bouley

ok, i am finally back from my two weeks in michigan and new york. sorry for the long hiatus but i just could not bring myself to get off my lazy ass and blog. now i have so many good meals that i want to write about on here, but i know i am not going to get to them all. so i am starting with the one you all want to hear about, just in case i don't make it to the rest.

in case you don't feel like reading any further, i want to say right now that my meal at bouley is one of the best i have ever had in my entire life. the entire experience was wonderful. all of the food was absolutely delicious. the service was perfect. the atmosphere was beautiful and intimate without being over the top. i felt completely satisfied, comfortable, and relaxed at the end of my meal. it was more than a meal, it was an experience, and i loved every moment of it.

my friends alex and lina took me to lunch at bouley on new year's eve day. it was a little difficult to find the restaurant, because it had moved very recently to a new space and there was no sign, other than this:

this sign was at about waist height, between two christmas trees in pots

a random guy pointed us to the door and we went in. this in itself was fun, because it felt like we were going into a hidden secret place. well we walk in, and the entry is just shelves and shelves of almost too ripe red delicious apples. apples covered the wall. it smelled delicious and it was beautiful. we checked our coats and were led to our table.

i barely made it without running into anything because i was staring at the ceiling, walls, and furniture. it was really interesting. ornate chandeliers covered with colored glass fruits. long, thick, rich fabrics on the windows and doorways. lamps on each individual table. thick, plush couches covered in beautiful fabrics and pillows to sit on. big paintings on the wall. then, in the back room, light blue walls covered with huge paintings of peonies and other asian flowers. very different but equally beautiful. the whole restaurant should have been over the top for my taste but somehow it just worked.

we sat down at our table and started people watching. there was a woman at the table to my left who i could not stop staring at. she was clearly a dedicated oenophile and was studying her wine, sniffing it, taking notes, photographing it. she kept beckoning the sommelier to explain some detail about the wine to her. her interest in and knowledge about wine was just fascinating to me. at other tables, groups of asians took photos of themselves in various positions around their food. older couples who were clearly rolling in cash grazed on oysters, chocolates, and dessert wines.

yet somehow i felt totally comfortable and at home. normally restaurants like this make me feel out of place, but bouley is just not like that. the reason, i think, is the service. there is waitstaff all over (dressed in suits, which i thought made them seem both professional and accessible) who are anticipating your every need before you even think of it, but they are all totally nice and friendly. when i thanked them for pouring me more water or clearing my plate, they would smile and say "you're welcome." when i asked a question about what i was eating, they answered happily and did not make me feel stupid. when i asked for a recommendation about which of the six bread options were offered, the bread guy grinned and told me he would pick a bread for me for each course, and then immediately went off to get more of one of the flavors that he had run out of because that is the one he felt would go most perfectly with what i was eating.

ahh... the bread. all of the breads offered were absolutely delicious. between the three of us we tried fig, olive, whole wheat, apple cinnamon, roasted garlic, and raisin breads. each of them was different in texture and flavor. and you got as much as you wanted! between each course the bread guy came around with more. it was so fun.

alex "no flash photography in restaurants" hu finally caved at the end of the meal. you stay classy, alex!

since it was a special meal, we all decided to go with the tasting menu. for $48, you get five courses, each with a choice between two options. i am going to try to remember as best i can what we had, but unfortunately i do not have a menu so i am sure i am going to forget some things. as you will see, each course had a clear winner. both choices were good, but one was just especially awesome.

for my first course, i got tuna sashimi, which came in a sesame-miso type sauce, with watercress and citrus shavings. it was really good, but nothing compared to the other option. alex and lina both opted for what i think was called a porcini flan with crab. that flan was amazing. i know porcini flan sounds nasty, but the flavor was absolutely beyond imagination. the texture was like a very thick soup. kind of like gravy that has just started to cool and become gelatinous. the flavor was pure umami. i don't know how else to describe it. and the crab was sweet and tender and the perfect complement. completely delicious and i wished i had ordered it, as good as my tuna was.

the second course was a choice between two fish options. i got the baby skate which came with a basil sauce, sweet fresh baby peas, and i can't remember what else. what i do remember is the flavor. and the best way i can describe that flavor is green. it was just the essence of fresh greenness, on sweet tender fish. alex and lina both got the monkfish, which came in a tomato and caper sauce. it was good, but again this course had a clear winner, and it was the baby skate. melt in your mouth tender, buttery, rich, delicious skate, balanced perfectly by the sauce which was the essence of the color green. it's how new grass would taste, if grass was delicious. it was wonderful.

for our third course, alex and i both got the duck. it was cooked a perfect tender medium rare on the inside, and was super crispy and caramelized on the outside, with a thin layer of rich and meltingly soft fat in between. the sauce was rich truffle heaven. i think there may have been something else on the plate but all i can remember is the perfect flavor memory of the juicy, tender duck combined with the crunch of the salty sweet skin all melting together with the fat and the truffle sauce. and the portion size was so huge that i just ate and ate and ate. as for lina's chicken, it was prepared in some type of buttermilk and citrus sauce. it was so juicy and tender that it seemed almost like it may have been poached. however, after the rich and complex flavors of my duck, it tasted pretty bland so i really can't comment on it too much.

the fourth course was a palate cleanser. rich, sweet coconut ice cream melting into a pool of sour yogurt with a few tangy passionfruit seeds on the side. it was a taste combination unlike anything i had ever experienced, and it was delicious. i have no way of describing it other than to say that it was truly a party in your mouth. and at the same time, it was so light and sweet and yet also bitingly fresh that it just cut through all the richness of the previous courses and left you ready for dessert... which after the heaping plate of rich duck i hadn't thought was possible.

our final course was dessert. both choices involved a selection of desserts. alex and lina went for the chocolate desserts, and i chose the fruit and nut selection. theirs was clearly the better choice... they got little piles of creamy, delicious, not too sweet ice cream and a baby chocolate souffle. my assortment was strange, and the only thing i really enjoyed was the "ten exotic fruits sorbet" (which tasted strongly of passionfruit and mango, both of which i love). the almond flan topped with gooseberries may have been good, but i'm not a fan of almond flavored sweets. the sauteed banana was more mush than anything. the banana mousse tasted exactly like duck fat, which totally turned me off (lina tasted it too and felt the same way). the white chocolate mousse was overly rich. however, i have to say, i am not a dessert person and always prefer the savory, so maybe i am not the best judge.

with our desserts we also ordered coffee, and were rewarded not only with a silver tray with many sugar options (cubes, chunks, crystals, and rock candy sticks), but also two multi-tiered platters with little bonbons, chocolate candies, cookies, meringues, homemade fruit gummies, and other treats. by that point, i was so full and so tired of sweets that i really did not eat much, but it was really fun in terms of the visual experience of having such a pretty little selection of sweets on the table. we relaxed and chatted over our coffee for a long time, just enjoying the atmosphere, the people watching, and each other's company.

lina and me with the desserts and the sugars

finally, three and a half hours later, after course after course of amazing food, excellent service, and interesting conversation, we finally got ready to face the real world again. i felt so completely sated and relaxed. i can't remember the last time a meal had such a soothing effect on me. as we waited for our coats, one of the staff members was replacing some of the overly ripe apples. he took one look at us, smiled, and said, "i am going to pick an apple for each of you." then, after looking through the pile for just the right ones, he gave us each a fresh apple to take home. we put on our coats, opened the door, and walked outside. snow was falling softly. dusk was just setting in. i squeezed the apple in my pocket and felt completely at peace with the world.

my lunch at bouley was the perfect way to close 2008, and it was an experience i will never forget. thank you lina and alex!