Tasting Menu Only-Take it or Leave it

“We only offer a tasting menu now”. The server at my neighborhood bistro informed me of the change when I tried to make a reservation for a family dinner. Half a year ago, restaurant Naked used to be a place where my family of three generations would gather for Sunday dinner. We would eat there around once every two months. Usually the six of us would order a few appetizers to share and then have different main courses individually, such as seafood pasta, lamb chops and beef Rossini. Occasionally we would end the meal with a couple of desserts. The food at the restaurant was simple, at times creative, and well made. The prices were not cheap but reasonable. Now, the restaurant only offers a five-course lunch tasting menu for NT$1,280 and a nine-course tasting menu for $1,980. The pricing is still sensible. But since the inception of the tasting menu-only format, I have not been back to the restaurant. 

The French restaurant Chou Chou in my neighborhood was billed as a modern brasserie when it opened in 2016. Operated by the Michelin-star chef Lam Ming Kin, the restaurant offered prix-fixe menus for lunch (three-course) and dinner (four-course). The food was excellent and moderately priced. Occasionally I would take my wife and two daughters to Chou Chou for a nice lunch on the weekend. My girls would always start with a French onion soup, follow by a steak, and end with a soufflé. My wife and I were more adventurous and chose a variety of different dishes for our visits. In late 2021 the restaurant closed temporarily to retool the concept. Two months later, Chou Chou reopened as a tasting menu-only restaurant. Currently, lunch is a six-course tasting menu priced at NT$2,880 and dinner is nine-course at NT$3,880. I have been back once to try the new format with a friend, but my family has not, and probably will not. 

There are many reasons for not going to Naked and Chou Chou anymore. The restaurants are no longer suited for my family. My kids and parents simply cannot and don’t want to eat that many courses for lunch or dinner. They like to choose the dishes they want to eat instead of being dictated to by the chef. I also don’t want to spend that much money every time I go. Furthermore, the tasting menus at the restaurants don’t change for the season, and I certainly don’t want to eat the same dishes every month; the restaurants are not for regulars. Perhaps the change to tasting menu-only is good for the chefs and their businesses, but not necessarily for the diners. 

In the February, 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, Corby Kummer wrote an article titled “Tyranny–It’s What’s for Dinner”. Kummer criticized the endless multi-course meals at some of the best restaurants in the U.S., where the diners have no say over what he or she would eat. Instead of caring for the diners, the restaurants demand total reverence to the chefs’ creations. Kummer attributed this phenomenon mainly to two chefs, Charlie Trotter and Thomas Keller. While Kummer came across as a jaded diner, I agreed with some of his points of view. However, Kummer was writing about a very small sampling of restaurants and they were some of the most expensive and prestigious restaurants in the world: French Laundry, Per Se, Eleven Madison, Alinea, Noma, and the now closed Charlie Trotter. 

Most of the diners in these restaurants are local residents with special occasions to celebrate or tourists. They want to experience the creations of the world’s most talented chefs, who have ambitions to change the future of food. Eating at these three-Michelin star restaurants is akin to going to the Museum of Modern Art to see the works by Jasper Johns and Richard Serra. And if a person has the financial means to be a regular, these chefs are happy to customize the menu. Keller actually changes his menu everyday at the French Laundry and Per Se. Regular customers at Charlie Trotter never got the same meal twice since Trotter made it a point never to repeat a dish. Therefore, when I read the article at that time, the idea of tyranny didn’t register strongly with me. 

Little did I know that eight years later the idea of tasting menu-only restaurant is not only ubiquitous among the above average Western and Japanese restaurants in Taipei, it is gaining traction among mid-range restaurants. While the chefs in Taipei are good and talented they are not in the same league as Grant Achatz, Daniel Humm, or René Redzepi. The main reason chefs in Taipei offer tasting menu-only is not to express their artistic and culinary ambitions, nor the diners’ wish to experience the chefs’ geniuses, rather it is economics. 

In contrast to à la carte, a single tasting menu for all the diners is easier for the restaurants to control cost. Together with a strict reservation policy such as charging a deposit when booking a seat, the restaurants know exactly how many of each dish needs to be made. There is less prep work and less waste. Besides the savings on food cost, the restaurants also save time and money on training the staff. In the current environment where good cooks are hard to find, one tasting menu means only a finite number of dishes needs to be mastered. Given that some of the dishes on the tasting menu are often cold, they can be made far in advance. And since the same dishes are served to everyone in the same sequence, it is easier for the kitchen to assemble the dishes during service. All these factors allow the chefs to better control the quality of the food. And unlike the French Laundry where the menu is slightly different everyday, the tasting menus in Taipei stay the same for months. The chef doesn’t have to go to the market every morning to see what’s fresh and then go back to the kitchen to develop new dishes à la minute. 

The tasting menu-only format is also easier for the front of house staff. Instead of setting the table for different dishes for each diners, everything is the same. The servers also just need to memorize a script to explain the dishes to the diners without any spontaneity. Maybe one day the restaurants just need robots to deliver the food from the kitchen to the table. The work of the sommelier for wine pairing is also simpler. There’s no need to open different bottles to pair with the different dishes of the diners at the same time. There is also no need to ask the diners what they like to drink. All the choices are made already and good for at least three months. And if a diner doesn’t like the pairing, that’s the diner’s problem. 

