New York City: Bouley (August 2012)

My spouse and I visited David Bouley’s 1-Michelin star namesake restaurant for Saturday lunch in mid-August 2012. We made a reservation through Open Table 30 days prior to the day that we dined. The restaurant called us 2 days prior to reconfirm, and to remind us that jackets were required for men. (Although most men did wear jackets, not every man did.) The vestibule/entrance to the restaurant is filled with shelves and shelves of real apples, producing an amazing smell! After walking through the entryway, you come upon the hostess stand, which is located in a sort of lounge/salon area with small seating groups. It didn’t appear possible to eat in this area, however, and there was no bar present, either. Although we arrived right on time for our reservation, we were asked to sit in the lounge area for a few minutes. (We weren’t offered drinks, though.) The main dining room on the street level is quite attractive, with high decorative ceilings (the lounge area contained decorative ceilings as well, but those were completely different in style) and lots of flower arrangements. We were seated near the back of the main dining room, and the noise level was louder than we expected. Restrooms (which are nicely decorated) are located on the basement level, along with another dining room. Although the basement level was attractive, reminiscent of a wine cellar, we felt that we would have been unhappy to be seated down there instead of in the main dining room. We elected to order the 5-course prix-fixe lunch menu for $55; other options included 3 courses for $49, or completely a la carte, but clearly the 5-course menu was the best value. The two items served as amuse bouche were quite tasty – a tomato coulis soup and a flatbread with potato puree and caviar. We chose a tomato/strawberry salad (which looked beautiful but tasted rather ordinary despite the use of lavender/vanilla oil) and sashimi trio as our appetizers (a better choice than the tomato salad), followed by mushroom fricassee (many different foraged types of mushrooms, oddly accented by tuna slices) and crab/porcini flan (very unusual, completely liquidy rather than the semi-solid panna cotta state/texture that we were expecting, served in a small copper dish with a lid; however, the servers did not remove the lid for us, nor did they clear it after we uncovered the dish, making us wonder where we should put the lid). For our entrees, we ordered veal with polenta and mushrooms and salmon. One really odd thing happened after our two entrée plates were delivered – about 5 minutes later, a server came around and deposited four tiny bowls on the table between us (and the table was already crowded); two bowls were for each of us, one containing mashed potatoes and the other containing a type of cabbage salad. The bowls were made of crystal, which didn’t match the entrée plates, but it just seemed very strange to be given accompaniments in that way; our entrees already contained a smidge of this and a brushstroke of that, so the potatoes and salad weren’t necessary and cheapened the overall quality of the food. After our entrees, we each received a blueberry sorbet and flaxseed gelato, followed by desserts of a cheese plate (even though it was simply presented, it was one of the best cheese samplings that we have had anywhere!) and a warm pear and chocolate pastry. Because we were celebrating a birthday, we received the third dessert item as well – a chocolate soufflé served on a coffee cloud. A 3-tiered serving tray of mignardises followed dessert; however, the mignardises were served while our three empty dessert plates were still on the table and also when one of us was not present at the table. It took a long time for our bill to arrive; we had to summon it when it seemed that it would never appear. The bread choices offered by this restaurant are most impressive – we were served two tiny rolls of different varieties while we ate our amuse bouche, and later, a bread cart was rolled around, with the server slicing approximately 8 different types of bread, all of which contained interesting and varied ingredients (pistachio-hazelnut, for example). Along with the apples in the entryway, the bread cart is the one stand-out memory of this meal (I only wish it were the food!). After our entrees came a blueberry sorbet and flaxseed gelato, followed by desserts of a cheese plate (even though it was simply presented, it was one of the best cheese samplings that we have had anywhere!) and a warm pear and chocolate pastry. Because we were celebrating a birthday, we received the third dessert item as well – a chocolate soufflé served on a coffee cloud. A 3-tiered serving tray of mignardises followed dessert; however, the mignardises were served while our three empty dessert plates were still on the table and also when one of us was not present at the table. Our drink glasses were often empty, so service wasn’t perfect; the three identical beers that we ordered were served in two noticeably different types of glasses. Portions were not large, but with 5 courses and all the hard-to-resist bread, we were satisfyingly full at the end of our meal. It took a long time for our bill to arrive; we had to summon it when it seemed that it would never appear. (The restaurant delivers the bill in a sort of wooden writing desk-type box; we wondered if they didn’t have multiple quantities of these so that they had to wait for one customer/table to pay their bill before they could deliver it to the next customer/table. The restaurant sent us home with a small loaf of lightly flavored lemon bread, and we received a thank you email for dining there, which was a nice touch that doesn’t happen at every restaurant. Our meal at Bouley wasn’t the best meal of our lives, but it offers a very affordable lunch tasting menu with quality food presented in attractive surroundings.