After a day at the beach, I am dreaming of dining at Le Bernardin. Though I have never been there myself (this one is a little out of the price range of a girl like me) I think I know what would be in store for me if I were to have dinner there tonight. Le Bernardin has been named the #1 restaurant in New York by New York Magazine, the New York Times and Zagat’s Guide - not #1 in its category, #1
overall. It has won more James Beard Awards than any other restaurant, ever. And it and has been awarded the highest number of Michelin stars that a restaurant can get: 3.
Now let's put all that aside, because it's possible that all that means little when your talking about actually experiencing food. So here is the real reason I wish I was eating at Le Bernardin right now.
A little while back I had a few telephone conversations with the PR person for Le Bernardin and I learned a lot about the mission of the restaurant. The philosophy of Le Bernardin is that the fish - and only the un-endangered ones - be the star of the plate. As a caveat to that, each ingredient that makes up a dish is treated with equal respect and care even in its supporting role.
I also learned that this focus on seafood began for Chef Eric Ripert long before Le Bernardin's doors were opened, when he was just a boy. His culinary beginnings took place in his grandmother's kitchen by the Mediterranean Sea. And from there, with countless award winning restaurants in between, he has created an ambitious yet uncomplicated dinner menu for Le Bernardin that is broken into three courses: almost raw, barely touched and lightly cooked. I was informed that Chef Eric Ripert’s favorite dishes are the Tuna made of layers of thinly pounded yellowfin with foie gras and toasted baguette, the Crab with stuffed zucchini flower with peektoe, king crab and “fine herbs – lemon” Mousseline sauce, and the Surf and Turf of escolar and seared Kobe beef with sea bean salad and eggplant fries.
Sounds good to me. Especially after a long day in the ocean.
Now let's put all that aside, because it's possible that all that means little when your talking about actually experiencing food. So here is the real reason I wish I was eating at Le Bernardin right now.
A little while back I had a few telephone conversations with the PR person for Le Bernardin and I learned a lot about the mission of the restaurant. The philosophy of Le Bernardin is that the fish - and only the un-endangered ones - be the star of the plate. As a caveat to that, each ingredient that makes up a dish is treated with equal respect and care even in its supporting role.
I also learned that this focus on seafood began for Chef Eric Ripert long before Le Bernardin's doors were opened, when he was just a boy. His culinary beginnings took place in his grandmother's kitchen by the Mediterranean Sea. And from there, with countless award winning restaurants in between, he has created an ambitious yet uncomplicated dinner menu for Le Bernardin that is broken into three courses: almost raw, barely touched and lightly cooked. I was informed that Chef Eric Ripert’s favorite dishes are the Tuna made of layers of thinly pounded yellowfin with foie gras and toasted baguette, the Crab with stuffed zucchini flower with peektoe, king crab and “fine herbs – lemon” Mousseline sauce, and the Surf and Turf of escolar and seared Kobe beef with sea bean salad and eggplant fries.
Sounds good to me. Especially after a long day in the ocean.
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