Day 3- ATera - 9/10/13

6 course Dessert

1- Cheese cake, lemon sherbet, Wood sorrel (oxalis acetosella)

Love the cheese cake combined with the tanginess of the lemon sherbert!

Chemex coffee maker

Here at Atera they use a Chemex coffee maker to make freshly brewed coffee.  The Chemex coffee maker is a manual coffee maker.

It takes a bit of effort but the flavor is a superb strong cup of coffee.

The first time I have seen a Chemex coffee maker was our dinning experience at Ink in L.A.

I love to have coffee with my desserts!  the bitter taste of the coffee and the sweetness of the dessert is a great combination.

2- Milk and crackers -Strawberries, saltine meringue

Milk and crackers came next, two thin wafers over frozen milk and strawberries.

3- Crackled egg ice cream, egg yolk jam

The egg shell is made with sugar served with ice cream and a coagulated Egg Yolk sous-vided with sugar.

So inventive and so delicious!  The sugar shell is actually pretty light and I enjoyed the richness of the egg yolk against the creaminess of the ice cream.

4- Walnut sundae, celery root, lemon balm (melissa officinalis)

To tell you the truth I was getting full by this time so I only took a small bite.

Could not remember much about it so it must not be that memorable but still beautiful to look at.

5- bourbon cask ice cream sandwich, vanilla, oak (quercus robur)

I did not really care for the cookie itself.  It was a bit grainy, and the texture was not what I was looking for, but the smooth, creamy boozy ice cream was good.

Over all it was an okay dessert.

6- Chocolate pretzels and black walnuts

The meal ended with dark chocolate walnut truffles mimicking a black walnut and chocolate pretzels filled with caramel.

Even though I am really full I save a bit of room for the petit fours and thinking I am just going to have a bite of each but the “black walnut,” made out of dark chocolate and caramel and served, in high forager style, on a bed of fresh moss was so delicious that I ate the whole thing. I kept thinking to myself this is a best way to end a fantastic meal.

As we are departing the restaurant, the hostess gave us a small brown bag with Atera's logo on it and inside the bag is a printed menu and 2 small chocolate bread to be eaten the next morning for breakfast. Isn't that thoughtful?

There are 16 courses listed, but counting the amuses which were another 9 course that would equal to 27 separate courses!  Most of the amuses are just a bite or two, but still, 27 dishes that have to be prepped, prepared and plated resulting in an amazing dinning experience. There are edible flowers and foraged herbs that I have never heard of but most of it is real food you’d recognize, in witty and unexpected combinations prepared with great skill.  There are so many courses so it is impossible to like all of them but trust me if you ever have a chance to eat at Atera you will love an awful lot!  And to top it off you will also love the attention to every single little details and the service was impeccable.

Atera is the best dining experience you can get in NYC right now and our visit produced one of the most memorable meals of our life (so far) beside our dinning experience at the French Laundry.

 Atera is going to make a big whole in your wallet but it was worth it.  Spending three hours dinning at Atera is an experience that does not come by very often and I am so glad we had the chance to be there.

Next... Day 4- Street of New York city

Filed under: Restaurants