Tasting menu-only also guarantees a minimum amount of expenditures by the diners. The restaurants don’t need to be concerned if a table of four is only going to order two appetizers to share to start and skip the desserts at the end. Everyone is charged the same amount independent of the diner’s real desire. Since most restaurants in Taipei cannot rely on diners to spend money on wine, the tasting menu and wine pairing provide more stability with the revenue. 

Tasting menu is also easier for publicity purposes. The restaurant conjures up some concepts for the tasting menu which get regurgitated across the traditional and social media. The release of a new set of dishes becomes an event to be experienced by the diners. It is much harder to market if the restaurant just has a few new dishes a month or a different menu everyday. Going to these tasting menu-only restaurants and eating the chefs’ creations is now similar to going to fashion shows every season. If one hangs around with the so-called foodies in Taipei, one would hear questions such as, “Have you tried this season’s menu at RAW or Logy?” In a city where FOMO (fear of missing out) is prevalent and hipsters spend more money on experience for Instagram than goods, the tasting menus at the hard-to-book restaurants have become the new proxy for lifestyle. 

Another reason for the ubiquity of the tasting menu-only format is the Michelin Guide. There seems to be a conception that Michelin likes tasting menu. In 2019 when I was having lunch at Jean Georges in New York City, I was told the restaurant would soon change the format to tasting menu. One of the reasons was the restaurant hoped to regain its third Michelin star. I was disappointed to hear the news. At lunchtime, a diner used to be able to order à la carte with just a minimum of two dishes. The excellent food, great service, and flexibility with the menu made Jean Georges my favorite place to lunch in New York City.

The Michelin Guide arrived in Taipei in 2018. The effect of the Guide on the dining scene is enormous. Now instead of cooking for the average diners, chefs are cooking for the Michelin Guide inspectors. Getting a Michelin star not only ensures an increase in business, it also puts the starred chef on the international circuit and press. Currently in Taipei there are 29 starred restaurants in the Taipei 2022 Michelin Guide. 16 restaurants are tasting menu-only (Longtail serves a different à la carte menu after 9pm). Of the other 13 restaurants with à la carte, nine are Chinese/Taiwanese restaurants and three are steakhouse/grill (Danny's Steakhouse, A Cut, Da Wan). Only one gourmet Western restaurant, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, offers both à la carte and tasting menus. 

Why do Chinese restaurants always have à la carte? Because the local diners don’t expect anything less. In fact, if I walk into a Chinese restaurant where there is just one tasting menu, I would think the chef has very limited skills and cannot manage a large brigade. A tasting menu is usually reserved for banquets (often lousy in quality) at weddings or mass gatherings. No self-respecting Chinese foodie will order a tasting menu at a Chinese restaurant. Ordering dishes involves consultation with the maitre d'hotel on what’s good for the day and the occasion. Ordering for the table is an art and shows the sophistication of the diner. 

One would think that since the Chinese food is shared while Western cuisine is not, that the tasting menu would be more prevalent in the West. In fact the European restaurants don’t just have tasting menus either. Look at the Italians. Many of the three-Michelin star restaurants in Italy, Osteria Francescana, La Pergola, Le Calandre, Enoteca Pinchiorri, all have à la carte in addition to tasting menus. Italy’s most famous chef Massimo Bottura can easily switch to a tasting menu-only format at his restaurant in Modena and people would still be flocking to his restaurant. 

Diners in Taipei spend more money with tasting menu at Western restaurants than at comparable Chinese restaurants. However, they are not getting a luxury product. Tasting menu is not bespoke, rather it is assembly line cuisine. The restaurant doesn’t really care what the diners want to eat. If the diners don’t like the dish, it is the diner’s problem, not the chef. 

When I first went to Taïrroir, it didn’t have any Michelin star. The restaurant is tasting menu-only and one of the dishes (the chef’s signature) has taro. I don’t like taro and when I asked if the chef could substitute the ingredient, the answer was no. The substitution of an ingredient was perhaps too troublesome for the kitchen. Or maybe the chef thought I wanted to mess up his masterpiece. Either way, clearly the chef didn’t care about the preference of the diner. The server didn’t offer an alternative dish either. Take it or leave it. I haven’t been back to Taïrroir ever since. Now with two Michelin stars the kitchen probably care even less about the customers. 

Eating a tasting menu in restaurants in Taipei reminds me of buying music on cassette tapes in the 80’s. Too often an artist (Bobby McFerrin) or group (A-Ha) would release one great song. But in order to get that song, one has to buy the entire album. Besides the one great hit, the rest of the album are full of lackluster songs. Skipping to the one great song on a tape machine is not as easy as on a CD player. Many tasting menus at restaurants are similar. Only a fraction of the dishes on the menu are really good, the rest are not fully thought out and are just there to pad the bill. While the music industry is moving away from the idea of an album and giving some of the purchasing power back to the consumer, the restaurant industry in Taipei seems to be just the opposite. 

Another problem with tasting menu in Taipei is many chefs simply have very limited skills and imaginations. They don’t have the discipline and creativity of someone like Thomas Keller. At Keller’s French Laundry and Per Se, no single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal. If the restaurant doesn’t allow me to choose a balanced meal, I expect the restaurant to give variety in dishes and not have repetition. A few months ago I had dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Watanabe, and the chef served uni with three different courses. The chef could not make dish without uni. How about just make a shorter menu and charge less money? 

In general I like tasting menu when the kitchen is helmed by a highly skilled chef with a strong point of view about food and sequence. And sometimes the best thing to hear from a server is “the Chef would like to cook for you”. But very few restaurants in Taipei are at the level where I can simply trust the chef to make a great meal. 

