New York: Empellon Cocina (February 2017)

My spouse and I dined at Empellon Cocina for dinner on a Saturday evening in mid-February 2017. (“Empellon” means “a push or shove” in Spanish.) The restaurant is open for dinner only on Tuesdays through Saturdays (closed on Sundays and Mondays). You can reserve a regular table using the Open Table reservation system, but to reserve one of the four spots at the chef’s table for the tasting menu, you must make (and pre-pay) for your reservation using the Tock online system. Chef/owner Alex Stupak, a former pastry chef, has worked at NYC’s wd-50 (now closed) and Chicago’s Alinea. He operates Empellon Restaurant Group, which includes Cocina, Al Pastor, Taqueria, and the soon-to-open Empellon.

When the East Village’s Cocina was renovated in April 2015, the restaurant built a special table that overlooks the kitchen where two to four guests can interact with the kitchen staff while dining on multi-course tasting menus. You can choose a smaller 18-course 1.5-hour $95 menu (available weeknights at 7:30 pm or weekends at 6:00 pm), or the longer 22-course 2.5-hour $165 menu (only available weekends at 8:00 pm). Accompanying beverage pairings are priced at $30 and $50, respectively. The high-top chef’s table is separated from the regular dining room by an open bookshelf, and it is a table, meaning that it does not border the kitchen as a chef’s counters would, but instead allows room between the table and counter for your personal chef to plate and present. Jason Beberman (formerly of Dressler, Miller’s Tavern, and Gramercy Tavern) was our chef for the evening, and he was informative and personable. 

Empellon serves Mexican-inspired cuisine a la carte that you can order a la carte or as a 3-course $42 per person tasting (which includes guacamole, one starter, one main course, and one dessert). A large format meal, which must be pre-ordered, feeds 6 to 8 guests, and includes a whole roasted pork shoulder served with tortillas, fried rice, chicharron, black beans, pickled red onions, mixed salad, and salsa. Reportedly, Cocina boasts NYC’s largest selection of tequila and mescal. Our tasting menu was inventive and unique and employed a variety of ingredients, preparations, and plating. A few ingredients displayed nixtamalization (an age-old alkaline chemical reaction that renders normally indigestible raw field corn edible). Our list of courses follows, but without too much details so it won’t spoil the surprise:

1.        Finger lime candy

2.        Conchas (“shells”) with cultured butter (fantastic rolls and butter with an incredible maize shot)

3.        Natas (“cream”) with uni
(Although a luxury item, uni is not my favorite ingredient, but this was excellent!)

4.        Savory rice pudding with caviar
(After eating the tasty uni dish, I thought to myself, “If only Chef could make me like caviar like he just did with sea urchin”, and Wish granted! My caviar dish was delicious!)

5.        Gordita inflada (“inflated”) with salsa verde mousse

6.        Trout flauta (This was one of the most memorable dishes, because it included trout sushi wrapped with trout skin and then topped with trout roe: it was like eating trout three ways! Somehow Chef managed to make the crispy shell stay together even when we had to bite it in two.)

7.        Kumamoto oyster with nixtamalized popcorn kernels

8.        Pozole explosion (sort of like a Mexican soup dumpling)

9.        Rice and beans (nice and crispy and served in slices)

10.     Burrito ends with sour cream and caviar (My spouse is still proclaiming the simple brilliance of this dish and wondering why other chefs don’t offer it!)

11.     “Scotch” egg (but with chorizo)

12.     Grilled chicken with “mole” (Mexican bittersweet chocolate sauce)

13.     Salsa (customized with our choice of peppers, garlic, onion) and served with masa crisps (made with the largest “molcajete y tejolote” [mortar and pestle] that we have ever seen!)

14.     Quesadilla with chicharron and “quelites” (greens)

15.     Inverse tacos al pastor (pork and pineapple from the “trompo” [rotisserie])

16.     Hoja santa “sacred” leaf summer roll (We thought that this licorice-tasting brilliant dish was the lone dessert course, but it served as more of a palate cleanser before the actual sweet offerings, which were terrific!)

17.     Ice cream tacos

18.     Orange sorbet with sal de gusanos (a little bite in an elaborate presentation to end this phenomenal meal)

Our extended tasting menu dinner at Empellon Cocina was one of our all-time favorite meals – we loved the casual atmosphere, the constant personal interaction with the chef, and the unique ingredients, innovative dishes, and varied plating and presentation. Highly recommended!