OK, so in my last post I only gave Artisinal one sentence, and after having had diner there, I realized that it probably deserved a whole post. So, we went to the most awesome resteraunt, with the possible exceptions of Fogo de Chao or Panahar.
My first course was the best fondue I have ever had. It was Foundue d’Artisinal. That’s their fondue that has 100 (30-40) cheeses. I find it interesting that when we make fondue, we use 3 or 4 cheeses, and I would never, in my right mind, even think that 10 could go well together. However, Artisinal proved me wrong with the most delicous fondue I have had, as far as I can remember (no offense, dad).
Then came the onion soup. Probably some of the best I’ve had, except for in Belgium. It was salty, but not too salty, which is always a complaint with onion soup. It was served in a clay pot, with the cheese dripping down the sides. The cheese had a perfect brown on it, and you kept getting cheese as you progressed throughout the soup.
However, about 5 minutes into my Hors D’Oevre, out comes my dinner. I was confused, thinking that by no means in a french resteraunt would they bring you one dish before you were finished with the previous course, bbut as I pushed my soup aside and started on my steak, I realized that by the time I was done, the soup was the perfect temperature. Anyways, the steak was served in a delicious sauce, and cooked perfectly medium rare. I often find that when I order a steak medium rare it comes way to dry and tough, so I normally order them medium, and find that they’re well cooked. However, I had faith in these french peoples, and ordered up a medium rare steak frites. It came perfectly done, with perfect color throughout. The sauce in which it was served was also perfect, with the perfect compromise of sweet and salty. I think that’s also the one time I’ve eaten in a fancy resteraunt without feeling strange that my meal came with fries.
Before I get to dessert, I must tell you of a mishap that occured. My brother and I have what’s called G6PD Blood Enzyme Deficiency, which basically means that we can’t have fava beans. Ben is also vegitarian, and while everyone else ordered steak frites, he got Gniocci. Guess what was in the gniocci, besides tasty puffs of potatoey goodness? Fava beans. Danny, the scientist that he is, called over the Mâitre D’, and told him of this strange “disease.” (It’s like a cross between a disease and an allergy…I think) He was very nice, and even gave ben and I a tour of the kitchen, due entirely to the fact that danny “casually” mentioned the fact that ben and I watch “those chef shows.” The kitchen was amazing. It made Iron chef look organized, because when you think about it, Bobby Flay, or Masaharu Morimoto, or whoever’s up, has a whole hour to creat 20 meals. Within an hour in the Artisinal kitchen, they must have about an hour to prepare 100 dishes, or more. Granted, the Iron Chefs make their dishes from start to finish, and ingredients like sauce and broths are made ahead of time, but still. It’s insane. The head chef, a large man yelling out stuff into a microphone, explained to us in a stong (french?) accent where everything happened. Over all, I’m glad they didn’t put favas on the menu.
And finally, dessert. I got the best cheesecake that I have ever had. It was perfectly smooth, the crust was not too crunchy nor too soft, and…well, there wasn’t much else to it. Perfect cheesecake. If any of you are around the New York area and have $40 to get one of the best meals you’ve ever had (the Prix Fixe is $34), I would reccomend heading to Artisinal.