Given the economics of the Western restaurants in Taipei, I know I cannot expect to see a menu like the one at the three Michelin-star Le Bernardin in New York City: a four course prix fixe dinner with multiple choices for each course, an eight-course chef’s tasting menu, and an eight-course vegetarian menu. Besides the formal dining room, Le Bernardin even offers a separate lounge menu. 

Perhaps we should look to the French chefs as the model. Many high end restaurants in France offer a very limited menu. But they almost always offer the diners a choice. At Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV in Monte Carlo the menu changes with the seasons and there are around five starters, seven main courses, cheeses, and five desserts. Diners can also select the Gourmet menu which has three dishes at half portions, cheeses, and desserts selected by the Chef. A similar format is at the hottest new restaurant in Paris, Jean Imbert at Plaza Athénée. On the menu of this media-savvy chef, there are five starters, six main courses, cheeses, and six desserts. If the diners wish to taste more dishes there is the option of Le Menu de Jean with three half portion dishes, cheese, and dessert. The dishes in the tasting menu consist of items in the à la carte, just in half portions. This way, the scope of work for the kitchen is limited while also giving the diners some options. 

During the Covid pandemic the three Michelin-star chef Yannick Alleno of Pavillon Ledoyen published a new book, "Tout doit changer!" (Everything must change), that serves as his manifesto for post-Covid haute cuisine. Instead of having a fixed menu he proposed to speak with diners a few days before the meal to discuss their preferences and budgets. Alleno said, “We can no longer impose a menu on the guests”. This is the exact opposite of the current trend of tasting-menu only at the restaurants in Taipei, where food comes off an assembly line with no regard for the diners’ desires. Alleno in Paris is moving towards a bespoke menu as the future of cuisine. Will Taipei follow?

Mini Madeleines

The dinners at Restaurant Daniel in New York City always end with some mini madeleines. Fresh out of the oven they are such a delight. While I may not remember some of the dishes I ate at Daniel, the mini madeleines are etched in my memory. These little cakes are pure delights. Even when I was full after eating all the courses, I could always still devour several mini madeleines. 

Since I cannot travel to New York City anytime soon I decide to make the mini madeleines myself at home. The recipe for the madeleines is in the book, Chef Daniel Boulud, published by Assouline in 2002. However I prefer to use the recipe by Dominique Ansel in his first book, Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, published by Simon & Schuster in October 2014. The reasons are Ansel’s recipe is more detailed and the quantity of ingredients are given in grams instead of volumes (tablespoons and teaspoons). Furthermore Boulud’s recipe is probably not the one used at the restaurant. For instance, the recipe calls for the mixed batter to be rested for just one hour. Typically a batter with baking powder benefits from resting overnight. 

Ansel was the pastry chef at Restaurant Daniel from 2006 to 2011. He once said, “I had eight items on the dessert menu when I was at Daniel, and do you know what people remember the most? The madeleines at the end of the meal. People couldn’t get enough of them. If there is one item that I have made over and over again, it is madeleines. Every night, every table, madeleines, madeleines, madeleines.” 

Ansel still serves the little cakes at his eponymous shops in New York City. He bakes them à la minute. In other words, the customers have to wait for around five minutes after the order is placed. Just like at Daniel, the madeleines are served hot and need to be eaten right away. The madeleines are time and temperature sensitive confections as the texture of the cakes will change after only a few minutes out of the oven.

Madeleines are not hard to make and Ansel lists the recipe in the beginner’s section. The recipe doesn’t require any special equipment except for the madeleine mold. I bought the 20-mini madeleine nonstick mold from Williams Sonoma. The recipe doesn’t require a standing mixer, just some whisking by hand. Ansel’s recipe is available on the MasterClass website and he even demonstrates parts of the recipe in a short video. Ansel’s recipe is very easy to follow. I deviate from the recipes in a few places. The recipe calls for melting the butter, brown sugar, and honey in a medium pot over low heat. But sometimes I just use the microwave instead. Often times, I only use lemon zest instead of lemon and orange. After whisking the wet ingredients to the dry mixture, I don’t cover the bowl with a plastic wrap. Instead I prefer to just pour directly into a large uncut piping bag and place it in the refrigerator to rest overnight.

On the next day or the following day (the batter keeps well for a few days), preheat the oven to 350°F with convection. This is the only annoying part of the recipe for a home baker. It actually takes a lot longer to preheat the oven than to actually bake the madeleines. When the oven is ready, pipe the batter into the molds, roughly three quarters full. The amount of batter required in each mold of the pan is the only part of the recipe that is not super precise and takes some practice. The madeleines take around 5 minutes to bake in total. Once the pan is out of the oven, the best way to unmold the madeleines is to just bang the pan against the counter. Afterwards, dust powder sugar through a sieve on top and eat immediately. 

When I taste the mini madeleines, they bring back memories of my meals at Restaurant Daniel in New York City, Maison Boulud in Beijing, and Dominique Ansel Kitchen in New York City. It’s amazing how a little flour, sugar, egg, butter, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and honey can create such magic.

Chocolate Bouchon

The first time I had a chocolate bouchon was when we visited Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in Yountville around ten years ago. The little brownie-like cake was such a delight. Soon after the trip, I purchased Keller's Bouchon cookbook, which included the recipe for the bouchon. I always thought about making the bouchon but somehow never did. Maybe I was deterred by the 3 sticks of butter (2 tablespoons per bouchon) that's required in the recipe. Actually it was just as well that I didn't since the recipe in the first printing of the Bouchon cookbook had the wrong amount of sugar: 3/4 cup instead of 1-1/2 cup.

