bathroom, I’ll only say that the bathroom at ikea feels expensive to this one.
I have to say, I was a little more agitated than usual on the night we visited Untitled, and those chairs really didn’t help. Also, our service was slow. Yes, it took me more than a minute to decided what I want from the underwhelming cocktail list, but our server didn’t make his way back until 20 minutes later. The bread basket, didn’t make it’s landing until moments before our appetizers arrived.
While the wine list looks extensive, the cocktail list is limited and needs work. There were only 5 selection, all were less than inviting. The night’s special was a French red, which was nice. When we finally got our bread, the butter that came with it was tasteless. I know I sound very bitter at this point, but all is not lost, thanks to the appetizers, because they are amazing.
The menu by Michael Anthony (of Gramercy Tavern) is divided into 4 sections with no section labels. I suppose I can call them snacks, appetizers, vegetables, and entrees. Each have 5 selections, and there were 6 desserts to pick at.
Beef tartare, chestnut, delicata squash
Cured fluke, carrot, preserved lime
Carolina rice fritters, chicken liver, pickled carrots
We very much enjoyed the very creamy beef tartare. The squash and those crunchy crumbles make great contrast texture for the dish. So remember I said the butter was tasteless? Well, forget butter, we found ourselves dipping the bread in the carrot- lime sauce from the cured fluke. Fluke, while it’s sweet and fresh by itself, became a perfect carrier for this mouth watering sauce. The round fritters are dense yet moist, and packs a little heat, though I have no idea where the chicken liver went. And look at these colors, they are undeniably beautiful.
So entrees… we were struggling to choose. We narrowed down to maybe the black bass and/or monkfish, so we asked for suggestion. Our waiter suggested that we split the chicken. He said the menu changes very frequently, but the chicken remain the best seller, and it would be enough for the two of us. Despilte our doubt, we trusted him, and he was right about the portion. The chicken 2 ways was already splited up before it made its way to our table. By the look of it, each plate could have been by itself. The roasted chicken was very moist, and tender. But the fried chicken was … while it’s very crunchy, and not oil dipping. It was… dry. Almost like it’s got suck out of all it’s air, and became waterless, lifeless crispy, jerky meat. And the vegetables bed was salty, way way too salty. So salty that we couldn’t bare more than one bite. What a disappointment! With this so highly praised dish. And what happen with the beautiful color we saw from the appetizers?
Roasted and fried chicken, kale, radicchio
At this point, we are an hour and half into our dinner. Our backs and bottoms were starting to hurt, and the entree is not making up for the uncomfortableness. We were going to skip on dessert, especially when the strawberry-ricotta pound cake which was highly recommended by Adam Platt is not even on the list, we opted for the Triple chocolate chunk cookie, which, has been buzzing on the internet.
The triple layer cookie came with a tiny mason jar of milk. Cookie was very soft. Crumbles layered with melting chocolate. It sounds very sweets, but thanks to the added salt, it finds its balance. It is a very good cookie, but we definetly have had better elsewhere. And that mason jar… are we suppose to dip the cookie? Jar mouth is not wide enough… hmmm.
Untitled | 99 Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District | Dec, 2015
Thanks to El Nino, our December has been uncharacteristically warm. We took advantage of the delayed winter and went to By Chloe for a quick lunch. Antiques little blue lamp with old fashion black and white strip awning. Swing chairs in the front. How adorable is that!
And evidently, everyone were thinking the same thing. We arrived around 1:30pm. The line was out the door. There’s a long commute table crowed by young professional re are a handful of little coffee tables along the wall and by the window. But by the look of it, we were no hope in getting a seat. Luckily, table turn around time was quite quick at this semi-self-serve place. Interestingly, nearly every patrons are women. Does that have anything to do with this being a vegan/ vegetarian place?!
By Chloe, opened earlier this summer by a Californian- Chloe, who won an episode on “Cupcake Wars” without using eggs, milk or butter, is of course a vegan. But the successful part of the vegetarian restaurant is, you don’t care there’s no meat in it. I always have doubt in vegetarian food. I know it is a misconception but I always think I would still be hungry after I ate, and/or it would be just salad. I’m not a fan of salad. At By Chloe, there are burgers, so we gave it a try.
