Eric Ripert Big Fish of Le Bernardin
Right after I ate the oysters at Le Bernardin, the waiter brought me a finger bowl. She seemed a little tentative. Would I know what it was for? Famously, a potentate at a state banquet picked up the bowl and drank from it, so Queen Victoria, to make her guest at ease, did the same thing. First time I’ve ever seen one in a restaurant in yonks, and then I think it was in one of those ancient London hotels.
Le Bernardin is bliss. It’s so unabashedly retro, redolent of a Louis something reception room like those old luxe Parisian restaurants. You are so far from the other tables that you can have a real conversation without having to shout. It doesn’t allow children under twelve – great. On my way there, Jim Poris of Food Arts magazine, said casually “Say hello to the Bernies for me.” Trouble was there were so many Bernies. The place is packed with waiters.
We are midroom, perfect for people watching. Joe, my companion, is a member of a lunching club. He scores Le Bernardin’s above average with the room more than 60% full. The customers? Mostly businessmen waiting for the dead cat bounce and a few golden oldies from the Frog Pond resto circuit. The youngest people were a couple of Japanese tourists.
We ate the $68 prix fixe. Sublime. The dishes sound and look so simple. One bite reveals complex combinations and intense flavour. I eat gently curried crab logs wrapped in thin strips of zucchini, zucchini panna cotta and then the waiter poured an amazing fragrant crab and shrimp broth flavoured spiked with vadouvan, the upandcoming spice trend. in India (I learn this from Surly Chef) Vadouvan will often contain onion, garlic, curry leaves, black lentils, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, turmeric, salt and Castor oil, sometimes garbanzo flour and red lentils, then mixed shaped into balls and left out in the sun until all the moisture is drawn out.
Never heard of spiced bamboo broth either – but here it is lapping a stack of baby skate wings interleaved with cellophane noodles and wood ear mushrooms. Never tasted anything like it. Never tasted skate before I now realize. Usually I taste browned butter and capers, the pop bistro treatment and enjoy the fish’s mouthfeel, silky and chewy, Now I’m tasting a deepvoiced boisterous fish.
Desserts maintain Everest height. Two irresistible flavours, hazelnut and pistachio. First a hazelnut gianduja cream with brown butter ice cream, a chunk of honeyed banana. Oh but the pistachio mousse with caramelized white cholocate is surely better? Who cares. We share both.
One last thing. Eric Ripert, the chef, is known for fish brinkmanship. He supports sustainable fish etc but recently served blue tuna, a flashpoint for ecotarian protest. Now I see he has Escolar on the menu. Escolar is a fatty sort of mackerel which cuts like butter and like all the finest fish, dover sole, turbot, doesn’t taste fishy at all. It’s often on menus as white tuna or butterfish….it is also called the Exlax fish. Eleven people were taken to hospital last year from a top restaurant in Toronto.
I asked the Maitre D’ if he had had any complaints. He shook his head. The portions are hors d’oeuvre sized, the same amount served in sushi restaurants. I have to say I still didn’t try it although it sounded so good.. poached in EVOO, with a light red wine Bearnaise.
The bill was around $200, including a couple of glasses of wine, plus tax (NYC has an 8.25% tax on resto meals, far lower than Toronto) and tip . About par for a top resto here, says Joe.
