Le Bernardin (***) New York City

Tasting menu at Le Bernardin with some a la carte additions. I’ve been eating at Le Bernardin for years and I feel like their menu is the best it’s ever been. Many high quality memorable dishes.

On this night Eric Ripert was chatting with one table, and the Zagats were dining with a judge at another table. Here’s the thing. NYC 2/3 Michelin starred restaurants have real regulars. People who go once a month or more. As such it is going to be a different experience from the type where reservations are booked up months in advance and people have to travel far and wide to get there. The service will be excellent, but they’re not going to make everyone feel just as “special”.

The tuna-urchin is the first course of the tasting and truly wonderful. When Le Bernardin uses beef in their seafood dishes it is usually spot on. In this case the sauce is a beef consomme.

The scallop caviar is also memorable for its excellent temperature and texture control. The scallop is the star but the caviar does not feel superfluous.

We added the langoustine a la carte because they always cook the langoustine perfectly. This newest prep is phenomenal with light but noticeable flavors that just meld with the buttery langoustine. Outshines the lobster course by a mile.

The dover sole is excellent as always and manages to be just different from boring classical preps without straying too far on flavor profile.

We also added the hiramasa a la carte because I think it’s the best entree they have besides the dover sole. Both the excellent cook and rich sauce and accompaniment give it a real meaty feel.

The green apple was excellent as a palate cleanser first dessert, but the baba au whiskey that was on the vegetarian menu was significantly better than the citrus Madeleine of the tasting menu. It just was a more satisfying end to the meal. I’d recommend getting that substituted if possible.

by reddit_hw