…as you guys have probably figured out, Ingrid and I spent this past weekend in New York- primarily on the Lower East Side. We stayed on Rivington Street and we ended up eating at a variety of places on Clinton Street, a short walk from our hotel. While the primary motive of the trip was for Ingrid to get her hair cut, we always end up satiating our taste buds as well. We were able to get reservations at WD-50 and were treated to an exciting tasting menu by Wylie Dufresne on Friday night. There were more highs than lows and each course was a sensory adventure that was unparalleled…standouts included everything bagel ice cream, scrambled egg ravioli, cold fried chicken, a play on beef and bearnaise, hazelnut tart and carmelized brioche. Wylie was manning the kitchen which was good to see and our server Chris was impeccable and gave us a great lead for dinner on Satuday night which was a few doors down on Clinton Street- Falai. Falai only had early reservations for Saturday, so we got there at six and we were treated to our second outstanding meal in NYC. Falai is a smaller restaurant which I would call nouveau Italian- being down the street from WD-50 probably has it’s influence. The head chef trained at Le Cirque and was quite adept at both cooking and the art of elegant plating. The tasting menus were unavailable, but we were able to choose anything from the menu as a whole. We both split a baccalao antipasto which was very untraditional- sort of “deconstructed” but very tasty and inventive. For the main course, I had a monkfish, scallop and red snapper dish and Ingrid had the Gnudi- a flourless gnocchi served in a broth- both were excellent! The biggest surprise came when we were treated to a couple of complimentary desserts…a fine fitting for the end of our meal! We rounded out our Clinton Street experience with breakfast on Sunday at Clinton Street Baking…just a small piece of advice- get here early- it opens at 9AM and fills up quick! We had no problem getting a seat due to Ingrid’s diligence and it paid off! I had a smoked salmon benedict and Ingrid had brioche french toast with carmelized bananas- both were excellent and a perfect send-off for our trip back home…more on our trip to NYC to come…
-Josh