Two years later, Keller opened a branch of Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center in New York City, which meant I could just buy a chocolate bouchon when I needed a fix. Alas, when I moved to Taipei, bouchon, along with many other things, is no longer available. Therefore, if I want a bouchon I need to make it myself.

Recently I finally decided to take the plunge. I even bought a silicone mold from Williams-Sonoma that's specifically designed for the bouchon. I figure if I am going to do it I might as well go all the way. The recipe I use for the bouchon is from Keller's latest book, Bouchon Bakery, instead of the old book. Keller made significant changes to the recipe for a dozen bouchons – sugar is reduced from 1-1/2 cup to 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon and butter is reduced from 12 ounces to 5. It is interesting to note that the amount of sugar is now closer to the previously incorrect number in the Bouchon cookbook. Besides the reductions in fat and sugar, the new recipes have the ingredients by weight, which I much prefer over the measurements.

The bouchons are actually not too difficult to make. Melt the butter (141g) and in a separate bowl sift flour(50g) with cocoa powder(50g) and a little salt(.4g); combine eggs(75g), sugar(162g) and vanilla paste(1.5g) in a stand mixer and whisk on medium-low speed; add butter and flour mixture in six alternating turns; remove from the mixer and fold in chocolate chips(112g); let the mixture rest in a cool spot for around 2 hours; transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe into the molds (I find using the piping bag to be easier and cleaner than using spoons); bake for around 12 minutes in a convection oven of 350 degrees Fahrenheit; remove from the oven and let the bouchons rest in the mold for 10 minutes before unmolding (the resting time is required for the cake to set); dust with powder sugar before eating.

The bouchons are just delicious and definitely plenty rich in taste. It is hard to imagine how the bouchons would be if I had made it with the old recipe. Now when I make the bouchons they are mostly for an afternoon snack or as petit fours for a dinner party. However, when I eat a bouchon I am still reminded of the take-out lunches I had at Time Warner Center; I would order a sandwich with a bouchon as the dessert. It is always nice to have a little sweetness in life.

Four Freedoms Park

Ever since my first encounter with a building by Louis Kahn, the library at Exeter Academy, I have always admired Kahn's work. At that time (I was a high school student in summer school), I didn't know much about architecture nor about Kahn. Nevertheless, the library's elemental forms, soaring space, beautiful light, and strong materiality made a powerful impression on me.

While I don't make pilgrimages to see Kahn's buildings, I try to see as many of them as I can. This summer when I was in New York City for vacation, I visited the "new" Kahn project, Four Freedoms Park, on Roosevelt Island. Kahn designed the project around 40 years ago, but the construction did not begin until March 2010.

The 4-acre park is located at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. The easiest way to get to the park from Manhattan is to take the Roosevelt Island Tram on Second Avenue and 60th Street. From the tram station on Roosevelt to the park is a just a short walk with great view of the Manhattan skyline.

The first things one sees at the park are five large tress followed by a monumental stairway.

The stairs are tall enough to block some of views ahead but the presence of the linden tress above invite one to climb up to discover what's behind.

The handrail for the staircase reminds me of the ones at the Kimbell Art Museum.

At the top of the stairs, the triangular space of the park is revealed with allée of trees on two sides.

One can walk across the lawn but it was nicer to walk under the trees with views on the side.

The allée leads to a large granite niche with an oversized bronze head of Roosevelt and s simple inscription:1882 -1945.

From the two sides, one enters a three-sided room open to the sky. The south side of the room is completely open to the expanse of the water. The square room is about 60 feet on each side and the walls are 12 feet high and made of solid granite blocks, each weighing around 36 tons.

The granite blocks are each separated by an one-inch gap. The wall on the back side, behind the Roosevelt sculpture is an excerpt from his "Four Freedoms" speech in 1941.

The square room is really a contemplative space that is both open and protected, with views of the river and the cityscape.

I am amazed that the park was completed forty years after it was designed. Kahn essentially went back to the basics of architecture with the triangular garden and the square room. The design is also full of complexity and subtlety in terms of the orchestration of the progress of spaces and the detailing. With the abstract and powerful design, Kahn was able to achieve a much admired timelessness to the architecture.

Cronut

The New York City-based pastry chef Dominique Ansel invented the Cronut in May this year. The Cronut is a hybrid of croissant and doughnut - a laminated dough that is proofed, fried in grapeseed oil, rolled in sugar, filled with cream inside, and topped with a glaze. Ansel said it took him over two months of experimenting with time and temperature to create this new pastry. Since only around 300 Cronuts are made everyday, they quickly sell out within a couple of hours. Ansel's pastry shop opens at 8am but a line of customers is formed much earlier. People have waited hours to get their hands on the Cronut. There are even scalpers who camp out to sell their spots at the front of the line. The Cronut has not only taken off in New York, but has become a global phenomenon, including being featured on the news in Taiwan.

In a recent trip to New York, we decided to try our luck and see if we could buy some Cronuts. Since we were jet-lagged, getting up early was not too hard. Actually, we dragged our feet and didn't get to SoHo until around 7:45am. By then the line had already curved around Thompson Street to the playground. The store opened at 8am and shortly thereafter the line started to move. By the time we got near Spring Street, a baker from the store came out and handed everyone mini-madeleines, which greatly delighted my two young daughters. The mini-madeleines were perfect, a reminder of our meals at Daniel, where Ansel was the pastry chef.

