Le Pavillon, NYC, 6-15-2024 (4-course, $95 excl. Taxes and Gratuity, French, Michelin 1 Star)

 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 42^nd 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 1^st 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)

4^TH COURSE-TROPICAL FRUIT VACHERIN, pineapple-guava sorbet, spiced meringue, exotic fruit compote

Vacherin is a meringue-based desert, needs a lot of egg white. It was invented by a French pastry chef in the 18^th 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)

4^TH 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)

PETIT FOUR

Pistachio – choux pastry dough filled with pistachio cream

Caramel – choux pastry dough filled with caramel cream

They were both pleasant. The whole Summer Menu was delicate, delightfully tasty and light. I must say my favorite spot was at the bar where a guest can see the beautiful and stunning view of Crysler building. However, on the other end (N side) of the dining room, there are so many greeneries around make it feel like you are eating in a striking verdant garden rather than a skyscraper.