35 East 18th Street – Union Square
http://www.jean-georges.com/
Sustainable, Local foods, Notable Chef, Fine Dining

12/25/2012

We’ve now been to ABC Kitchen on four occasions and really find it to be one of our favorite restaurants in NYC.  From the ABC sustainable vibe to the perfection of the food and cocktails, Jean Georges can do no wrong with this spot.  We had Thanksgiving last year and this time we decided to ramp it up and go for Christmas dinner.  We were on a run of dining out and had some pretty impressive meals, but we knew we’d end the season with the best.  We appreciated greatly that they didn’t do a prix fixe meal.  We were able to select items from the menu we hadn’t yet tried as well as a few past favorites.

Since the lighting is too low, I was only able to take a few Instagrams of our tiny little radish plate, our tiny little centerpiece (on our tiny little table) and our dessert.  They started us off with the radishes…

We ordered a favorite from last Thanksgiving , which was the Peekytoe Crab Toast.  Steve chose the raw scallops and I had a kale salad only because I’d had 2 bad ones in the past week and was still craving the right one.  We also ordered the mashed potatoes as a side, which we remembered from Thanksgiving.  So many places overlook perfectly pureed creamy mashed potatoes.  For instance, it would have done Veselka a world of good to include them in their Christmas Eve dinner with the stuffed cabbage!  We both went for it by ordering the suckling pig and the Maine lobster.  Both were incredible.  My lobster was grilled.  I love lobster any which way and I’m one of those folks who tears apart every inch of a shellfish.  It makes me very happy.  Perfect Christmas.

Crab Toast with lemon aioli.			15.00

Raw Diver Scallops market grapes and lemon verbena.			16.00

Kale Salad with lemon, serranos and mint.			14.00

Roast Suckling Pig braised turnips, plum and smoked bacon marmalade.			34.00

Wood Oven Roasted Maine Lobster oregano and lemon-chili vinaigrette.			39.00

Mashed Potatoes with sea salt.			6.00

Red Wine Poached Pears housemade gianduja ganache, hezelnut ice cream.			10.00

We ended with lovely after dinner drinks.  Steve had Nonino Amaro for the 3rd time this holiday season and I tried a glass of the TerraBella Port Wine.  Perfect ending to a perfect holiday season.  We’ll return, I think next time for lunch!

11/30/2011

Since we liked Jean Georges’ ABC Kitchen so much the first time, we entrusted them with a Thanksgiving meal. That’s always a challenge. We thought back over the years…A Voce, Bouley, Paris Commune, our own home cooked meals. Of course you can never beat the home cooking, but the next best thing is a great restaurant.

Turkey Day Prix Fixe – $78/person
Cauliflower Soup w/Rye Croutons and Rupert Cheese
Peekytoe Crab ‘Toast’ w/Lemon Aioli
Roast Turkey w/Mushroom & Chestnut Filling, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Cranberry Sauce and Whipped Potatoes
Apple Pie w/Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce
Pumpkin Spice Cake w/Maple Cream Cheese Buttercream and Pumpkin Ice Cream
Fresh Concord Grape Juice ‘Mimosa’

The crab toast was out of this world. There was enough crab in this appetizer for a table of 4 to share. Too bad we didn’t anticipate the huge platter of food that was on the way. The turkey was two giant thick slabs of white meat and seared dark meat with crispy skin. The dark meat presentation was nothing I’ve ever seen before. They lumped loose dark meat together, laid it on a wide strip of skin and seared it until crispy. Wow. The absolutely amazing, as were all of the sides. Even the mashed potatoes were perfection.  A perfect puree of buttery, creamy potatoes. The cranberry conserve had a nice vinegar finish, which complimented all of the sides. By the time dessert arrived, we really couldn’t eat another bite, however, the Maple Cream Cheese Buttercream frosting was irresistible, especially with house made pumpkin ice cream. Even the traditional apple pie with homemade french vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce deserved attention. We finished with killer Champagne cocktails with fresh squeezed Concord Grape juice.

The food and alcohol-induced coma has set in. Time for the couch. Happy Thanksgiving!

3/9/2011

Located in the former Chicama and Lucy spaces, this place is a real looker. The interior is tastefully done in sustainable materials. The lighting fixtures, reclaimed wood and artwork are all in the spirit of ABC. The handmade porcelain dinnerware was particularly lovely…all organic shapes in pure white. Love it. And there is a rather large bar area that looks like a good spot for a cocktail and ‘Market Table’ munchies after a day of shopping or post-work.

Overall, our experience was excellent. The food was nicely done and some of the portions were quite large. We started with a cocktail and Steve got nailed with the Stoli ‘Elite’ again. This time it was $14 instead of the $16 tag at Travertine. And I might at the drink was more generous and well made. I tried a specialty cocktail called the Vodka Thyme Lemonade.

Mmmm…absolutely delicious. It tasted like fresh squeezed lemon and thyme without a hint of alcohol. Perfect for a hot summer day recipe, me thinks! I followed with a nice burgundy at $15 (again a nice price vs. last week’s $22 at Travertine) and Steve had a Rare Vos at the fair price of $6 vs $9 last week for a Peroni. Ok, I will stop slamming Travertine now!

We began our meal with ‘Market Table’ Selections which we thought would be served prior to our appetizers. Unfortunately, this was our only disappointment with this meal. Our shared plates arrived with our apps and we wound up with a table full of food all at once. It would have been nice to have a flow of food. After that, we waited for a good 20 minutes for the entree. Had they done it one at a time it would have been perfect.

My favorite appetizer was the raw Maine sweet shrimp with a dusting of raw horseradish.  It looks gross in the picture, but it was quite interesting.

We both had pasta, Steve the kasha & bowtie with veal meatballs and I had a special with morel mushrooms.