On the way to the register, there is a refrigerator that “showcased” fresh cold beverages: squeeze juices $9.50 a bottle? , meanwhile, a whole coconut is only $4.50.?
So they blew Strumptown coffee here too…. Slow drip. But half n half is extra…. it’s made of cashew and almond cream blend, $1.50 extra.
After order, we were handed a round device, very much like the one you get at Olive Garden, Outback or Panera bread. “It might take a while” I told my friend. I was watching other people’s order. There’s this girl sitting at the long commute table. She had been there and got the device before we walked in the door. But by the time we ordered our food and sat down, her device still haven’t buzz. It had been a good 20 minutes.
WHISKEY BBQ $10.95
smoky portobello mushrooms & seitan, suteed kale, onion marmalade, grilled pineapple, bourbon bbq, potato bun
THE GUAC BURGER $9.95
black bean-quinoa sweet potato patty, corn salsa, onion, guac, tortilla strips, chipotle aioli, whole grain bun
Our order took about 25 minutes. I had the whiskey bbq which has portobello mushroom and grilled pineapple. It was good, but a bit too sweet on the bourbon bbq sauce. Plenty of mushroom, very “meaty”. For $10, I’m quite satisfied. The side condiment are extremely delicious as well. Love the beet ketchup and especially the chipotle aioli. They should think about selling it by the can. Although my burger didn’t need extra sauce, I found myself keep putting chipotle sauce on the bun.
My friend had the Guac burger and some sweet potato fries, but the air-baked fries are soggy?. I guess that’s why the beets ketchup is so good.
(Dec, 2015)
It has been a little over 2 years since Cagen opened at the old Kajitsu’s location in East Village. It remains a neighborhood hidden gem until this year’s Michelin list revealed. Cagen is run by Chef Toshio Tomita, who was the corporate managing chef for Nobu. At Cagen, the Tokyo born chef got his first star under his name. This newly found “stardom” has yet fill seats, I didn’t have any trouble getting a reservation. But at Cagen, keeping a reservation is the key! We were told that the cancellation policy is 72 hours prior because all the fished are ordered and flown in from Japan. Diner would be charged full price if reservation is a no show. Moreover, we need to inform Cagen which one of the two Omakase we would be having, so the most premium freshest ingredients would be prepared diners.
On the night we were there, there are very few staffs at sight. Only Chef Tomita, sous chef and two other staffs. We arrived almost 40 minutes late at the semi-basement level restaurant on a quiet evening. The staffs were very patient and accommodating. The only other party at Cagen had already sat in front of Chef Tomita, and began their course. Since we were late, we can’t be chooser. We sat on the other end of the 10 seats counter sushi bar. The space is zen… actually almost the same as the old Kajitsu. Take a closer look, we found Totoro everywhere. That might be the only thing that Chef Tomita had done to this place in terms of deco. Fan of Hayao Miyazaki? Me too!!
Dassai sake flight is only $35. No brainer!!!
Chawanmushi with radish and squash
We started our Omakase with chawanmushi. A couple dices of winter squash in it. Perfect! Simple but to the point. And the simpleness really bring out the freshness of the ingredient. Not that those chawanmushi with truffle and uni are not good, but sometimes it clouded the dish, and made it far too complicated. Sometimes, less is more.
Before us is a slab of fine polished wood which Sushi and ginger were presented on. Ginger, such a simple thing, a common thing to overlook at sushi places. Here at Cagen, they take it seriously. To our surprise, there were 2 kinds of pickled ginger. I absolutely love the thick cut! So fresh, and so perfectly balanced!
Also look at the wasabi, still hydrogenating in water, keeping it fresh!
Since we were told fishes were flown in from Japan and it’s hash cancellation policy, we were excited for what were about to have. And let me just say this first, the varieties of fish did not disappointed. Some of the names, we have not even heard before. Here it is, piece by piece.
Hadai (Japanese snapper) with Yuzu, sea salt and a drop of plum paste sauce.
The combination is genius! The balance with sour, sweet, and salty paying a little wake up call to our taste bud, and it brought out the sweetness of Hadai without overpowering it.
Hirame (Japanese fluke) with ponzu and jalapeño
White fish usually tend to be a bit blend, but Hirame is in season.? Hirame is thinly sliced but double stacked. It enhanced the texture, almost crunchy.
Akayagara (cornet fish)
Very sweet and tender???
