New York

After leaving California, ew and I headed off to NYC to visit my grandparents.  For me, NYC is a city that is great to visit, but probably for the same amount of time you want to be in Vegas.  The pace and energy level there is quite draining, as there always seems to be pressure to do something, anything.  It's kind of like when you were in high school, and if you stayed in on a weekend night, there was something seriously wrong with you.  NYC kind of gives you the same pressure.

Though the main focus of the trip was to eat Shanghainese food with my grandma, ew, my sister, me, and ay actually had a chance to go to a 3-Michelin star restaurant, Le Bernardin.  Ew was not feeling well, so she ended up getting dishes that had bases in broth, but was unable to really enjoy anything.  My sister and I ended up ordering dishes that we could share.  Ay copied my menu ordering (or the other way around).  Le Bernardin only has 2 menus: the tasting, and a 4 course for $112.  We all opted for the latter.  The first course that all of us ordered (except ew) was the tuna foie gras.  Definitely a memorable dish, with sashimi tuna pounded so delicately and thinly while placed over toast with a light hint of foie gras.  At first I didn't even realize the sheet over the foie was the tuna.  The second course: I ordered the langostine and my sister the grilled octopus.  The langostine was quite good, paired with delicious mushroom salad, and the grilled octopus was probably the best octopus I have had.  The third course: I ordered the black bass and my sister the seared hiramasa.  The hiramasa was definitely the winner, as the sauce that was paired with it was quite incredible.  However, the black bass (despite being Le Bernardin's signature dish) was really just OK: pan seared for a crispy skin, paired with an Asian soy based sauce.  I think overall, when it comes to cooked fish, I just don't think anyone does it better than Asian style and technique.  The fourth course was dessert, which was a good end to the meal, but nothing memorable.

So is Le Bernardin really a 3-star restaurant?  Well, the service is.  Probably the best service I have ever had at any restaurant, with waiters literally just waiting at your table to see if you need a refill of bread, water, or if they should get the sommelier to help you with wine.  Food?  Well two out of the four courses were quite good, but none of the preparations were truly mind boggling.  I know Eric Ripert's signature is simple preparations, focusing on the ingredients, but for a 3-star restaurant, I do expect some more creativity or inventiveness.  The food wasn't any different from the experiences I've had at 1-star restaurants like Chez Panisse or Blue Hill.  Maybe I'm expecting bold new flavor combinations or preparations that don't exist.  How many ways can you really prepare a dish without overcomplicating it?  But it goes back to my previous post about these Michelin star restaurants.  Just seems like there are more affordable ways to access the same, or at least close to the same level of food.