Listen up, Michelin-starred New York restaurants:
You'd better shape up. Seriously. Because Alex completely and totally wiped the floor with you. All of you. Including you, Le Bernardin.
Why: Food quantity.
Everything else--decor, service, cooking quality--was on par with the best of the best, but Alex towered just that one inch taller for giving more incredible food than any other place I've been to.
(OK, I lied: I also think the quality, flavors, textures, etc. at Alex are better.)
Pre-amuse bouche:
Cauliflower purée with panna cotta and crispy veal
Duck brioches with pickle and toasted slice of something I can't figure out
Butternut squash soup in a shot cup thing
Prawn tempura with lemon cream
"Cheese and cracker" (cheese inside baked shell)
- Seriously, who the F gives a PRE-amuse bouche? Apparently, Alex. And so much too! Meant to be eaten in the order listed for palate reasons, every bite was more delicious than the last.
Actual amuse bouche:
Matsutski mushroom with tapioca and caviar
- Divine. My non-caviar-liking boyfriend loved it.
We did the $185 tasting menu and were presented with:
Roasted prawn in phyllo dough with roasted cauliflower and carrot, and ginger purée with curried panna cotta
- Tender, crispy, salty, spicy, all in one. A lovely melding of textures.
Sauteed foie gras with sweet potato hash and black truffle and onions
- Absolutely delicious. My boyfriend hates foie gras and he was raving about how rich and satisfying this was.
Brioche-encrusted Spanish mackerel with orange sabayon and Belgian endives
- Probably the weakest dish just because endives are a little too bitter for me if not properly seasoned/marinated/flavored. But the mackerel was incredibly tender.
Squab with brussel sprouts, celery purée and huckleberry
- The boyfriend's first taste of baby pigeon and I think we have a winner. If you like roasted meat off the bone, the taste of celery (mmm) and sour berries, you'll love this.
Transitional dinner to dessert thingy (yes, thingy):
Citrus semifreddo with panna cotta and cranberries
- Simple but tasty with just the kinds of flavors and textures we love
Dessert:
Puff pastry with maple cake and ice-cream and buttered apple
- This is the kind of dessert that makes people who aren't normally fans of maple or apple-flavored things DIE-HARD FANS. I.E. us. Words cannot describe how delicious and gorgeous this was. Circles everywhere: Circle of puff pastry sandwiching circle of maple cake with circles (okay, spheres) of buttered apple on top of more circles of maple cake and you get the drift. Oh, did I mention circles are my favorite shape? That might have contributed to why I loved this dessert so much.
So at the end of a meal like this, you normally get a treat or two with your bill, right? Oh no. Not the Alex way. We got 6 sweet, dazzling little beauties PLUS a basket (yes, BASKET) full of piping hot, just-out-of-the-oven lemon madeleines to nosh on while figuring out how to place our credit card on top of the bill ([/sarcasm]). There was a lemon marshmallow, a hazelnut marzipan, cakes, truffles, oh Jebus it was so much!
5 minutes later: Finally heading out the door after stuffing ourselves poor and they stop us. We get one more thing: a box of housemade almond macaroons to take home.
Did I mention the quantity of food completely and totally rocks?
Oh, and I couldn't figure out where else to fit this, but my cocktail recommendation--if you like sour and fruity--would be the Yuzu Drop Martini.