New York City: Jungsik (August 2017)

Jungsik – We’ll Never Forget the “Baby Bananas” Course!

My spouse and I dined at Jungsik for dinner on a Saturday night in mid-August 2017. Jungsik is open daily for dinner only. We booked our table 30 days in advance using the online Open Table reservation system. The restaurant has held 2 Michelin stars since 2014 (elevated from its first star in 2013).

Jungsik opened in TriBeCa at the intersection of Harrison and Hudson Streets in September 2011 in the space formerly occupied by Chanterelle. Seoul Korea hosts a second outpost of Jungsik that opened in February 2009. Chef-owner Jung Sik Yim owns the restaurant, and its name is a play on words; in Korean, “Jung Sik” means “formal dinner”. She attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park NY, and she has worked at Manhattan’s Aquavit and Bouley.

The restaurant’s corner location allows muted exposure to natural light. You enter the restaurant past a small bar (with perhaps four seats) before you reach the main dining room. A central service table accented by hanging lights enclosed in a metal frame divides the two sides of the spacious room. A rear dining room offers additional seating. In the main room, plush ivory banquettes line the perimeter, fronted by tablecloth-clad tables and comfortable ivory leather armchairs. The four corner tables offer L-shaped banquettes and the most privacy. (We were pleased that the host granted our request for one of these tables.)

Jungsik serves modern contemporary Korean cuisine in one of two tasting menu formats. (Note that Jungsik once offered a la carte dining, but it has been discontinued.) The seasonal menu offers a few choices for its six courses for $125 (wine pairing is $105 additional, plus you can supplement with $15 truffle ice cream, $40 royal bibimbap, or $150 gujeolpan [a platter of nine delicacies]). We chose the more extensive 9-course, chef-selected signature menu for $200 (wine pairing is $150 additional). We passed on the wine pairings, however, because we were celebrating a birthday, we could not resist trying the cleverly named drink called “Live One Hundred Years”. Our courses from the signature menu follows.

·         Amuse Bouche (five different “banchan” all delivered together “bansang” style and placed in front of each guest on tiny pedestals of varying height; it is an impressive presentation that sets the stage of expectation and anticipation for the rest of the meal.)

1.       Caviar atop fatty tuna belly and crispy quinoa (I am generally not a caviar fan, but this dish was delish!)

2.       Octopus charred and served with ssamjang aioli (I sometimes find octopus tentacle too chewy, but this version was braised for an hour to make it super-soft and yummy. I appreciate when a skillful chef makes me love ingredients and components that I normally shy away from.)

3.       Thinly sliced wagyu, atop which our server poured a steaming dashi broth

4.       Branzino (Served atop white kimchi, this dish was accompanied by a tiny vial of pressed sesame oil that the chef personally brings back from Korea.)

5.       Tuna kimbap (Korean sushi rolls)

6.       Foie gras mandoo (dumpling)

7.       Galbi (American wagyu topped with fava bean and herb – an elegant composed version of Korean barbecue.)

8.       Spring garden (A pre-dessert/palate cleanser of white asparagus ice cream atop colorful fruit and flowers.)

9.       Baby bananas (Spoiler Alert: We will never forget how they delivered the tiny bananas set within an actual fruit basket to make us think that they were real, when in fact they were painted white chocolate shells that contained a Baileys banana cake, served with coffee ice cream and crunchy bits.)

10.    Omija Bingsu (Magnolia berry granita with lemon basil sorbet and rhubarb syrup)

·         Mignardises/macarons

We loved our haute Korean” dinner at Jungsik – we are still talking about the “baby bananas” course!

New York City (August 2017)

My spouse and I visited New York City for a weekend in mid-August 2017 to celebrate my birthday. We stayed downtown near the Financial District at the Millennium Hilton, where we coincidentally stayed last year on my birthday weekend. On our previous visit, we toured the 9-11 Museum and World Trade Center memorial site and the Woolworth Building. On this visit, we spent time learning about Battery Park (including Castle Clinton, the WWII wall, and the Seaglass carousel), and we walked around the tip of the island past the Staten Island Ferry terminal and the terminal for the boat to Governor’s Island (nearly to the Heliport). We walked through the Oculus and its shopping mall to reach the downtown location of Eataly, where we ate lunch at Osteria della Pace. We stopped at Fraunces Tavern and the Irish American for drinks, and we ate a Laotian lunch at Khe-Yo (by Marc Forgione) and an amazing dinner (including “baby bananas”) at Jungsik. We finished the weekend with a family dinner gathering.
Hotel:

• Millennium Hilton Link to my review

Restaurants:

• Osteria della Pace Link to my review
• Khe-Yo Link to my review
• Jungsik Link to my review
• Fraunces Tavern Link to my review
• Irish American Link to my review

