Friday, October 1, 2010

More Food Porn

Another half-assed attempt to stay paleo was derailed by another tasting menu -- this time, at Eleven Madison Park.


After feasting at Per Se last night, I was prepared to be a little underwhelmed at lunch today. Happily, I was not. The four-course tasting at Eleven Madison Park was flawlessly executed and the ingredients popped. I enjoyed every single item that came out of the kitchen.


The only minor glitch: At the start of the meal, our server asked us if we had any dietary restrictions. My cavewoman spouse hesitantly asked if we could go grain- and potato-free. "Not a problem!" exclaimed our waiter. "This is precisely why we don't specify any specific preparations on the menu -- we can be flexible and prepare the meal to your wishes." Excellent!

But then the amuse bouche arrived: Roasted potato tea with rosemary, sage and thyme, served alongside a potato crisp with dehydrated sour cream, creme fraiche and chive.



And then the waiter came back with bread.


But it was all wonderful, so we didn't care that the server didn't know the definition of "grains." Or "potatoes."

More after the jump...
Our tasting menus then began in earnest. My wife and I each picked different items for our meals so that we'd have eight plates to taste:

Foie gras torchon, inset with braised wild boar and served with figs, compressed melon, microgreens, beets and turnips -- this dish was an explosion of color and flavor:


Avocado roulade stuffed with crab meat, apple, and creme fraiche -- delicate, creamy, smooth, mouth-filling:


Poached snapper with parsnip puree, dehydrated parsnip, poached Anjou pear, and Italian parsley:


Poached lobster with Jamon Iberico ham, fresh fig, white tea-infused fig, and sweet potato puree:


Sous vide pork two ways: roasted belly, and tenderloin finished in the oven, and served with dried and roasted plums, butternut squash puree, and leeks -- the roast pork belly in particular was insanely good:


Sous vide squab breast with pate, wine-braised red cabbage, Savoy cabbage, dried apple and apple puree:


Three goat cheeses from Andante Dairy in Petaluma: one with an ash ring, once infused with tarragon and sage, and one wrapped in grape leaves. All were excellent, and served with pistachios, greens, and nutty, seeded crisps:


Hazelnut ice cream, pistachio ice cream, hazelnut meringue, hazelnut brittle with grapes, thinly-shaved hazelnut, and chestnut mousse:


"PB&J": Raspberry pate de fruit covered with liquid shortbread, plus a peanut butter truffle -- it's the one on the left:


My personal favorite: "Truffled truffle": Chocolate and truffle (the real kind -- or as the server put it: "truffle from the earth") flavored ice cream, coated in chocolate crumbles:


Chocolate bonbons topped with three different salts and three different caramels.

Eleven Madison Park was pitch-perfect, and although we had our fill of sugar near the end of the meal, it wasn't enough to wipe us out for dinner. Which is fortunate, because Momofuku Ko was up next...