Telepan, August 24, 2007

Telepan

I had lunch with Joyce today. I'm really enjoying the time we've been able to spend together. Again, location proved to be a deciding factor in meeting up with her. I hadn't been to Telepan since January, so now was as good a time as ever to revisit Chef Bill's Upper West Side townhouse.

POACHED EGG & FRISÉE SALAD
hen of the wood mushrooms& mustard vinaigrette

If you don't know by now, the man has a way with eggs. Your best bet is to order something where eggs are present. I chose to do so by virtue of the frisee salad. Now, this is not your typical bistro-style frisee salad. This has hen of the woods mushrooms that were so fragrant and flavorful that I could still capture the taste 8 hours later. Perhaps not a good thing if you have a date that night, but that wasn't a concern for me. The poached egg broken over it all was simply fantastic. Joyce ordered the chilled tomato bread soup and was greeted with a head shaking no from our waitress. You've got to love when waitstaff steer you in the right direction. I didn't catch her name, but she was great. She decided to go with the beet green and ricotta pierogi (with roasted beets, brown butter and ricotta salata) which looked terrific...for $3 more.

PAN-ROASTED TROUT
baby spinach salad, bacon & pine nuts

When this came out, I thought they were serving me a spinach salad. The trout was completely covered by the spinach to great effect. The effect being that the spinach now had the incredible flavors of the trout and bacon permeated throughout it. The trout was perfectly cooked and of impeccable quality. Nothing earth shattering here...just great ingredients cooked perfectly. Joyce had the same and was equally pleased.

We both opted for the selection of sorbets/ice cream. Todays flavors were strawberry, mango and if I remember correctly, yogurt. It was all very good for the same reasons as the rest of the food. You can go to Telepan and really never feel guilty...the food just works and is an enjoyable dining experience.