Le Pavillon, NYC, 6/15/2024 (4-Course, Summer Menu $95 excl. Taxes and Gratuity)
Le
Pavillon is located in the center of NYC midtown, 1 Vanderbilt Ave., in one of
the newest skyscrapers where you can observe some stunning views of other
skyscrapers. The entrance to Le Pavillon faces 42nd St., the lower
part of the building is surrounded by 6-floor height plate glass with a warm
palette and friendly ambiance.
I have recently discovered that Le Pavillon has a Summer Menu thru 8/31/24, and seating time of 5-6pm vs its ordinary Dinner Menu of 3-Course $145. I was late on the appointment and was informed that Summer Menu was no longer served at the regular dining room table after 6pm. However, still available at the bar. We decided to take the bar seats as I noticed there were 2 corner seats around the bar counter, one of them has the perfect view of southern exposure facing the architecturally spectacular Chrysler building.
Summer
Menu offers 2 Canapés, 1 Amuse Bouche (chose 1 of
2), 1 Main Course (chose 1 out of 3) and 1 Desert (chose 1 of 2). Chef Daniel
Boulud and his talented team of chefs Michael Balboni and Will Nacev prepare a
contemporary French cuisine dominated by seafood and vegetable-focused items.
I.CHEF’S SELECTION OF CANAPÉS
Grilled Avocados
Just
ripe avocados were grilled and served with harissa (red) and fried kales leave
from Castor Belly Farm. In addition, nicely flavored Eikenberry was partially
hidden in the plate. Eikenberry has been around in Turkey for a long while, from
12,000 years ago, in Gobekli Tepe civilization, Turkey. I verified with one of
the servers, Eikenberry is similar to barley which is a very healthy food and
can clean out your metabolism system as well as help with losing weight. Green
Goddess sauce in pale green color, made of mayonnaise, sour cream,
chervil, chives, anchovy, tarragon, lemon juice, and pepper, was served on the side. Eikenberry prepared in this plate
is a ½ size grain of what I use and flavored with mid-Eastern flavored spices,
it requires 2 hours of low heat cooking. Although I am not a fan of mid-Eastern
food, but the flavor and taste of this course is very pleasant. (18/20)
Oyster Vanderbilt with White Wine
Oysters
from John River Oyster in Main was prepared with white wine in grill. It has
got multiple layers of herbs and ingredients. At the very bottom, sea salt was
just for presentation. So did the seaweeds, I tried to taste the seaweeds and
they were not even chewable. But anything else above seaweeds were edible and
delicious.
At
the very top was the crunchy crust powder of parsley, plankton, hazelnut,
almond. It was refreshing and with sophisticated taste. Underneath this top
layer was with whole piece of oyster in white wine sauce and potato chowder
sauce. It was my favorite plate out of this dinner (20/20).
2ND COURSE-WILD MUSHROOM GIRELLA PASTA, broccoli rabe, Comté emulsion
Chef used duxelles mushroom in making the mushroom lasagna with house lasagna pasta sheet. It was medium al dente, the right firmness stuffed with mushroom purée. Sautées brocoli, Comté cheese emulsion and Comté cheese tuille, sautéed spinach, endive frisée were served on the side to produce a balance on taste. The top edges of the lasagna were a bit charred to be in company with the crunchiness of the cheese tuille. (18/20)
2ND COURSE-DUO OF RED & WHITE GAZPACHOS, California strawberries, cucumber, dill, goat cheese
There
were 2 types of gazpachos served in the same plate, one in white color, one in
red color.
White color- was comprised of cucumber, yellow tomatoes, oca radishes, goat cheese, white grape, grape cucumber, sherry vinegar and spicey Mondego’s oil and olive oil from Portugal. The white gazpacho was absolutely refreshing, with a long and not too strong pleasant flavor on the palette. At the very bottom of the plate was mild flavored goat cheese, it was very delightful to scoop a bite of goat cheese in the chilled gazpacho into your taste bud. The yellow baby heirloom tomatoes were so delicately flavored, melt in your mouth with a lingering perfect taste.
Red color- was mainly comprised of Harrys berry strawberry. They are wild baby strawberry from California. Harrys berry has its distinctive taste when mixed with other berries and olive oil in this plate, it has a different taste from the white gazpachos, and it was another perfect taste.
Varieties
of heirloom vegetable were displayed in the plate. They were not just for
decoration only. Each of the heirloom veg was prepared and flavored to yield a
well- balanced flavor and artistic presentation. (20/20)
3RD COURSE-GRILLED ATLANTIC BASS, kaffir lime, celtuce, crushed potatoes, pinenut gremolata
I and
my companion both ordered the Atlantic bass, I ordered my fish to be
rare-medium, and it was prepared as medium-medium. But the flavor was still
enjoyable.
Although
I have had celtuce (Chinese lettuce) many times, it was the 1st time
that I ate celtuce as so delicate and precise. Celtuce was prepared for 2
forms, one is the stock itself and the other was the purée.
It had a milder taste in between asparagus and kohlrabi. The stock itself was
cooked and charred (with the mark of grilled). In the middle of the purée there
was a white color puddle which is the white pine nut oil. In addition, there
were sprinkles of Earl Grey powder (in black). Both versions were prepared to
the perfection on texture and flavor.
Fish was seared with olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat with skin side down to yield the crispy skin. It most likely had melted butter basing to make tender and flaky flesh inside. On top of fish were roasted pine nuts seasoned with Italian style Gremolata sauce made of parley, fresh garlic and lemon zest.
There
was another veg on the side, varieties of potatoes in different color, in
different size and different texture.
There were Peruvian potatoes (in purple) and salt baked Yukon Gold potatoes.
Yukon Gold is a hybrid made with Yellow potatoes and White potatoes, are more
moist than starchy potatoes, they are semi-starchy and semi-waxy. These crushed
potatoes were adorned with Japanese mushroom and green garnishes, nasturtium. I
am not a potato fan. But I enjoyed this potato galore. (19/20)
Vacherin
is a meringue-based desert, needs a lot of egg white. It was invented by a
French pastry chef in the 18th century. Calorie wise probably is suitable
for Summer Menu.
Meringue
was baked into pocket shape and pineapple-guava concentrate were made into
sorbet before fitting into the meringue pocket. The flavor of the sorbet was strong
but not overwhelming, complementary with the exotic fruit compote of mango,
papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, yellow kiwi and kumquat. It was a perfect
desert for a summer night. (19/20)
4TH COURSE-NOISETTE, milk chocolate crémeux,
praline croustillant, hazelnut nougatine
Noisette
means hazelnut in French. This course is a chocolate made with hazelnuts and creméux, adorned with gold leaves and artistically
decorated chocolate trimming sitting on a bed of praline croustillant and
hazelnut nougatine. Creméux is a fancy way for pastry chefs to describe any
dessert that falls between mousse and pudding in terms of lightness, needs a
lot of egg yolks. In other words, it is crème anglaise emulsified with chocolate
and crunchy nougatine. It is good for chocolate lovers. (19/20)
Pistachio – choux pastry dough filled with pistachio cream
Caramel – choux pastry dough filled with caramel cream