The store let around 10 people to enter at one time. Therefore, the line moved in large blocks instead of steadily, and it took us about an hour to get inside the store.

Once we were inside, we basically waited for people to pay. While the store had already boxed a lot of Cronuts which were ready to go, it simply took some time to run the customers' credit cards through the registers. As we waited in line inside the store, we could see the Cronuts behind the counter. Sadly, each person is only allowed to buy two Cronuts.

Each Cronut costs US$5. The aforementioned scalper asked for US$30 for his spot on the line. We bought a few boxes and took the Crounuts home to enjoy them.

There is only one flavor per month and for July it was Blackberry. In short, the Cronut was delicious. Croissant and doughnut are two of my favorite things, and to have them be combined in a pastry is just a delight and such a treat. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once remarked that, "The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity than the discovery of a new star." I can't agree more. Ansel is a genius. I only wish the line wasn't so long to buy the Cronuts.

Back on Hallowed Ground

Recently I visited the 9/11 Memorial and it was the first time since prior to 9/11 that I stepped on this hallowed ground. The Memorial is still a partial construction site and the visit required a timed-entry ticket.

Currently the Memorial is only accessible from the southeast corner after passing through security checks. Upon entering the Memorial, one encounters the rows of trees of the plaza. I quite like the simple and elegant landscape design.



After passing through the greenery I made my way to one of the on-site kiosks to locate a name, Arkady Zaltsman, a former colleague at SOM who perished on 9/11; he was attending a meeting at the south tower. I didn't know Arkady well as we worked on different floors and in different departments of the firm. However, I still vividly remember being told by a partner in the firm that a member of the office died on that tragic day. Therefore, whenever I looked at the World Trade Center site, I cannot help but think about Arkady and my ordeal on 9/11.

9/11 Remembered

Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The New York Times has a section asking readers where they were on that day and another section showing the things that people kept. Instead of posting my responses to the Times' website, I am sharing them here.

On 9/11 I was at 14 Wall Street.

I was working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. By the time I entered the building from Pine Street and rode the elevator up to the 23rd floor, the two airplanes had already hit the twin towers. At that time I didn't really know what happened. I watched the towers burn from a window on the 25th floor of our office. When the towers collapsed, our building shook as if there was an earthquake. Together with others we walked down the fire stairs and waited inside the Equinox gym on the ground floor. It was only then with the televisions above the treadmills that I learned what happened before I stepped into the office.

That day I stayed at the gym until around 4:30pm. I decided to leave when someone said there were buses to take people uptown on Broadway. When I stepped out of the building onto Wall Street, the sidewalk was completely covered in a thick layer of dust, like a sandbox in a playground. As I looked towards Broadway the sky was dark. I didn't think it was possible there would be any buses so instead I turned east and walked towards the East River. As I got closer to the river it was eerie to find a perfectly clear sky as if it was a normal day.

I ended up walking home like everyone else and what I kept are the pair of shoes that I wore on 9/11.

Del Posto

Since Del Posto opened in 2005 I have tried the restaurant several times. Frankly I never had a great meal as there was always something that wasn't right. In 2009 my sentiments were echoed by the Michelin Guide, which downgraded the restaurant from 2 stars to 1 for its 2010 guide. The lost of a Michelin star shook up the restaurant. In an effort to regain the star, the owners decided to reduce the number of tables and invest more on quality. Their efforts paid off when in the fall of 2010, The New York Times gave the restaurant four stars, making it one of the top six restaurants and the only Italian restaurant in the City with that distinction. Clearly Del Posto has changed and is worth another try.

Del Posto is located on the corner of 16th Street and Tenth Avenue near The High Line (the City's latest landmark), thus an ideal place for lunch before or after the visit to the new park. Besides the location, Del Posto offers a great deal for lunch: a three-course menu for $29. Del Posto has now replaced Jean Georges as the cheapest place to get a four-star meal.

I made the reservation after getting assurance from the restaurant that I could bring our two kids and they would make some simple pasta for them. When I walked in the restaurant, the decor hasn't changed and the piano player is still there, but I could sense it was a bit more spacious with less tables.

The restaurant started us off with a trio of amuse-bouches: small sandwich, speck with sauerkraut, and a shot of tomato soup. Our server then brought a bread basket accompanied by very good butter and even better house-cured lardo.

Instead of asking the kitchen cook a simple pasta for the kids, I actually ordered the Garganelli Verdi al Ragu Bolognese on the menu for them to share. Both kids ate the pasta silently, which is usually the sign of a very good pasta. I tried one bite of the pasta and it was indeed excellent. After the kids finished their pasta they played with my two iPads, which have the magical ability to keep them quiet through the rest of my lunch.

I started with the Cotechino and chose the sliced duck breast as my main course. My dessert was the chocolate tartuffo. My wife, Maria, went with the Primavera della Terra salad followed by the wild salmon. Her dessert was macerated strawberries with gelato. I won't go into details about the dishes except to say all of them were wonderful.

With our coffees the restaurant brought out mignardises that included some great bombolini. On our way out, we were given more chocolates to take home.

At Del Posto the food was great and the service was professional and friendly. It is definitely a much better restaurant than I remembered. I still don't really like the decor and I cannot tell whether or not the piano player has improved. Nevertheless, Del Posto is now a great restaurant and the lunch is a fantastic deal.

