Above is a picture of us all at Jon's bar, Highline, where we were celebrating Mike's birthday.
Before he came, Mike had two specific restaurants that he wanted to eat at while in the city (the second of which I was told I couldn't dine at until he got here, which I reluctantly agreed to...).
The first request was a lunch at Jean-Georges. After hearing Jon and I rave about our first lunch experience, Mike wanted to see what all the hype was about.
Unfortunately, this visit wasn't nearly as memorable. In fact, I would rather not remember this meal, as much of it was just plain bad.
We got off to a pretty unpleasant start with the 'Chilled Asparagus Soup with Brie and Lemon'. The dish arrived as pictured below with four asparagus tips, four ridiculously small pieces of brie, some microgreens, and lemon zest. The dish was finished with the pouring of an unnecessarily bright green asparagus puree, which was at a chilly temperature of about 38-40 degrees Fahrenheit.
It's hard to explain what was wrong with this soup, but I'll try.
To start, the soup was poorly seasoned, plain and simple. It was surprisingly bland and the texture was inconsistent and watery. Many people at the table mentioned that the soup tasted like grass, which was true. And the lemon referred to in the title of the dish must have only been speaking of the lemon zest you can see in the bowl, as the soup lacked a much needed level of acidity.
Moving on to the appetizers, we ordered 4 different dishes (2 of which were split into half sizes.)
Starting with the plate being touched and going clockwise is the steamed artichoke, then the tuna tartare, foie gras brulee, calamari, more tuna, and more foie gras.
The artichoke was no better than the dozens of artichokes I have made myself in my own kitchen. It was just a plain old steamed artichoke, a trained monkey could cook one of those. I guess the remoulade it was served with had 24k gold flakes in it to warrant the $8 price tag.
The tuna was tasty but not nearly as good as I had remembered. The ginger marinade served with the tuna was more sharp this time around and completely overpowered the fish.
The foie gras didn't compare to the first time I tried the dish and I instantly knew why. Being that we were a table of six and we only ordered one foie gras appetizer, the kitchen (without asking) split the dish into two smaller portions. This completely threw off the balance of flavors because the two 'half' pieces of foie gras were both covered with a brulee topping, increasing the ratio of sugar to foie. Each bite was so sweet, and the flavor of the liver was drowned in the sweetness of the caramelized sugar.
Lastly the calamari, which was no better than the average calamari you would get at any seafood restaurant in Florida. I can confidently say that the calamari at Gold Coast Seafood, where I used to work in Boca Raton blows this calamari out of the water (and you get five times as much).
Moving on to the main course, I ordered the slow roasted hake with cabbage, bacon, and spicy tomato.
The fish was cooked well and was very tender, however the meat was under-seasoned and bland. The tomato sauce lacked the 'spicy' component the menu description promised, and the bacon wasn't close to being crispy, which it should have been to add some texture contrast to the dish. The chicken dish that Tim ordered was far better, and I instantly regretted my decision.
The best part of the meal was dessert (which isn't saying much). I had the coffee and chocolate dessert.
The most memorable thing about this dish was the incredibly airy cocoa nib sorbet, which was more of a combination of a foam and a sorbet. It was so light and airy and melted as soon as you put it in your mouth. The dish was just too little too late, and this mediocre meal has turned me off from lunch at Jean-Georges. Luckily, I've finally found The Spotted Pig.
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