2014 09 05 final

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Volume 33, No.48

September 5 2014

BY: Andrew Vinegar, AOS Culinary

Lunch at Café Boulud

I am currently on extern in New York City working at Bar Boulud, which is owned by Chef Daniel Boulud. He also owns six other restaurants in the city under his restaurant group, The Dinex Group. On my most recent day off I had the opportunity to go eat lunch at his 1 Michelin Star rated restaurant, Café Boulud. Café Bouloud is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at The Surrey Hotel, the former location of his flagship restaurant, Daniel. The Executive Chef is Chef Aaron Bludorn. This was my first Michelin Star experience and it was the best meal of my life thus far. I went with my friend Maggie, who works at Boulud Sud, and we were both blown away by this meal. Café Boulud’s Prix Fixe for two courses is $36 and three courses will go for $43. Starters ranged from $21$30 and main courses were $28-$46. These prices are pretty reasonable for a 1 Michelin Star experience. Being Dinex employees, we are given a nice discount and some perks! We were greeted by a manager, who seated us and then walked us through the menu, which is actually five menus in one. The first is the prix fixe, La Tradition (classical French), La Saisons (a taste of summer), La Potager (vegetarian, from the farmers market), and La Voyage (the international cuisine, the focus was South America when we dined). After reviewing the menu, for what seemed like forever, we decided on our meal. As a starter we selected the Salad Gourmande from the La Tradition menu. My entrée, Beef Tenderloin, was from this menu too. My friend selected the Long Island Duck Breast from the La Saison menu. Within moments of placing the order, a canapé tasting from the La Saison and La Tradition menus arrived at our table. The first was an oyster, which I’m not a fan of so I passed that across the table to Maggie. The second bite was Ahi Tuna Crudo with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon radish, and gazpacho. The meaty texture of

Editorial

the tuna and the crunch of crudités worked well together, while the gazpacho brought the additional acidic flavor to round out the taste. The third canapé was House Smoked Sturgeon. This was the stronger of the two in taste. The smokiness of the sturgeon enhanced the paddlefish caviar, but then was leveled out by cream and cucumber. From the looks of it this meal was about to be a great one. Our first course of Salade Gourmande was very interesting texturally. The haricot verts and apricots were dressed in an almond vinaigrette and garnished with toasted sliced almonds. All of these components were crunchy and to top it off was this buttery, shaved foie gras. The almonds were the predominant flavor, while the apricot and verts came through as you chewed. Before our entrees arrived we were sent two additional dishes (Did I mention I love VIP treatment?). The first dish was a Corn Risotto with piperade, pecorino romano, and paprika. The creamy risotto had these corn kernels through out it that were just bursts of sweetness that paired well with the pecorino cheese and sweet-smokey flavor from the onion, tomato, and paprika garnish. The second dish was an Herbed Goat Cheese Ravioli. On top of these perfectly cooked ravioli were roasted beets and toasted walnuts, which were a great combination with the tangy goat cheese filling. Finally, it was time for our main course. The Beef Tenderloin was the perfect medium rare and just melted in my mouth. Served with a chanterelle jus, it was sweet yet bitter, pairing beautifully with my steak. My other components were sautéed asparagus and potatoes Lyonnaise, which were these crisp capsules of creamy, buttery purée. So good! Maggie’s duck breast was equally to die for. It too was the perfect medium rare and had an extremely crisp skin. The breast rested on a bed of cherry balsamic risotto. The risotto’s texture threw me off at first because the rice was coated in this syrupy sauce as opposed to the more commonly found creaminess. Nonetheless, the flavor was amazing. Roasted beets, toasted hazelnuts, and husk cherries dotted the remainder of the plate.

Photos: Courtesy of Andrew Vinegar For dessert, we ventured to the Le Voyage menu for a taste of South America. We ordered the Dulce de Leche, and were sent in addition a Petit-Fours board and the Passion Fruit Flan. The Dulce was this explosion of chocolate, caramel, and salt. The salted milk chocolate sorbet enhanced every component on the plate. I was in heaven with this one. The Flan was very refreshing. Its fresh mango and mint cookie brought texture to the sweet and sour flan it rested on. It was good, but the Dulce was my favorite. The Petit-Fours were delicious, especially the hazelnut truffle. A surprise basket of Vanilla Madelines finished our meal off perfectly. The food Chef Aaron Bludorn is putting out at this 1 Michelin Star restaurant is just as fantastic as the service we received in the dining room. This will not be my last trip to Café Boulud! I hope to come back when the seasons change to have a different experience with the food. This is definitely a place that you should check out this year if time and money allow it. Café Boulud is just 4 stops uptown from Grand Central Station in Manhattan and a couple of blocks from the 77th Street subway station. What are you waiting for?!

Culinary Culture

P2

“Letter from the New Editor” ON CAMPUS

P 6-7

“Fundies Do’s and Don’ts”

P3

“Meat Room Gazebo Update” CENTER SPREAD

P 4-5

“Breaking the Mold: Nontraditional Culinary Careers”

BACK PAGE

P8

“Graduation”


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