bspielman

yk, our dinner at Nougatine was excellent, as it always seems to be. The limited menu offers two choices in each of the four courses.

Joy and I each had a tuna tartare starter with an avocado mousse topped with spicy radish and surrounded by a soy-ginger sauce.

Our second course was slow-cooked salmon with braised mushrooms and Poblano peppers and topped with fresh dill.

With these first two offerings, we each had a 3 oz taste of a very nice Grüner Veltliner.

Next came crunchy-baked free-range chicken with glazed baby carrots and soy butter. We accompanied this with another 3 oz taste, this time a Louis Jadot Burgundy.

For dessert, Joy had a crème caramel with oranges and I had the signature warm Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream.

A couple of espressos rounded things out.

The espressos came a little before dessert. When a runner noticed that Joy had covered hers with her saucer to keep it hot, he offered her another, more timely, one (at no charge). This little thing, along with a very attractive amuse bouche before dinner and mignardises after, is an indication of the attitude of the restaurant. Apparently, the lowliest runner can make that sort of generous decision. Here we are dining on a prix-fixe menu, yet there's no diminution of service or presentation.

Undoubtedly, and still, one of New York's best bargains for a quality dinner, well served and presented, in a great environment.

We attended both Royal Concertgebouw concerts. Tuesday night we heard a smashing Sibelius Violin Concerto played by Janine Jansen after which she encored with a Prokofiev Two-Violin Sonata with the RCO's concertmaster. After intermission, we had a thrilling Rachmaninoff Second Symphony, impeccably played. Mariss Jansons favored us with Sibelius' Valse Triste as an encore.

Then, last night, after our Nougatine dinner, the RCO played Mahler's Third Symphony in a spectacular performance. Utterly incredible.

Two great nights.

And, yes, on Saturday, it was La Fille du Régiment with Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez. Great fun. I'm happy we didn't attend Tuesday night, when both principals were ill and did not sing.

yk

bspielman, THANK YOU so much for such a detailed description! I'm very excited now - got a reservation @ Nougatine for next week. I'm hoping both Florez & Damrau are fully recovered by next Monday, as I have ticket for La Fille du Regiment that night.

travfirst

Bookmarking

111op

I read the NYT review of the ACO performances yesterday. Sounds like the Mahler 3 was wonderful. I was thinking of going, but I think that I've heard Mahler 3 at least twice already, so I decided not to go.

111op

I'm still waiting to hear a good thing about Daniel. A friend went there last year for an anniversary dinner, before the NYT 4* review came out, and she couldn't see the fuss either. For a long time I thought that maybe the Michelin guys did know something as they gave the restaurant just 2*, but I think these days it has three.

I went to Le Bernardin for lunch the day after Thanksgiving last year, if I remember correctly. But I guess I'd forgotten about the $69 prix fixe. The bill seemed so much more than what a prix fixe lunch should cost -- I mean more then $80 -- so I guess I just forgot. Obviously dinner would cost even more.

elysag

I recently had a great lunch at David Burke Townhouse. They offer two prix fixe options and tons of choices.

Aduchamp1

We like Cafe Boulud. And next month we are going to DBGB.