New York City: Atera (August 2016)

My spouse and I visited Atera for dinner on a Saturday evening in mid-August 2016. Atera is open for dinner on Tuesdays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays and Mondays). We made a reservation online using the Open Table system, and we were required to enter our credit card number in order to hold our booking. In the event of an emergency, you can cancel up to 72 hours prior; after that time, you can transfer your reservation to another party. A meal at Atera generally takes 2.5 to 3 hours, so there are two nightly seatings at 6:00 and 9:30. The restaurant requests prompt arrival (comparing their dining experience to the theatre) because all guests are served the same items at the same time. Atera has no dress code; in fact, their confirmation email reads “come as you like”; still, most guests dress for their evening.

Atera, which opened in 2012, is located on Worth Street in Tribeca. The restaurant offers no glaring signage from the street; just a low-key entry shared with a few other businesses. Our confirmation email said that there is no sign for Atera – yet there is a small sign – and to look for the blue awning – but there was no awning, blue or otherwise – when we visited. A basement cocktail bar is open to dinner guests only. (At one time in previous years, the bar was open to the public, but no longer.) The chic space features wood paneling and potted foliage (one wall contains an arrangement of potted plants to resemble a forest). Guests dine at a U-shaped slate-colored concrete counter open to the kitchen without the traditional finery of tablecloths, menus, and sometimes even without utensils. Frosted windows prevent passersby from gazing in. Even the restroom is spotlessly maintained, with a staff member freshening it between each guest’s use.

Atera describes itself as an immersive sensory dining experience. The Danish chef trained at El Bulli, Mugaritz, and Noma, and he serves modern American cuisine. Their 18-bite (“blind” so you do not make any choices) tasting menu (the only menu option) costs $235 per person, which includes gratuity but not tax or beverages. We ordered one nonalcoholic “temperance” cocktail pairing, which was amazing in both the creativity and complexity of drinks, and in the flair and flourish with which they were prepared and delivered. Atera holds two Michelin stars.

Our tasting menu courses included the following dishes:

1.        Lime/juniper drink with varying temperatures

2.        Waffle with thinly sliced mushroom and summer truffle

3.        Foie gras with corn and lemon verbena

4.        California grapes that were really olives

5.        Golden osetra caviar with beer and pistachio ice cream

6.        Mackerel with cucumber and horseradish

7.        Oyster with kohlrabi and thyme

8.        Lobster with celeriac, tomato, yuzu

9.        Whole wheat batard with butter and cheese

10.     Summer vegetables with quail egg yolk and cheddar

11.     Squab with chanterelle, cherry, and black currant leather

12.     Beef with zucchini and garlic scape

13.     Toasted hay with raspberry and elderflower

14.     Chocolate-covered rhubarb ice cream popsicle

15.     Mini-desserts: chocolate, blueberry tart, miso caramel, orange flower, and flodeboller

16.     Extra dessert: mini-chocolate birthday cake

Our temperance pairing included the following drinks:

1.        Cham”pine” with douglas fir

2.        Grapefruit “martini” with lemon verbena

3.        Cucumber fizz with lime, seaweed

4.        “No”groni with juniper gin, quinine “Campari”, sultana “vermouth”

5.        Cote de “beet” with black currant, thyme

6.        Milkshake with yuzu, green almond

We enjoyed our dinner at Atera; in particular, we loved sitting at the counter to observe the chefs plating dishes, and the amazingly inventive non-alcoholic pairing. Also, everyone at the restaurant repeatedly wished us a Happy Birthday, which made the evening even more memorable.

http://ny.eater.com/2016/5/10/11652078/atera-masters-the-art-of-the-non-alcoholic-drink-pairing

Atera’s Temperance Pairing—a series of virgin libations based on classic cocktails. New executive chef Ronny Emborg came up with the idea, which was inspired by the common Danish tradition of pairing juices with meals. Atera’s bar director Nick Duble says that rather than use juices, they decided to approach non-alcoholic pairings with the history of American cocktail culture in mind. The result is a rather impressive recreation of boozy beverages like the Negroni, Champagne, and glass of Côte de Beaune. Whether diners ask for an alcoholic or temperance pairing, they get the same dinner menu. And like any good beverage pairing, the Atera team designed each drink—wine, cocktail and mocktail—to draw out key flavors in the dish with which it is paired. Duble’s objective with the mocktail pairing was to go beyond what people expect of an alcohol-free cocktail. The challenge was using non-alcoholic ingredients to recreate some of the most familiar alcoholic beverages around. Their Nogroni was a particular doozy as the Negroni is a combination of three alcoholic ingredients. Over several weeks of research and development, Duble and his team tweaked ideas for ingredients that could, for example, recreate bitter Campari. Building the same acidity as a full-bodied red wine for their "Côte de Beet" mocktail was another undertaking. It’s a combination of black currents and beets that are aged in toasted oak. During the tasting menu, it’s served with the final main course—lamb.

New York City: Brushstroke (August 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed lunch at Brushstroke on a Saturday afternoon in mid-August 2016. You can make a reservation to dine via telephone or by using the online Open Table system. Note that if you wish to dine at Mr. Ichimura (a slightly more exclusive part of Brushstroke), you must telephone to make a reservation (you cannot reserve Mr. Ichimura online). Brushstroke is open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays). We reserved an 11:30 am spot for lunch, which is the restaurant’s opening time, but the doors were still locked when we arrived. We actually had to call the host and asked to be let in! However, it was all uphill from that slightly rocky start.