Al di Là Trattoria

When we visited our good friends and their kids in Park Slope, Brooklyn, we decided to stay in the neighborhood for dinner. I have always wanted to try Al di Là Trattoria in Park Slope since I saw Chef Anna Klinger featured on Mark Bittman's book and TV show, as well as the glowing 2-star review from The New York Times. Al di Là, which means "beyond", doesn't take reservations except for a few tables for parties of 6 or more, hence our two families made one for the first seating at the early bird hour of 5:45pm on a Saturday.

I arrived at the restaurant first by myself five minutes before our reservation. When I walked pass the front door, I found the restaurant to be almost fully occupied already, except for a table for two and our reserved table for 8. The host greeted me and asked if my party is all present. I said no and the host refused to seat me at the table and even suggested that I wait outside in the heat. Frankly, I didn't see why I couldn't be seated at the reserved and empty table. I understand the policy of not seating incomplete parties later in the evening as there is no reservation at the restaurant and often a long wait for the tables. However, it didn't make sense when my reservation was the first seating of the night. It is puzzling why the restaurant cannot be more hospitable to someone who came a long way and made the reservation three weeks in advance.

The rest of my party arrived shortly after the reserved time and the host finally agreed to seat us. We were a party of four adults and four kids. My friends who live in Park Slope told me that it is a super child-friendly neighborhood and the restaurants all welcome kids. Given that two of the kids in our party are still small and typically sit and eat better in high chairs, we asked the waiter for a couple of them. To my surprise, the restaurant only has one high chair and it was already being used by another kid. Maybe the restaurant is not as child-friendly as my friends purported it to be.

For my kids I ordered a Tagliatelle al Ragù which was so-so. For myself, I started with the Trippa alla Toscana that was slimy but too spicy. This was followed by the Tortelli di Piselli, homemade ravioli filled with spring peas, butter, mint, and Pecorino. The pasta was mushy and the dish was a bit under seasoned and tasted a bit bland. I didn't finish either of my two dishes and we all skipped dessert and went home.

Al di Là was a disappointment. It certainly did not go beyond the expectations, rather quite the opposite. Maybe the restaurant had an off-night or perhaps the standards have slipped after so many years; the restaurant opened in 1988. Given that Al di Là does not take reservations for small parties and the food is only so-so, the restaurant only makes sense for people who live in the neighborhood. In comparison, a few days before our meal at Al di Là, we ate at Osteria Morini in SoHo. The food there was simply better, for instance, the Tagliatelle al Ragù was more satisfying both in terms of flavor and texture and it was only $1.50 more. The restaurant in SoHo not only takes reservations but even have more high chairs. In short, I cannot see a reason why I will ever go back to Al di Là.

New York Eats 2011

Recently we spent a few weeks back in New York City. Similar to last year, one of the main activities I did was to eat. With the limited amount of time, I went to a few of my favorites: Jean Georges, Daniel, and Per Se; revisited Del Posto and Eleven Madison Park and found both restaurants have improved; ventured into the outer boroughs with a great lunch at M.Wells in Queens and a disappointing dinner at al di la in Brooklyn; tried a few new places: Michael White's Ai Fiori and Osteria Morini, Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster, Jonathan Benno's Lincoln Ristorante, Mario Batali's Eataly, Danny Meyer's Maialino and Untitled, and Angelo Sosa's Social Eatz.

Below are the places I went:

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Changes at Eleven Madison Park

The New York Times reported on the changes being made at Eleven Madison Park. The article is titled, "At Eleven Madison Park, Fixing What Isn’t Broke." I disagree with the title because there are problems and they should be fixed.

I wrote about my disappointing experience at the restaurant in an earlier entry. In short the lunch experience was definitely not four-star. I am glad to learn that Chef Daniel Humm and General Manager William Guidara agree with me. As they said in the Times article, the à la carte menu that was served for lunch was a "disservice to the diners who make a gastronomic pilgrimage to the restaurant." Mr. Guidara went on to say, "they might have a completely different experience than they would have at dinner. That doesn’t feel appropriate.” It is nice to see them contradict many bloggers' glowing reviews of the lunch at the restaurant.

According to the Times, they knew about the problems for quite some time and decided to make the changes early this year. It was too bad the change didn't come early enough for me. Nevertheless, I applaud their decision to change course and fix the problems. I am glad they convinced one of the owners, Danny Meyer, to support them. While the restaurant isn't broke, it can and should be better. Just when I thought I would never go back to the restaurant for lunch, now there is a reason to. Hopefully the next time, they will serve us some petits fours.

Per Se

My wife, Maria, and I have been to Per Se a few times and we always have a great time. Therefore, it was inconceivable to us to make a trip back to New York and not visit the restaurant. It has been over a year since we last ate there and even the chef de cuisine has changed. Nevertheless, this was the most anticipated meal of our trip.

I made the reservation two months in advance. I used to call the restaurant to make the reservation, which required some redialing and waiting on the phone. Now I tend to make the reservation through opentable.com, which is much easier if it is for a four-top, but in my experience, more difficult for a table for two.

A meal at Per Se takes about three to four hours, therefore, it is best to go with some friends, people whom you will enjoy conversing for that long. This time I asked my good friends Dino Wu and Yichih Lin to join us. It was their first time at Per Se and Dino brought a camera. As the main dishes started to arrive on the table, Dino couldn't resist pulling out the camera to photograph them. I don't photograph my meals at restaurants; I am not a real food blogger. However, since Dino's photos turned out so well, I will break with my usual routine of words-only reviews.

The four of us decided to have lunch instead of dinner as it is just easier to arrange for a babysitter during the day. Per Se serves the same menu for lunch as well as dinner. With lunch, there is actually an additional option of a shorter five-course menu. Since we were there to enjoy ourselves, we went with the nine-course tasting menu.

