Restaurant Heaven: Le Bernadin

Having lived in Manhattan and worked as a consultant (translation: Lots of business dinners at great restaurants) for many years, Herr J has been to many of New York's top restaurants. We've tried unsuccessfully a couple of times to visit some of his favorites. While we did have an amazing steak frites lunch at Les Halles, a Christmas blizzard forced us to cancel most of our reservations. 

So, when we went back to the US in May to finalize some wedding plans, we decided to celebrate with a visit to somewhere truly special - Le Bernadin. 

Herr J had raved about this place. I was slightly skeptical, since I'm not the biggest fan of haute cuisine and fancy French food. (Not that I don't like French food...I just go for the simpler and less rich dishes). But Le Bernadin surpassed all my expectations. 

With 3 Michelin stars, it's not surprising that we had to take a 10:30pm seating to get in on a specific Friday night. After a few days in Charleston planning and after an afternoon visit to Long Island to pick out wedding bands, we were finally able to relax and unwind over a fabulous dinner. 

We started in the bar area, with a glass of prosecco and their tasty snacks. The trio of snacks had candied walnuts (likely with a little fish sauce for that great salty/sweet taste), rice crackers, and popcorn with bits of dried seaweed. I could have happily stayed there and just had the bar snacks!

But it was time to move into the dining room for the main event. 

As this was a celebration for us, at the end of a very hectic week, we decided to splurge and do the tasting menu with wine pairings. There generally are two tasting menus available, all consisting mainly of seafood. Yes, this was where I was suprised....while it's fine French dining, there isn't much cooking and there's a strong Asian influence.  You can, of course, order a la carte and find some lamb or steak, but the real treat here is the seafood. 

Before the first course came an amuse bouche, consisting of a trio of salmon, lobster, and a bisque with parmesan crisp. All excellent mixes of flavors and textures.

The first course - Fluke sashimi with jalapeno lime broth - was probably my favorite. Every dish came out perfectly arranged; then the waiter poured on a light sauce. All were very flavorful, without overwhelming the fish. This one was a great mix of mexican and Asian flavors, and my first time eating Fluke. 

This next picture does not do justice to the perfection of the fish.  Whoever so perfectly seared the yellowfin tuna and then cut it in such thin slices is truly an artist. Not only did it melt in my mouth, it looks like candy!  

After these first two courses, we kept being amazed by the tastes and presentation. And the wines were so well paired. We're certainly no wine experts, but this was one of those times where the wines were so perfectly matched to the food that you just say "wow!"  The diversity of the wines was impressive too, and that most were from smaller, local vineyard.  Next up was a lovely decorated seared escolar (in kaffir-lime and lemongrass). Not only two of my favorite aromas, but I adore escolar sushi. You don't find it often, but there's a sushi restaurant in Austin that serves it and it's outstanding. 

After the lighter fish, we start to get heavier and more cooked, with a still very lightly seared salmon in a lightly buttery sauce. This one still was excellent, but not as outstanding or unusual as the others. However, it was paired with a fantastic Swiss wine. There aren't many Swiss wines, and very few of them are exported, so we were excited to try one.  This one was a white wine from the Amigne grape. For more on Swiss wines, see this NYT article. 

Which brings us to the final dish, and the only one that really was cooked. (Not at all a complaint....I LOOOOVE sashimi and sushi....but it was not what I expected from a top French restaurant. And it was great!!). The sauce with this crispy black bass was made with black garlic and Persian lemons, for a really subtle and tasty accent. You see a chunk of black garlic on the left side.  This one was paired with a very light red wine - our only red in the tasting. 

After these main courses, we cleansed our palate with a glass of pink champagne and roasted pineapple sorbet. I will definitely be trying something like this in future kitchen experiments, since roasting the pineapple first really enhanced the flavor and cut down on the sweetness. It was a more mellow pineapple flavor. 

And for the final course (or, so I thought), we had a "Black Forest" trio. Very appropriate for two visitors from Germany!  Apparently the new pastry chef likes to do some deconstructed dishes. I just enjoyed the different textures, temperatures and the chocolate and cherry flavors.  This dessert course was paired with a dessert Riesling from the Mosel valley. 

And if that weren't all enough...with the check comes another plate (each) of sweet bites. 

This was the perfect treat to us to have finished our wedding planning and to relax for a night. For me, it was also celebrating surviving a really hard 6 months at work. We finished our busy season that week, so this was a double celebration for me! 

It's hard to know if restaurants live up to the hype, but this one does. The food, the service, the wine...everything is perfectly done without being too stuffy.  You can definitely tell the work that went into every aspect of the meal, starting with whoever went to market and picked out the fish.

In traditional fine French style, there is a huge staff, all of whom have very specific duties.  But they were all friendly and eager to answer questions or provide more infomation. We learned quite a bit from our sommelier - she was quite happy to tell us more about the grapes and vineyards and how each wine was unique. 

With the wine pairing, it's quite a feast and a big splurge. But I'm hoping we can pop in for a smaller taste of the experience next time we're in town. They do serve much of the menu (and the full tasting menus) in the bar area. I would be perfectly content with a glass of wine, those tasty snacks and a small plate or two to share.  And if we're really being honest, that "Chocolate-Peanut" concoction on the dessert menu is calling to me...Madagascan Chocolate Ganache, Peanut Mousse, Salted Caramel Ice Cream...mmmm....