The most striking part of the meal was the incredible prim and proper attitude and impeccable service that was provided by the seemingly never ending staff. We went with an 8 course prix-fixe and between each dish we got new silverware, glasses, plates, they cleaned the table fresh water, bread, more wine, etc. etc. etc. We'll come back to this later.
1 - Amouse Bouche, Rating: A-
The first dish served was a trio of small delights; a shot of borscht, a goat cheese pastry and a japanese pickle. The borscht was rich and packed with flavor, with what seemed like a small dollop of sour cream really tying the in the full-bodied beet flavor. The goat cheese was baked in a light dough and covered in blueberries. It quite literally melted in my mouth. By far and away the best of the three. The japanese pickle was...just a pickle. I expected more.
2 - Egg Caviar, Rating: A+
The first dish in the Jean George signature tasting menu was an egg shell filled with with slightly scrambled egg, a light, lime-flavored foam, and caviar. This was my favorite dish of the night; each bite better than the last. The salty (in a good way) eggs and caviar mixed with the lime foam to a perfection. My only complaint: this was the first dish and it was the best dish. Kind of a bummer in retrospect.
3 - Sea Scallops, topped with Caramelized Cauliflower and a Caper-Raisin emulsion, Rating: B+
The scallops were delicious. Perfectly fresh and tender, they were complemented by a refreshingly smokey and sweet caper-raisin sauce. However, the cauliflower really took away from the dish for me. In all of my seafood eating experiences, I have never once seen cauliflower paired with scallops, and they seemed really out of place in texture and flavor. After two bites, I actually took the cauliflower off and ate them separately.
4 - Young Garlic Soup, with Thyme and Fried Frog Legs, Rating: A+
I did not know frog legs were so incredibly tender and flavorful. Why don't more people eat them? I could munch on frog legs all day. The garlic soup was also spectacular. It was almost invigorating in its aromatics and flavor. Also, dunking the frog legs in the soup may or may not have been the most fun I've had eating in a while.
5 - Turbot with Chateau Chalon Sauce, Rating: A
A common theme throughout the meal, was the sauce being the dominate flavor of most of the dishes. The turbot was no exception. The brightly yellow and orange sauce smell of fresh wine and butter, and as the waiter poured on my dish in front of me, my nose went into a frenzy trying to soak in the rich aromas. The turbot itself was above average, not exceptional, but you could have served me cafeteria meatloaf and that sauce still would have carried the dish to greatness.
6 - Lobster Tartine with Fenugreek Broth and Pea Shoots, Rating B+
I'm very particular about my lobster. Boil and eat it right out of the shell or put it in a very lightly dressed lobster roll. So this lobster wasn't really made for someone like me. The dish was good, the broth has a nice spice that reminded vaguely of chili peppers, but other than that, it was fairly unremarkable.
7 - Broiled Squab with Onion Compote, Corn Pancake, and Foie Gras, Rating: B+
Squab is pigeon. Which is weird. It was very gamey and reminded me of quail crossed with duck. However, the onion compote was sweet and delicious, and the corn pancake with foie gras was a tasty little treat too. Although still very good, this was somewhat of a disappointing last dish. I wanted something that was going to blow my socks off, and this was just really, really good.
8 - DESSERT! Chocolate Dessert Tasting, Rating: A
There are four parts to the chocolate tasting, but really only one to talk about. THE CHOCOLATE CAKE. Its a very famous and renowned dish at Jean-Georges, and for good reason. The perfectly light and moist cake is filled with molten chocolate that tastes like every birthday you've ever had, multiplied by 80 billion. This is undoubtably the 2nd best cake ever (momofuku's banana cake).
They also gave me this fig tartlet for my birthday for free. It was decent. Whatever, that chocolate cake made my face explode.
One thought on Jean-Georges before I get to other topics. JG was so prim and proper, and so fancy, that I really thought it took away from the experience a little bit. JG felt like they cared so much more about the ceremony and the etiquette of the dining experience than the actual food. I guess you got to give up some of your soul to get that third michelin star.
Overall, A+ and quite possibly the best meal I've ever had.
Space:
Maybe I watch too much sci-fi, but I do believe that the future of humanity lies in a multi-planet society. Thankfully, people like Samuel Arbesman seem to hold this idea in some importance. NASA's Kepler mission is going well, and my if Ray Kurzwiel is right, I might just live long enough to see earth, from another planet.
Overall, A++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TV:
More science-fiction for you, I am just finishing up the mid-season plot lines of season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. So far, its a pretty good show though I have a lot of problems with certain aspects of the show. First off, there are way too many episodes that are stand alone episodes that have nothing to do with overarching plot. The show does such a good job creating an end goal for each character and making you love each character so much that you really, really want to succeed, and then they make you wait with all these bullshit episodes. Also, every character, at some point in time, seems to forget some vital piece of information from a previous episode that they ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY should remember, and they don't. It gets frustrating watching how stupid they can be.
But besides that, it really is one of the more compelling shows I've watched this year. I'm about 40 episodes in and I can't stop, every story is so compelling and there's so many good characters, that I feel like 4 seasons just isn't enough to finish the show. We'll see.
Overall, B+ or A- (we'll see)
The first two seasons of BSG are groin-grabbingly good, but I would stop watching at the end of the season 3.
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