We were seated at a table in the main area of the restaurant, which I prefer over the upper tier. I just like the closer view of Central Park and the cityscape. The tables in the restaurants are large and well-spaced. The ladies get the armchairs while the men's chairs are without armrests; I have never figured out why this is the case. In any event, the setting is very comfortable and conducive for hours of lingering.

A meal at Per Se always starts with a gougère followed by Thomas Keller's signature salmon cornet. I just love the salmon tartare cone; seeing this canapé is like seeing an old friend. It is a refreshing way to begin a meal with great flavors and contrasting textures. A few bites of the cornet also express clearly two of Keller's ideas about food: the law of diminishing returns and the importance of reference. For the first idea, as much as I love the cornet, as well as the gougère, Keller insists on serving just one. He believes in leaving the customer wishing for more. As for the second idea, Keller likes his food to refer to other more familiar foods and to invoke our memories of them, in the case of the cornet the reference is a simple ice cream cone.

Since we are not VIPs we didn't get any soup or meat canapé. This was too bad, because on our second visit to the restaurant years ago, we were served a soup and it was excellent. Therefore, shortly after, the server placed mother-of-pearl spoons in front of us, signalling the arrival of the famous first course, "Oyster and Pearls".

The restaurant used to also serve the cauliflower panna cotta in lieu of "Oyster and Pearls"; we had the panna cotta a couple of times years ago. However, looking at some of the recent menus, it seems "Oysters and Pearls" have become the permanent first course. This is understandable as the dish is a masterpiece and I certainly don't mind eating it a few more times. The dish is also a good introduction to Keller's propensity to use quotation marks in the menu, not just to make references but sometimes just to have some fun. In the case of "Oysters and Pearls," because pearls, here represented by tapioca, come from oysters, they are paired together. They are bonded by a rich sabayon and punctuated by salty caviar; a very sexy dish.    

The next course was a compliment of the house, truffle custard, which looks just like the picture in the French Laundry cookbook, except now served in custom-designed dinnerware by Keller with Raynaud. The egg shell is cut off at the top with a thin potato chip protruding out; it is an extremely fragrant dish with nice contrasting textures between the crispness of the chip and the softness of the egg custard.

The second course on the menu is usually a choice of salad or foie gras and all four of us decided to have foie. The server asked if we prefer hot or cold foie, since we all said hot, they went off the menu and served us a large piece of seared foie. It was just rich and delicious.

In contrast, the next course was lighter: Sea Bass Fillet "en Persillade." The fillet was perfectly cooked. The "persillade" sauce is essentially deconstructed into garlic confit and parsley mousse. The pickled small onion provided a nice acidity to the dish.

This was followed by the butter poached lobster, served with turnip and a little pasta. I believe this was actually the first time I had rolled pasta at Per Se. The lobster was perfectly tender and I assume it was cooked with the sous vide technique in a butter bath as described in Under Pressure.  


We then moved into the poultry section with roasted squab served with a corn cake, corn, blueberries and a wine reduction sauce.

The last savory course was the beef, which was just a perfectly cooked piece of meat balanced by glazed carrots, mushrooms, radishes, and croutons. It was just an outstanding dish with great flavors. Even though I was starting to be full, I easily cleaned the plate and wished there were a few more bites.

The composed cheese course was called "Fouchtra." The name was quite memorable as we were trying to learn the pronunciation from our server. It was a piece of goat cheese served with a potato salad, artichokes, and mustard seeds. It was a strong dish in terms of flavors, more than what we expected.

In contrast, the next course was very light: a plum sorbet paired with tea foam served over a bed of crushed sablé.  

The chocolate dessert was a sculptural and geometric composition of lines, dots, rectangles, and cylinders. I wish my buildings can look this good. At this point our server asked if we wanted some tea or coffee. Maybe because we are Chinese, all four of us asked for tea, which is included in the fixed price of the menu, along with the service charge.  

A tray of chocolates was then offered. While the ladies at the table selected two each, Dino and I went with three. Actually, I used to be more greedy and always asked for four.

After we ate the chocolates, the servers brought out another signature dessert: "Coffee and Doughnuts." It looks like this dish has replaced the crème brûlée and pots de crème that the restaurant used to serve. I am certainly not complaining, as "Coffee and Doughnuts" is one of my favorites. The "coffee" is actually a cappuccino semifreddo. This time it was served with a slight variation: no doughnut but just the doughnut "holes."

It is interesting to note that the meal at Per Se now bookends with two of the famous Keller dishes from the French Laundry: "Oysters and Pearls" in the beginning and "Coffee and Doughnuts" at the end.    

Together with the doughnuts there were the "Mignardises": candies, chocolate covered hazelnuts, macarons, and chocolate truffles.   

By now we have been in the restaurant for about four hours but it didn't feel long. It was just a great way to spend an afternoon, catching up with friends about kids and work, and of course, a little discussion on architecture, this time on Brad Cloepfil's design for the Museum of Arts and Design, which was visible from our seats. We were all completely full and the restaurant gave us bags of cookies to go, which we savored the following day.

Before we left the restaurant, the captain led us into the kitchen for a quick tour. Unlike most restaurants, Per Se's kitchen is not directly connected to the dining room. The two spaces are separated by a corridor called the "breezeway" that allows the staff to transition between the different settings. Needless to say, the kitchen was immaculate. You don't need a health inspector to see how clean it is. The center of the kitchen is the $250k custom Bonnet stove. There is also a live video feed of the kitchen at the French Laundry on one side of the walls. Separating us from the stove is the pass that is covered in white table cloth to mimic the tables in the dining room.

