Brian and I make an effort to eat one grand meal a year. Once a year, we choose a restaurant that we would not consider, if not for a special occasion. Our pick this year was Le Bernardin. Brian decided to take me there for my birthday. As soon as we stepped in, I was surprised by the modern décor. I had heard the French restaurant was ranked #1 for the past some odd years so I was taken back by the fact that it wasn’t as stuffy as I imagined an upscale French restaurant to be. I was picturing it more like The Four Seasons. As they prepared our table, we were told to wait by the bar and were given complimentary cheddar bread sticks. The bread sticks were crunchy and flavorful. I had hoped to have more but our table was ready by the time I finished eating one.
We had decided beforehand that we would get the Chef’s Tasting Menu. Brian decided to splurge and get the wine pairing as well. That was an excellent decision. As with any fancy restaurant, we had 4-5 people wait on us and was served an amuse-bouche before we got our first course. Since I write this 2 weeks after the meal, I can’t remember what we had to start. The entire 8 course menu is below. My favorite dishes were Caviar Pasta, Monkfish and the “Egg”. They were generous with the caviar, which was much appreciated. The monkfish reminded me of something I had at Moto. The seafood with meat emulsion combination seems to be quite trendy now. The “Egg” was an excellent palate cleanser. It was sweet yet salty and looked cool! I was surprised with the food in general. Didn’t realize they served French food with heavy Asian influences.
The highlight of the night was the wines. I loved every single one except the Chardonnay. I even enjoyed the reds. The red wines were not tannic at all. I drank myself to the point where I puked out everything later in the night. That’s how good the wines were. If you know me, then you’d know that I’ve never gotten drunk on my birthday and only once in my lifetime prior to this incident.
Overall, a terrific restaurant but the good food comes with a heavy price. I don’t think it was worth what we paid. The meal for two cost as much as a laptop. If the total was under $500, I would have been ecstatic. It was definitely once in a lifetime meal. Brian’s never gonna spend that much on a date again.
2 comments:
sounds nice! i only been to one french restaurant, and it wasn't that good...maybe it's because i don't drink wine.
I'm a bit appalled at how much the meal was. I remember when we were talking about expensive meals I thought how much could the meal be? I didn't realize it was that much although without the wines the price doesn't seem as horrific. The food does sound really good though, but I place little to no value on the glasses of wine so I don't know. I really want to see what the tribute to Gaudi looked like! Was it sort of psychedelic?
I don't think I like French food enough to justify the price... perhaps one day. Although Craig said morimoto the other night was less than he'd thought it'd be/"cheap", so maybe it'll be sooner than later I'll be able to "convince" him to go with me to the really high end places. ...then again, it has to be a cuisine he enjoys. Doh.
Good review :)
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