4 Days in New York City - 9/8 - 9/11

Day 1 - Esca, - 9/8/13

Tasting Menu

Starting the tasting menu with crudo, (raw in Italian).

Jack fish very fresh with olive oil, salt and pepper!  I don't remember what the purple sauce is on top of the fish.

 The fish was incredibly fresh and of the highest quality.

Trio of crudo Black bass, hamachi and kumamoto oyster

Squid, I can remember what type of fish is the center one, and tuna at the end.

All the crudo are very simply prepared. Most of the fish are drizzled with olive oil, lemon juice, salt so you can really taste the freshness of the fish.

Hoa and I we really enjoyed all the crudo.

Crostini Due Modi

Wild sockeye salmon and its roe (left)

Sea urchin with marinated cucumber (right)

The sea urchin was very fresh and tasted so sweet!  The smoked sockeye salmon was also delicious!

Hoa enjoying the dish with a nice glass of white wine.

Polipo (Octopus)

Grilled Octopus with giant Corona beans and preserved sorrento lemon.  The Corona beans are gigantic, I never seen beans this huge.

Did not enjoy the texture of the octopus as I felt it was way overcooked.

Tortole

House made "Little tops" with mussels, clams, razor clams, and a stew of romano beans with guanciale

This dish was delicious!  The pasta was incredible and the stew really hit the spot!

Close look at the dish.

Tonno (tuna)

Seared local longfin Tuna with a salad of sugar baby watermelon, corn and opal basil.

We ordered the Tuna medium rare and when it was served I knew it was overcooked for my taste.   I should have order rare the next time.

I enjoyed the salad with watermelon and corn but the tuna was dry and I could only eat the center of the tuna where it is somewhat raw.  Overcooked Tuna is not very good.

Cleanse palate - whipped mozzarella cheese with honey.

Coffee time...

Affogato Di Caffe
Salted caramel gelato with ramazotti amaro and caramel cake, drowned in espresso.

Rich , decadent, and simply delicious.

Crostata Di Mela
Warm apple tart with walnuts and vanilla bourbon gelato

Also excellent but we were so full so we only ate the ice cream and ask the waiter to pack the cake for us.

The coffee here is strong and very good.

The end of the meal.... We did a good job finishing our dessert.

They packed our Apple cake and gave us a really nice brown bag to take home.

I recommend the crudo here at Esca but I am not really impressed with a few dishes such as the Octopus and the Tuna.  However, the service was impeccable!  Our waiter did not charge us for the cocktail since Hoa did not like it.  I selected Pesca because it is one of Mario Batali's restaurant but next time I think I will go back to Felidia  where I felt like all the dishes were excellent and after eating there I was inspired to reproduce their dishes.

Next... Day 2- Lunch at le Bernardin

Filed under: Restaurants