Activity:

• Battery Park Link to my review
• Charging Bull
• Oculus at the World Trade Center Link to my review

New York City: Atomix (March 2019)

Atomix - Distinguishes Itself from Other Chef’s Tasting Experiences

My spouse and I dined at Atomix for dinner on a Saturday evening in early March 2019. Atomix (pronounced ah-TOE-mix) is open for dinner on Tuesdays through Saturdays (closed Sundays and Mondays). We booked our spot online one month in advance using the pre-paid Tock reservation system. (For example, March reservations became available on February 1; April reservations became available on March 1, and so on.) This very popular restaurant always sells out quickly. Using Tock (set up an account ahead of time, so that on the day you reserve, you can just select a day/time and press a button), you must pre-pay for the entire meal ($225 per person, which includes tax and gratuity). On the night that you dine, you pay separately for your beverages.

Atomix opened in 2018 in a townhouse on East 30^th Street. Upon climbing the steps to the brownstone, we had a difficult time choosing which door to enter (there is no sign or mark indicating behind which door is the restaurant). After picking the correct door, we saw that the first floor contained a bar and lounge area that serves drinks and small plates; you can dine there without a reservation. Below street level (down an elegant set of stairs) is another small lounge area that adjoins the main dining room with its 14-seat rectangular black granite counter. Before being seated for dinner, guests first enjoy some drinks and small bites in a casual group setting, although we arrived too late to partake. Diners are invited to choose a set of chopsticks from the chef’s collection, and other serveware is handmade by artisans in South Korea. Prior to each course, a tunic-clad server places a card in front of each diner that contains a Korean word describing the dish. The back of the card lists the dish’s ingredients. At the end of the evening, the restaurant packages the cards together to take home as a unique souvenir.

Atomix is operated by a husband-and-wife team, JP and Ellia. He (formerly the chef de cuisine at Jungsik, where we dined in August 2017; see our separate review) is the chef, and she manages the front-of-house. The duo also operate the more casual Atoboy (pronounced ah-TOE-boy), located just two short blocks away. (We dined at Atoboy in October 2019; see our separate review.)

Atomix serves a Korean 10-course tasting menu. Before our meal, I ordered a drink called the Samioko, made with tequila, mezcal, grapefruit, lemon, and honey. There were three splashes of sesame oil on top, so when I sipped, I tasted sweetness and immediately smelled the sesame oil. It was ingenious! But onto the food …

• We first received two amuse bouche: a crispy shell filled with crudo and a miniature truffle tart.
• At this point, we were shown some enormous black truffles and asked whether we wanted to add them to any or all of 3 courses (two of them were Jjim [snow crab] and Jorim [wagyu]) for about $20 per plate; although the price seemed reasonable, we passed on the offer).

1. "Guk" – maesaengi (seaweed), garlic custard, uni, pork broth
2. "Hwe" (Raw)– yellowtail, carrot jang, chojang (sweet chili pepper sauce), perilla leaf
3. "Jeon" (Fried) – potato, fermented yuza, herbs, flowers (THIS WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITE COURSES)
4. "Jjim"(Steam) –snow crab, grandada pepper, trout roe, tapioca, white kimchi sauce (ANOTHER FAVORITE)
   banchan: gyeranmari (a rolled omelette) with myeongran jeot cream (salted seafood)
5. "Twigim" (Fried)– soondae (blood sausage), gim (seaweed), ssamjang (spicy) dip
   banchan: mustard kimchi and cuttlefish
6. "Sukchae"(Blanched) – celeriac, buttermilk cheese, hazelnut milk, caviar
   black rice (which looked purple) with sweet potatoes, ginger, chive (WE DIDN’T LOVE THE RICE SIDE DISH)
7. "Gui" (Grilled) –snapper, kohlrabi kimchi, nuruk sauce (ANOTHER FAVORITE)
   banchan: parse (seaweed), dubu skin, wasabi (WE DIDN’T LOVE THIS BANCHAN)
8. "Jorim" (Braised) – wagyu, fermented red pepper, ginger leaf oil (YUMMO!)
   rice: white rice with an assortment of lettuces to eat ssam style (wrapped) (WE LIKED THE UNIQUENESS OF THIS SIDE DISH BUT NOT NECESSARILY THE FLAVOR)
9. "Ipgasim" (palate cleanser)– makgeolli (rice wine ice cream), quince, pear, sumac meringue
10. "Husik" (Sweet/Dessert) – red bean paste, persimmon, pine nut (WE LOVED THIS BECAUSE WE HADN’T EXPECTED THE BEAN PASTE TO BE WARM)

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Atomix; the food, atmosphere, and service were top-notch!