Since Susur has left us for the brighter lights of the much bigger NYC, questions abound. Is this possibly the worst timing misstep by such a luminary? Will the newly bankrupted and modestly less well heeled New Yorker's cozy up to his sophisticated cuisine given that all of their investment funds have dried up?
In his wake, aside from the cool "Lee", Susur has left us with Madeline's. Having gone under a total revamp of menu and decor, Madeline's presents itself with a darker gothically glamourous room. With it, comes a less complicated - more approachable menu still sprinkled with a hint of complexity for which he was famous. Head chef Jason Carter does an admirable job of maintaining the quality of the previous restaurant.
The dishes are delivered in an informal style - more like family feast where we all get to share bits of various dishes or have to them yourself. I liked this style of communal dining. One of my friends was mildly disappointed with his serving of halibut but by and large we all had something different and all had good things to say about their respective dishes. I must admit that i found my French-Chinese duck breast delicious but a tad on the salty side as my thirst afterwards attested.
I'll definitely revisit Madeline's. Service was great, on point and friendly. The room was devoid of the snootiness one has come to associate with this type of establishment (granted, we were a group in an otherwise pretty empty room on a Monday evening). But none of us left unsatisfied - even those of us unaccustomed to spending money on pricier restaurants.
If you have a choice between going to one of those mega-resto chains ala Milestones or spending the same amount at a place like Madeline's - no need to think. You will get a far superior meal here. As the 4 **** indicates: "Yay! I'm a fan!"