Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana takes the reins again, switching spot with now no. 4 Eleven Madison Park. Blue Hill slipped a spot to no. 12, but Chef Dan Barber took home the Chef’s Choice Award. Cosme and Le Bernardin both made the list at no.25 and 26. However, my biggest disappointment to the authority of Best 50 list is, Dominique Crenn’s Atelier Crenn’s absence. In my opinion, Crenn very much deserves a spot in the top 25!
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Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare
Eleven Madison Park
Le Bernardin
Masa
Per Se
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We fell in love with John Dory, not the fish, but the oysters, mainly happy hour.
Original location closed back in August 2009; it only survived for nine months in Chelsea, then suddenly shuttered its door. Couple years later, April Bloomfield and gang tried the idea again in Ace Hotel in 2011. It has been several years now, it seems to be a success. At least For the times we were there, it was packed. I really hope it is here to stay.
Compare to its previous location on 10 Ave, Nomad is more central, with more traffic. When it first open, like any other April Bloomfield’s’ establishment, they have a no reservation policy. But that is not the case anymore. Welcome to the age of online reservation system. My life is much easier.
Like the other establishments from ms bloomfield, the place is wrapped by plants, and filled with colorful, playful, but somewhat crowded decoration. It reminds me of the Macy’s flower show, but this is here to stay, year long. The fish-themed John Dory is the same. Fish tanks over the cocktail bar, laminated fished hanging everywhere, take a walk to the bathroom, you will find “fish” tiles too!
There are two bars in this triple high ceiling room, first we encounter the wet bar, then spotted the growing oyster bar in the middle of the room. Now you would think that the “namesake” oyster bar is the main character, but it only sits 6, compared to the wet bar (sits at least 12), clearly stated which makes more money.
Cocktails are about $14 a piece, along with the extensive wine list. Come happy hour, we happily take advantage of the half price menu. There are half price oyster too, not as many choice but all are good quality. On different occasions, we ordered the chorizo stuffed squid with smoked tomato, the escarole salad, all are fantastic, and the parker roll was something out of this world. It was so so sooo fluffy and soft, seriously, I can eat a dozen of them and feel guilty later. There is a reason why they are charging for this bread. Yes, I’m not happy that they are charging for bread. But it is really worth it. the main star of the night, obviously is the oysters, well, not only the oysters, it is the shellfish plateaus. It has at least 4 different kinds of oysters, east coast and west coast. The clams, are always fresh and sweet. If you are lucky, there will be whelks. And those little shellfish although tough to get to, but it is unbelievably juicy and sweet. It would take some time to master the skill to take out the whole piece, be patient, it cannot be rushed, if you broke it apart inside, that awesome piece of goodies will be hidden from you forever. You know it is there but you cant get to it… tears….
And then there are sea urchin. Those little spiky creature, after ms Bloomfield’s pomegranate treatment, is even more sweet. The acidity is just the right amount. I am not ashamed to say, I want a whole one for myself, may be even two, or three if there’s no parker rolls left.
John Dory Oyster Bar | 1196 Broadway
When we heard there’s a restaurant opened by a Din Tai Fung veterans, the first thought was we must go. We missed that famous Xiao Long Bao, which could very well be call a Taiwanese National Treasure. If anyone have been to the real deal in Taiwan, it is an experience hard to forget or compare. Every little soup dumpling is handmade in all steps, paper thin dumpling skin wrap up the juice filled goodies inside. Every “bao” is identical, with same amount of meat, soup, the size of the dumpling wrap. Tt has to be 18 folds, not one more, not one less. Which is the established amount of folds make the dumpling versatile to hold up the soup inside, but not make the top folded portion doughy. The dumpling skin although paper thin, but it will not break when you pick it up with chopstick. It is not only an art form, but also a science. The Famous Din Tai Fung own it; they are the grand master of soup dumpling. Yes, there are of course other place that are outstanding in their crafts too, but when compared to Din Tai Fung, they are still missing a beat. Din Tai Fung has a very successful branch in Los Angeles, opened one location after another (currently have 9 if including Seattle). It is operated by a family member of the Taiwan Original. However, the craft did not match up with the name. Our visit to LA was unfortunately a disappointment. Carma in West Village also claimed to have a Din Tai Fung former executive chef in their roaster, but we did not find any evidence of such. There are a lot of Chinese restaurants in town that advertise their soup dumpling, but very few look like the real thing, even less come close to taste or feel like it should. Most of them fall apart upon picking it up, many of them are too doughy, even more that don’t really have any soup inside. And don’t even get me started with those humongous ones that need a straw… One Bao after another, we tried. Yes, we have long seek those perfect little soup pillows, and our search might be over soon.
Pinch Chinese opened in Soho earlier this year. It replaced what was Peek (a long time Thai restaurant). And their soup dumplings, were very much on point.
We learnt from somewhere that Pinch Chinese is run by a former Din Tai Fung Head Chef. We were a little skeptical at first. After all, we have had quite a few disappointments. In the first few months of opening, there’s always a line at dinner time. They did not have reservation system in place, and might have underestimated the power of “Din Tai Fung’s name” in this town. Several months later, Pinch is on Resy, and with touch of a button, we were there. Gone is the awkward semi-transplanted bathroom, the long shape room is now brighter, and red themed. The large portrait photo deco on the wall are pasted together with newspaper. To be honest, it is rather scary. Especially the wall in the front of restaurant is actually a choking help manual. We don’t know the significant of these people, I just feel awkward. But the old lady on the drinks menu made me smile. Perhaps it is because the subtitle said “Drink while there is still wine”. For me I think the translation should be “Tonight we drink”.
Of course we started with Soup dumplings. Out of the 6 different choice, we chose pork, and a pork with seafood. We were hoping the pork with seafood would be with crab or crab roe, which is the way it should be, but they turned out to be pork and fish. Too bad Pinch does not have crab roe, but the pork soup dumpling is almost as good as the Taiwanese original. Exactly 18 folds, easily pick up with chopsticks but not easily broken. With a little bit of vinegar and shredded ginger, the whole thing went head first into my big mouth. One bite, the soup inside burst out, and I am swimming in a cream pork broth. The meat and fat inside was just perfect balance; I wish there would be a little more soup. But I dare to say this is by far the best soup dumpling I had in United States. The closest to the real deal (the pork seafood was not in comparison). Order the Pork dumplings, I stand behind the original.
Xiao Lung Bao was just the start. And everything that came after were excellent as well. They are exactly the way they are meant to be. I was actually surprise of how authentic our meal was. One would say, New York has a huge Chinese population, the biggest Chinatown in the World (outside of China), how hard would it be to find authentic Chinese. Actually, you would be surprise. Many Chinese restaurants have been Americanized, especially in Manhattan. To find that authentic “home” taste, we often have to go to outer borough. And there are very few “FINE” authentic Chinese cuisine. Unlike the other Asian cuisine, Chinese somehow always went into a bargain deal war with each other. Instead of refining the product, Chinese chose to lower the price to complete, at the same time, lowered the quality. It is sad, but it is a fact. Thanks to Pinch, I now have a Chinese restaurant that I would be proud to recommend to others for dinner (dim sum is another story).
Pinch Chinese | 177 Prince St | May 2017
