Momofuku Milk Bar desserts: crack pie, compost cookie, cornflake cookie, chocolate chocolate cookie
Verdict: overrated
Butter, fifth course: dessert
Homemade raspberry beignets with vanilla dipping sauce, and strawberry trifle with lemon cake, sorbet and whipped cream (not pictured). Needless to say, AJ was very pleased.
I was surprised they didn’t offer any chocolate, but certainly not disappointed. The fresh berries were perfectly sweet. We enjoyed both with a fresh French press of coffee, and savored our 2.5 hour meal.
(Also, thanks to the hostess who agreed to my request of putting us in the back booth. We were comfortable enough to relax, and didn’t feel like we were in a stuffy fancy place, even though we certainly paid like we were. We are probably the only people they’ve had who laughed and tweeted their way through a tasting menu with nothing to drink but three giant glass bottles of water. Not too bad for a couple of honeymooners.)
Butter, fourth course: Hudson Valley duck breast with peach marmalade and wilted dandelion greens
When this was brought to the table, AJ did a little happy dance. He really wanted this entree, but seeing as we had subjected ourselves to the surprise tasting menu, we had no idea what we would get.
This surpassed expectations. Peaches on duck? HELL YES. It makes up for the greens, which were bitter as heck, and not at all necessary. The duck was sitting on a bed of farro, which is just damn tasty.
(I won’t apologize for the bad pictures. Mood lighting, and all.)
The second entree we had comes with an even worse picture, so I’ll spare you. It was rack of lamb with braised baby artichokes, olives (ew) and cippolini onions (yum). This was a solid dish all around, although it was overshadowed by the duck.
AJ says: A++ Would eat again.
Butter, third course
Top: dry diver sea scallops with braised peas, sugar snaps and lemongrass. DOUSED IN BUTTER. This was great. Even AJ enjoyed it, and he is not a seafood fan.
Bottom: seared maya shrimp (head and tail on) with romesco sauce, fresh basil and ancho chiles. The heat in this was nice, the shrimp was great (for me, not so much for AJ) but the sauce did nothing for either of us. Too crunchy. Weird.
Butter second course: morel mushroom flatbread with smoked mozzarella and shaved spring (?) truffles and grated Parmesan on top
Technically, this was a great flatbread. Crispy and thin, with a good layer of cheese and oil. (Or, probably butter. Get it?) I’m not a huge mushroom fan, but these didn’t have much of a taste, or maybe my palate is still destroyed by the remnants of this cold. Either way, this wasn’t bad, but nowhere near the star of the night. (Even though it was the appetizer special, according to our waiter.)
For those of you keeping score, AJ declared truffles to be underwhelming.
Butter soup course and first course …
Top left: OMFG the best tomato soup ever to exist. I am not a fan of tomato soup generally, but this was the other end of the earth from the watery canned stuff. So creamy, with fresh basil and a teeny tiny goat cheese grilled cheese on top.
Top right: cold cucumber soup. Tasted exactly like what you would think.
Bottom right: house-cured wild salmon with spring radishes, apples and fresh chili vinaigrette. SO GOOD.
Bottom left: grilled octopus with marinated cucumber salad with fresh oregano and red wine dressing. SURPRISINGLY GOOD. Both of the salads were so flavorful and the flavors were so intricate. Bravo.
Butter was like a wooden wonderland. We got a comfy booth in the back corner so we could laugh at each other in private. It was necessary; we had a lot of fun.
Thursday night, we went to Butter for our last dinner in town. Obligatory picture of one of us with butter. Tasting menu was ordered. More to come.
I love this hotel. All of the waters and juices you could ever want. All included in the room price. And refilled daily, along with all of the candy.
And yes, we ate the Oreos in bed. Twice.
... Our adventures and favorite foods in NYC