Tsumuburi (Rainbow runner)
A member of the yellowtail family. Much like Amberjacks, it’s soft and fatty. This one with a drop of honey mustard. So tender and buttery. Almost like Toro.
Menuke (Japanese red perch) aka Red Rockfish.
The fish looks a lot like Kinmedai, texture is similar too. Menuke is a deep sea, winter fish. Fatty, and extremely tender. The Menuke here at Cagen was smoked. Adding very unique smoky favor. Love it!!!
Japanese octopus With a drop of yuzu
Nodoguro (blackthroat sea perch) with a hint of smoky flavor ??
Japanese butterfish
Crisp, fatty
Mahegari
A very rare silver skin small fish in Japanese deep sea and it is in season. Smoky, tender, and buttery???? I think I’m in love
Kumamoto oyster with sea salt and couple drops of yuzu. Just beautiful.
Smoked squid with yuzu garlic oil
Squid was marinated and lightly warmed to add texture. It is… al dente. ??
Tachiuo (Belt-fish)
From the family of hair-tail fish. Usually it is slightly cooked. This one was smoked, and it added a great aroma and flavor to this already rich piece.
Matsusaka beef
This gorgeous cut is lightly grilled. Chef also used a paper to gently absorb the extra oil, and added with sea salt and house-made crispy chilli pepper. OMG!!! could be the best chili sauce we have had. The crispness and the tenderness of the beef make the perfect couple.
Toro
Look at this beauty, need I say more?!
Chu Toro
Chu toro was marinated for 5 min and serve on a square cut of nori. We were told the nori was made with a special kind of salt.
Hokkaido uni
Up until this point, we were petty happy with our dinner. Sushi are fresh, unique, preparations are excellent. It is certainly worth that one Michelin star. But it was until Uni is served…
Hokkaido uni is served with nori. Nori was very crispy, enough to hear the cracking when chef was folding it. But the rice was a bit too warm and the moisture of it soften the crunch before it hits out mouth. And that is a big square of nori, in my book, too big for this. First bite, I could only got nori. When I finally got to the uni, nori was too strong, it overpowered uni. I must be kidding right? We are talking about uni. The rich, distinguish, velvety goodness got overpower by seaweed?! But have a look at it. One single tiny little scoop of uni atop a chunk of rice with oversize nori. Call me greedy, but I don’t think Hokkaido uni is that expensive that we can only afford this pathetic little one. And what bothered me the most is, when chef was making the uni sushi, he clearly put more uni on one of the pieces at first, but when he realized the portion of our pieces are uneven. He went and took out uni from that one that was slightly bigger. Well, chef, we were sitting right there at the sushi counter in front of you. Action is in full display here. …
Eel “sandwich”
There is a piece of foie gras wrapped inside the eel. Rich x Rich!!!.
Fatty tuna and Japanese pickles hand roll
The fatty tuna was a bit cold, and the rice was a bit warm. One thing I noticed was, the sushi rice here at Cagen are mixed in small portion. During our dinner, Chef had made 3 different bundle of rice. So temperature, and sweetness varies. For this hand roll, it was a bit too warm.
Tomago
This might be the first time I had Tomago wrapped in nori and with wasabi, and it works. The Tomago itself is very good. A different texture than the one from Nakasawa or 15 East. This is more custard-like, while the other are more sponge cake-like. Also, the Tomago was given a creme brulee treatment. It was layered with powdered sugar and torched 3 times. And I do like the wasabi with it.
So, as it turns out, sushi Omakase is not only sushi. Is it a bonus, or is it an attempt to fill us up. Either way, I am glad I had the house-made soba .
The broth was great! Rich but clear. Very comforting. The duck was good, and the scallion was even better. Soba is house-made fresh by Chef Tomita himself from hand-ground wheat. Excellent texture. Better than a lot of soba places in town.
Yuzu sorbet
There were two choices of dessert, green tea ice cream or yuzu sorbet. Of course, the always refreshing yuzu sorbet. Yuzu sorbet is served with pomegranate mandarin grape Asia pear and grape and olive oil. That’s right! Not olive oil sorbet, but actually pouring olive oil over yuzu sorbet. It was amazing. The olive oil helps make the sorbet creamy and gives it a smooth texture. I could have a bucket of this.
(Dec, 2015)