CLICK ON THE MAIN PHOTO ABOVE TO VIEW CAPTIONS IN GALLERY FORMAT
Image 1: www.danielnyc.com/daniel Chef: Daniel Boulud / Jean François Bruel
Seasonal Tasting: $185 for 6-course; $205 for 8-course
À la carte menu: $105 for 3-course
Dinner only. Closed on Sunday and major holidays.
Image 2: This was one of my very early fine dining experience and the first one in New York City.
Image 3: There is a spacious lounge area for pre or post dinner drinks.
Image 4: We didn't have our meal in the main dining room. At that time, there was the “Daniel Skybox”, a small private room in the kitchen with a wonderful view of all the actions.
Image 5: The special menu was created by Daniel himself. They opened a new bottle of wine for each course to pair with our meal. What a V.V.I.P. treatment! Basically, it was an indulgent experience and Daniel accompanied us various times during our meal!
Image 6: They welcomed us by a 3-tier tray of amuse-bouche consisted of lobster escabeche, sardine with tomato, parmesan basket with goat cheese, hummus, and green asparagus quiche tartlet. It was an incredible eye-opener!
Image 7: We all had a different foie gras dish as the first course paired with Schoffit 2004 Gewurztraminer.
Sautéed foie gras with a wedge of peach and matchsticks of apple. Richness of foie, sweetness of peach, acidity of apple, it was a seductive combination!
Image 8: Other preparations were terrine of foie gras with figs
Image 9: ...a foie gras and duck pâté
Image 10: and a poached foie gras topped by a large shaving of autumn black truffle. Intense oxtail bouillon with diced foie gras. A unique foie gras course!
Image 11: Cold fish starters as the second course. Again, we all had different preparations! A tuna niçoise with a touch of olive oil decorated with quail egg, grapefruit and sardine.
Santorini 2005 Astryko
Image 12: Crab two-way: Poached & Tartare.
Image 13: Thai snapper ceviche topped with radish
Image 14: And a pan-fried red mullet paired with eggplant caviar. We were impressed by the variety of dishes from this kitchen team.
Image 15: For the third course, four of us shared a big whole blue lobster from Scotland.
Image 16: The lobster was quickly poached and set in Cognac flame!
Image 17: Poached lobster in Américaine emulsion with cabbage and porcini mushroom paired with Dureuil-Janthal 2004 Rully. The timing of the lobster was spot-on.
Image 18: Our server then showed us a lemon salt crust…
Image 19: ... with a whole fish inside. Four of us shared this baked sea bream paired with Cold Heaven 2005 Viognier.
Image 20: The sea bream was served with figs and braised fennel in Bordelaise sauce. The crust definitely kept the fish moist. We were enjoying every course here.
Image 21: They then presented us with various meat dishes - A colourful artwork composed of a pumpkin cube, radish, barberry sauce, and Scottish grouse stuffed with foie gras and decorated with two strips of red onion hanging on top.
Image 22: Grilled Muscovy duck with honey and a crispy duck meat roll
Gastaldi 1995 Barbaresco
Image 23: A crunchy oat crusted venison topped with a small piece of seared foie gras
1998 Pichon-Longueville St-Julien
Image 24: And the last meat dish was beef short rib accompanied by a rather rare piece of rib eye. The rib was fully braised to fork-tender, the steak was soft and juicy, and I particularly liked the earthy mini-chanterelle. We were once again amazed by the variety of creations here.
Image 25: We then took a break before the dessert to observe the action from Daniel's busy kitchen.
Image 26: A tall shelf of spice in Daniel's kitchen.
Image 27: Continued with our cheese course, there were three types of sweet cheese, Hooligan, Forme d'Ambert, and Roquefort paired with Gendron 2003 Vouvray followed by three savory ones, Appenzeller, Oaky Brick, and Tomme de Savoie paired with Chandon De Brillailes 2002 Pernand-Vergelesses.
Image 28: And finally, four plates of dessert!
Upside-Down Chocolate Soufflé / Columbian Coffee Ice Cream / Strawberry-Verbena Sorbet / Strawberry Delice
Image 29:
Lychee Sorbet / Raspberry Confiture / Tartelette Framboise & Pistachio / Lemon-Ginger Ice Cream / Choco Gingerbread Cake
Image 30:
Roasted Figs Balsamic Gelée / Figs Sorbet / Caramel Ice Cream / Degustation of Caramel and Vanilla / Hot Chocolate
Image 31:
Warm "Black Forest" / Chocolate Ice Cream / Coconut Dacquoise Vanilla-Poached Pineapple / Pineapple Sorbet
Image 32:
We were absolutely full. We wasted a full warm basket of madeleine!
Image 33:
And all the petits-fours were untouched!
Image 34:
This too!
Image 35: Even though it was a 5-hour long dinner, we enjoyed every second of it. It was an unforgettable experience! It's hard to give an opinion on this restaurant as we obviously had a special treatment. We have to come back here next time to experience their regular menu in the dining room.