As we walked out of the kitchen, we could see a sign with the definition of the word, "finesse," placed on top of the entry to the kitchen. Our meal was definitely an example of "refinement and delicacy of performance, execution and artisanship."

There may be other restaurants somewhere in the world that are better, but I have not been to them. I haven't been to the French Laundry so I cannot compare the two; I just know Per Se is more expensive. Maybe I am easily satisfied, but my meals at Per Se always exceeded expectations. I walked in expecting the best meal and the restaurant always delivered.

Eleven Madison Park

Before going to New York, my good friends have been telling me that I should give Eleven Madison Park another try. I have been to the restaurant a few times before. I always liked the high ceiling and airy room, but I never found the food to be something to write home about. Chef Daniel Humm runs the restaurant, which used to serve egg benedict and oatmeal for brunch on Sundays; the restaurant had a different personality on the weekends. Now there is no brunch and the restaurant is closed on Sundays. It is clear from many bloggers that the restaurant has changed and improved a great deal.  Even the New York Times awarded Eleven Madison four stars.

I didn't have time to go to Eleven Madison Park for dinner so I had to settle for lunch. This was most unfortunate because from what I gathered, dinner at Eleven Madison is far superior than lunch.

A friend of mine joined me for the lunch. The lunch menu at Eleven Madison is divided in two parts: tasting menu of six courses and à la carte. Many bloggers have described the à la carte lunch at Eleven Madison Park as a great deal: two courses for $28 and three courses for $42. I suppose it is pretty good, but not necessarily better than what's offered at Bouley or Jean Georges.

I thought the lunch worked like Jean Georges, because even though the à la carte menu is written in three parts, our server told us that we were not bounded by that format and could order from any of them. My friend and I were both hungry so we decided to go for three courses.  Since two courses is $28 and an additional one is $14 extra, the math seems to suggest that all the courses are the same and cost $14. This was not the case. While one can choose any two courses, Eleven Madison still serves them as one in appetizer portion size and other as a main course. The additional course is actually another appetizer. We found this out the hard way.

Both of us ordered the scallop as our middle course and we each got one scallop. It was large and beautifully cooked. This seemed fine until we looked at the table next to us where one of the two customers ordered the same scallop course and received two scallops. I couldn't help but asked why we only got one. The server said it was because the table next to us had the scallop as the main course. Since our scallop is not the last course of the meal, it is considered an appetizer. I didn't want to argue with the guy; I just thought whatever.

The bread service at the restaurant is also a bit odd. Each of us were served two different breads at the beginning of the meal. Since both were very good, we finished them rather quickly, more or less during the first course. As our bread plates sat empty, none of the servers bothered to ask us if we wanted more bread. This lasted until after the main (third) course was served. When we asked for more bread, the server didn't bring a bread basket for us to choose, but brought out a silver tray with two plates and exactly four more breads, two on each plate, nothing more and nothing less. By this time probably one bread would have sufficed. Anyway, it was as if the restaurant didn't want to be bothered and dug up four breads from the kitchen for us. It wasn't exactly stingy but it felt strange.

Despite some strange things, the food was actually very good. The restaurant started us off with some gougères and a couple of amuses. For the first appetizer, my friend had the taglionini with king crab, which was just delicious. My first course was the taboulé salad, which was beautifully plated with very good flavors. Our second appetizers were the aforementioned scallops that were cooked perfectly and served with succotash. For my main course I went with the bouillabaisse, which was nice but not as good as my friend's cochon. The dish consisted of three different cuts of pork, and all were perfectly executed. It was the best dish of the whole meal.

In contrast to the main course, the dessert at lunch is a bit of a let down. The restaurant doesn't offer a dessert menu but rather a trolley full of house-made tarts. I haven't seen an old-school dessert trolley in a while. It feels like the pastry chef at the restaurant doesn't work the lunch shift. My friend and I wanted something sweet to finish the meal so I ordered a Kouign Amann, which was served with some sour cherry and vanilla cream. My friend had the apricot tart. They were both delightful but charging $12 for a slice of tart was a bit much. I much prefer the dessert that Jean Georges serves at lunch, which for $8 one get two little desserts that are more composed and plated with multiple components. Even at the Modern, the dessert at lunch is also $12 but one get a more ambitious and composed dish.

I read on several blogs that for dinner the restaurant is very generous and even offers unlimited Cognac to finish the meal. Unfortunately, lunch is a different affair all together. The restaurant didn't even offer any petit four; no macarons for us. It was just the check and goodbye. Again, I thought it was strange and felt whatever. Normally I would have asked for some coffee, but for some reason, we didn't feel like staying any longer.

The food was very good and well executed. I suppose it is priced nicely except for the dessert. However, the cheaper price at lunch also translates into a lesser experience. I just felt the restaurant didn't put its heart into the lunch service; the restaurant didn't seem to enjoy serving lunch. The meal was very professional but business like. For a Danny Meyer restaurant, it is a little odd at times and not warm nor welcoming, thus not a terribly pleasurable experience. Since everyone else seems so positive about Eleven Madison, I can't help but wonder that perhaps we went on an off day. Maybe the restaurant would have been more hospitable if we had order the tasting menu? It would have only been $24 more than our $54 four-course meal. I don't know, but it was definitely not a four-star lunch.