It’s been a while since I wanted to go to César. Been in NYC for the last time 2 years ago and it hadn’t opened yet, ended up going to CTBF which had recently opened with the two new chefs and really enjoyed it. Being back in the city, it was time to visit.
So much has been written about César here so I’ll just focus on my general impressions and some controversial aspects. First of all, the food was really good. From the first amuse-bouche I think that the menu has a lot of carachter and identity and there’s clearly a lot of technique and great ingredients there. The high point for me was the turbot with wine sauce, champignon raviolo and morilles – such a delicate and yet powerful dish. 10/10 for me.
The mushroom custard was another 10/10, reminded me of the traditional palate cleanser in japanese sushiyas but this had a lot of depth, could have had 5 of those.
On the misses side for me -and I know I’ll be taking a hit at a very well-stablished dish – but the uni brioche felt a little unbalanced with the truffle paste (not sure this is how they call it) but personally I’m usually scheptical of other truffle preparations other than freshly shaved as it doesn’t reflect the complexity of the ingredient and can feel a bit overwhelming. This was the case for me and it overpowered the sea urchin in my opinion.
Lastly, the add-ons. First, I didn’t find the staff at all pushy with it – I got there a little early for dinner service and could see that, like they did for me, they always asked the table first if they were interested in checking the options and only then brought on their famous trolley. At first I chose the sea urchin for the third course and took some time to decide on other options – I ended up choosing the foie gras and wagyu as well.
Generally I didn’t think they made a lot of difference – I’d skip the wagyu, keep the foie gras just because it was very good with the quail and would have chosen the uni with the custard. I loved this dish and think it could get even better with uni. I didn’t choose caviar and didn’t miss it.
Overall I really enjoyed César. Haven’t been to CTBF with him so I don’t know if it was on the same level but I would go back.
by voabarros
5 Comments
How was service? Ate here last year, loved the food, service was very mediocre
2010 called. It wants its food back
Looking at the pictures (and not being familiar with the establishment), I would not have been able to tell you what continent the restaurant was in. Could have been in Japan (seafood and sake). Could have been in Paris (the rest of the wine list). Could have been in a deluxe casino hotel in Macau (foie gras and truffles).
TBF downtown Manhattan with an American-Mexican chef was definitely not on my bingo card (IDK maybe the towels wrapped round the wagyu was a bit US steakhouse vibe?)
Essentially… Sounds utterly delicious but completely rootless. Such is the modern age.
About pic 4: is the tartlet intentionally cut in 2 or was it served broken ?
Random question. How was the Chablis?