NYNY 2009: Jean Georges

Last post about my NY trip back in December of 2009!

On the last day of our trip in NY, we had lunch at Jean-Georges. It's a fine-dining establishment inside the Trump Tower next to Central Park. We had to make our reservation a month ahead of time just to get a 2pm lunch reservation. For lunch they have a prix fixe menu where you can order 2 courses for $28, free appetizer & dessert, an extremely good value. You can also add additional courses for $14 each. I opted for 3 total.

Jean-Georges

1 Central Park W.

New York, NY 10023

Jean-Georges sign oustide.

Whooo my first Michelin rated restaurant! Not to mention 3-stars!

Amuse bouche (appetizers): ravioli in duck confit, jalapeno & cheese fritter, salmon sashimi with clementine. absolutely loved the ravioli.

So much flavor. Wished it was spicier for the fritters and wow.. interesting combination with the raw salmon with beet juice and clementine. So good.

Connie and my first course: foie gras brulee with sour cranberries, candied pistachios, and white port gelee.

A m a z i n g. Foie gras by itself is already amazing but they carmelize the outside of the foie gras with sugar.

Mikol's hamachi sashimi with sherry vinaigrette & toasted pecans. The vinaigrette reminds me of yuzu and the toasted pecans totally tasted like benito flakes.

Mikol's sea scallops sashimi. I forgot what the sauce was...

Connie's parmesean risotto with mushrooms and herbs. Sounds simple but why mess with beautiful flavors.

I think we all got this: peekytoe crab cake with scallions and a sesame crust with fresh pear & spicy mustard sauce. Tastes a lot like those chinese sesame pancakes (大餅). The crab definitely makes it pop. Lots of it too.

My main course: red snapper crusted with nuts and seeds with sweet&sour jus and cherry tomatoes. The crust is the best part. I didn't even need the fish, just give me the crust.

Connie & Diana's salmon. Totally forgot was the sauce is but the salmon was poached perfectly in butter.

Mikol's skate with chateau chalon sauce. Probably my least favorite since I don't really like skate.. and I wished the chateau chalon sauce was stronger... or just give me the wine on the side to enhance it ;]

After we devoured our main course, I decided to go crazy and order dessert: trio of chocolate.

This one is crazy: chocolate noodles with peppermint broth & white chocolate ice cream. It tasted like a peppermint patty as a whole! Have no idea how they made the choco noodles.

The chocolate lava cake & vanilla bean ice cream. Perfect combination. The warm chocolately center is the best.

Of course they also served up complimentary dessert for eveyrone.

Vanilla bean marshmallows. The vanilla takes an ordinary marshmallow and transforms it.

Chocolate macarons! Light hint of chocolate. I think I ate two of them haha.

Assortment of chocolates. After the macarons, I was too stuffed so I only got to try two of the chocolates. Very very rich. I should've wrapped a napkin around it and took it with me :P

Overall, amazing dining experience: attentive service, enjoyable food, and great atmosphere. Now I see why everybody raves about Jean-Georges.

NYNY 2009: Dean & Deluca, Lombardi's, Balthazar, Han Bat

After Serendipity3, we headed towards SoHo to do some shopping, and right out of the subway station is Dean & Deluca. Mikol loves this place so we decided to check it out.

Oh and sorry for some of the warm color temperature of the photos. The lighting at the restaurants wasn't that great but I didn't want to use flash.

Dean & Deluca
560 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

Shot of Dean & Deluca.

It's a tiny neighborhood market that sells specialized foods and groceries. I wish there's one here in LA :[

Never seen brussel sprouts like this!

Had to try their coffee. It was smoooooooth. It doesn't leave that weird sour after taste some bad coffee leaves. It's very aromatic too.

It's such a cool little market. All sorts of exotic and specialty ingredients, things like truffle oil, artisan breads, cured European meat (they had Iberico ham), pastrami from Katz's etc etc! It sorta reminds me of the small market at the LA Farmer's Market. It's probably twice the size of a 7-11 and it feels like I can spend the whole day in there just checking out what they have. I want to live in there.


Lombardi's Pizza
32 Spring St
(between Mott St & Mulberry St)
New York, NY 10012

BEST PIZZA EVER.

After Dean & Deluca, we stopped by Balthazar and put our name down on the waiting list. Rather than just standing there waiting for an hour (it was packed), we decided to walk further down and get a taste of the world famous Lombardi's.

A shot of Lombardi's.

Lombardi's is US's first pizzeria!!

Our pizza! We had to wait about 30 minutes just to get seated at around 8 30 and about another 15-20 minutes for the pizza to bake.

Foodgasm alert: Homemade meatballs, garlic sauteed spinach, mushrooms, and red onions on a thin crust pizza pie with fresh tomato sauce and mozarella. Sooooo good and the crust is the best part! Since it is baked in a coal-fired oven, it leaves a little bit of char on the bottom of the pie and the high heat really makes this pizza different from a pizza baked in a normal oven. It's my favorite pizza in the whole world now.

Balthazar
80 Spring St
(between Broadway & Crosby St)
New York, NY 10012

After scarfing down our pizza, we arrived at Balthazar just in time. Balthazar is essentially a French brassiere that's popular in NY.

Of course, gotta start with a good bottle of white wine for the seafood we're about to have.

Lobster risotto. Got big chunks of lobster. So creamy.

Mixed greens with sherry vinaigrette. It tasted so good cause we didn't really eat any vegetables the whole trip so salad was a refreshing change haha.

Plate of 6 different kinds of fresh shucked oysters. I forget which one I like the most but yeaaa raw oysters, still not really my thing.

Frisee lardon. See that big fatty piece of bacon? Glorious.

Escargot in garlic butter. Freakin delicious. Totally worth the effort digging that damn thing out.

Of course, at a French brassiere so we gotta try absinthe, served "neat." It just tasted like licorice, wasn't that bad. It hit me pretty fast though in combination with the wine haha. Loved Balthazar. I need to try some French brassiere here in LA.

Han Bat

53 W 35th St.

New York, NY 10001

After Balthazar, we took the taxi back to our hotel and we suddenly remembered that there are Korean restaurants that opens 24/7... so we decided to search for some good soju and Korean food.

Mikol outside of Han Bat.

What's a must get? Seafood pancake of course! A little different from the usual in that they were more crunchy. I think this was the best seafood pancake I've ever had.

Lakkboki. Honestly, when this came out, I was stuffed but after having a bite, the spiciness brought my appetite back haha.

We wanted flavored soju but this was a legit spot so they didn't mix soju but the waiter was nice enough to add lemon soda to the soju and mixed it in a tea kettle for us. Totally worth the extra $5 hahah.

Pretty much, all we did that night was go food crazy, which makes it a good night.