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“The Monday Room”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Night Out New American Soho Moderate Great

as also a most gracious guide to our night of food and wine.

To jump-start our palates, he started us out not with sparkling wine but with a sherry, a Manzanilla Pasada from Bodegas Hidalgo in Jerez. It was really the perfect way to begin. Once we were sherried up, we moved onto a great starter wine, a fresh Vin de Savoie, Chinin Veilles Vignes, from Raymond Quenard (2005) which was served with several sheer slices of pink Tasmanian sea trout topped with piccalilli, a cool condiment originally used to top a Ploughman’s lunch of English cheddar on rustic white. Brad’s version, made from a tiny dice of cauliflower, cucumber, and onion with a few types of vinegar, Aleppo chili, turmeric, and ginger, properly tips the scales on this dish to balances out the richness of the fish. The fish also came with what Brad calls a “three slice pile-up.” This turned out to be three thick cut slices of country bread, grilled and brushed with lemon and nutty brown butter. It’s insanely good. Our sea trout and bread extravaganza was followed by a brilliant “salad” of butternut squash—wide wedges of sweet squash are roasted down and lightly pickled so they have just a sly tang, and then tossed with mirin-glazed pecans and thin slivers of mild cotija cheese. To drink, Ruben served us a Pacherenc Du Vic-Bilh Sec, from Chateau Montus, Alain Brumont (2003), a slightly heavier white wine than the Vin de Savoie that still had enough acidity to tackle the fish, but not too much to overpower in combination with the piccallili.

What came next truly bowled us over: glazed eel with pickled bean sprouts and a soft boiled quail egg, paired with a beautifully balanced Pinot Gris (2004) from The Four Graces in the Willamette Valley. This course was the most exquisite one served. First, the pairing was terrific; the bright tight notes of the wine feed off the broad base notes of the glazed eel. And about that eel: Wow. Brad braises the eel and then treats it to an exotic spiced glaze that Sanjit said reminded him of food back home in his native Sri Lanka. The glazed eel, which surprisingly has a similar texture and taste to short ribs—meaty and rich—gets topped with pungent pickled sprouts and a tiny little adorable hard-boiled quail egg. Eat it all up in one bite (it’s served on an oversized spoon). It’s okay to moan. We each were served two of these lovin’ spoonfuls and were reduced to nur ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in Soho :
+ Balthazar   + Savoy   + Blue Ribbon   + Lupa   + Public   + Kittichai   + Lure Fishbar   + Barmarche   + Porcupine-- CLOSED   + Ama   + La Esquina   + Jerry's- Closed Now   + The Tasting Room   + Papatzul   + Shorty's.32   + The Monday Room   + Ed's Lobster Bar   + Aurora   + Provence   + Tailor   + Hundred Acres   + Delicatessen, By Guest Reviewer Julie Besonen   + The Mott   + The Dutch   + Cherrywood, by Guest Reviewer Dara Pollak   


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