Jean-Georges, August 30, 2007

Jean Georges

Great lunch as usual. Gayle King was in attendance today holding court - actually, waiting for a younger girl (actress or singer perhaps?) at the big round table against the window in the Nougatine room. She sits with the regular people folks!

As much as I wanted to have the corn soup (it makes for a great photo spread with the before and after pour shots, plus its corn season of course), I went for the heirloom tomato salad. The tomato broth I had at Knife + Fork, and then the macerated tomatoes at Blue Hill at Stone Barns got me to concentrate on the season's celebrated fruit. This was also terrific. Topped with goat cheese and specked with purple basil, this was a nice start to a lunch. However...it wasn't as good as the Stone Barns version, which was almost identical. Perhaps it was the super freshness of the tomatoes (likely picked earlier that day) at Stone Barns, or maybe it was the clotted and unpleasant (to the eye at least) visual the goat cheese and tomato broth created. Either way, it goes to show that Dan Barber and crew are masters with vegetables.
Pork Schnitzel with fingerling potatoes, herbs

This was terrific. Perfectly prepared and seasoned as it should be (salty). The evenly pounded pork was accompanied by tasty fingerlings and lardons. I spritzed the lemon over all of it which gave the dish that extra added element. A solid dish and so very generic for Jean Georges, but executed flawlessly. Could we be seeing an Alsatian/German/Austrian fall ahead? I think I need to head back over to Wallse this fall...
White chocolate cake, spiced banana glaze, date ice cream

This was very good. I was nervous about the "white chocolate" as it can be so cloying. But this was just right. The spiced banana glaze was excellent and I really enjoyed the date ice cream. The chocolate soil it sat on might have been a bit too strong for the date flavor though.


Flowers were nice enough today. Matched the dessert well.