Brushstroke, which opened in 2011, is located in TriBeCa at the corner of Hudson and Duane Streets. This location previously housed restaurants such as Danube and Secession, which were also created by chef owner David Bouley. Namesake restaurant Bouley is located just across the street. David Bouley trained great chefs like Dan Barber, Anita Lo, and Eric Ripert. David Bouley currently operates Brushstroke, Bouley, and private event spaces Bouley Botanical and Bouley Test Kitchen.

The Brushstroke space is elegant, decorated in steel, stone, and wood, reminiscent of a Shinto shrine, with rice paper curtains on the bottom half of the windows, so that light can still enter but gawkers on the street cannot observe. A large chef’s counter (where we sat) dominates the dining room, and if you choose to sit here, you can observe the workings of the kitchen. Many tables of different sizes and shapes are available if you choose to dine traditionally.

Brushstroke features Japanese kaiseki cuisine, which serves a series of focused, intricately composed dishes. Instructors from the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, Japan, prepare the food. Two tasting menus are available along with an a la carte sushi menu for the bar. Brushstroke has a full bar, and we ordered a Japanese beer and a non-alcoholic elderflower drink to start.

We ordered the lunch kaiseki menu, which included four courses for $45. First, we received an interesting divided plate that contained a 3-item amuse bouche. Next, for our Zensai course, we ordered the scallop (with orange clam, trout caviar, green apple foam, and served in a clear dessert-type glass) and the sashimi assortment (which was worth the $35 supplement). For our shusai (main dishes), we ordered the Chilean sea bass (with tomato yuan-yaki and brown shrimp), and the octopus (with squid ink sauce and leek vinegar). Our main rice entrees were the beef cheek (with egg-don) and the sasanoha sushi (with smoked salmon, and red miso kobia wrapped in banana leaves). Brushstroke serves desserts a la carte; they are not part of the tasting menu. We could not decide between the pudding and the green tea ice cream. Although we ordered one, the restaurant delivered both because we were celebrating a birthday.

Our kaiseki lunch at Brushstroke was superb! It was an amazing presentation of unique ingredients and dishes in a beautiful atmosphere.

 

New York City: The Spotted Pig (May 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed brunch at The Spotted Pig on a Sunday afternoon in late May 2016. The restaurant is located at the corner of West 11^th Street and Greenwich Street in the West Village. The Spotted Pig does not accept reservations, but their website provides you with a neighborhood map and suggestions on where to have a drink while you wait for your table (such as the Rusty Knot, Perry St, and The Other Room, all of which are located within a 3-minute walk of the Spotted Pig). The restaurant serves lunch on weekdays, brunch on weekends, and dinner daily, in addition to a late afternoon bar menu, and of course, drinks. Fortunately, we did not have to wait for a table on the afternoon that we dined, probably because it was a holiday weekend and most Manhattanites had fled the city.

The Spotted Pig is British Chef April Bloomfield’s first Manhattan restaurant; it is a gastropub that features “nose-to-tail” eating (using all parts of the animal). The Spotted Pig opened in 2004, and it has held a Michelin star for many years since that time. Chef also runs The Breslin and the John Dory Oyster Bar (both at the Ace Hotel), and Salvation Taco (at the Pod 39 Hotel), as well as a restaurant in San Francisco. "Food + Wine" magazine once named April Bloomfield as its “Best New Chef”. We have visited both The Breslin and Salvation Taco (see our reviews on TripAdvisor from November 2014 and April 2014, respectively).

The Spotted Pig is located in a corner building, and the restaurant space covers two floors that offer more than 100 seats. (When the restaurant first opened, only the street-level dining room and bar were available, but then the owner expanded the space to include the second-floor dining room and bar.) The greenery/foliage/flowers outside the restaurant are an attractive site in the neighborhood. Both floors contain a bar with barstool seating, as well as tables. Note that the tables in this restaurant are all quite low, and the seating for those low tables are short padded bar stools. For this reason, we do not feel that this restaurant is quite handicap-accessible. (A member of our family has some mobility issues, and we would not be able to dine comfortably with her at The Spotted Pig. In fact, NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni once suggested that the restaurant provide guests with a special Kama Sutra handout to instruct diners on the contortions necessary to get into and out of their seats! Hilarious but true!) The décor at the restaurant is quirky and kitschy and covers every available surface, with framed prints, decorative plates, mirrors, and pig memorabilia accenting the dark wood floors, wooden stools with colorful cushioned tops, pressed tin ceilings, and many windows; the resulting effect is warm, cozy, colorful, and cramped, yet bustling and fun. The second-floor restroom is unisex, yet has two stalls, so someone of the opposite sex could be utilizing the stall directly next to yours, which felt a bit strange (probably due to the extremely close quarters, the very narrow stalls, and the shared sink).

The Spotted Pig serves British and Italian-influenced food. As starters, we shared the chicken liver toast (chunky chicken liver pate spread on crusty bread) and the deviled eggs (topped with chopped chives and chervil and sprinkled with paprika). For our entrees, we ordered the pork rillettes (a jar of meat spread served alongside mustard, pickled vegetables, and sliced toasted bread) and the burger and fries (the beef was topped with Roquefort cheese and served alongside an impressive pile of impossibly thin rosemary shoestring fries). Fortunately, when the runner delivered our entrees, she instructed us to mix the rillettes thoroughly; otherwise, we might have tried to spread a bit of the fat and the shredded pork separately on the bread. After the two textures mixed, the fat softened and blended nicely with the meat to a most delicious consistency and taste! For dessert, we shared the rhubarb tart (served with crème fraiche, nuts, and caramel drizzle).

We have been trying to dine at The Spotted Pig for years, but we never wanted to wait for a table. It was fantastic that we experienced a good meal on a less-busy-than-usual weekend!