Osteria Francescana, Modena

Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy, 9/22/15, 175 Euro (incl. table charges & VAT)

Since I have been to two of the top three restaurants in San Pellegrino list (namely El Celler de can Roca & Noma), I decided to make a detour to Modena from my trip to Northern Italy for a fine dining occasion at Osteria Francescana. I had high expectation for this meal.

Owner/Chef Massimo Bottura is renowned for his creativeness on Italian culinary traditions. He loves contemporary arts which are displayed in the restaurant. His love for contemporary arts is reflected in the style and naming of Francescana’s dishes (“Memories of a Mortadella Sandwich”, “An Eel Swimming Up the Po River”)

The restaurant has two dining rooms with a maximum capacity of 30 guests. It is situated at the corner of via Stella and via delle Rose near the edge of the old town and occupies both northeast and northwest buildings at the corner along via Stella. The entrance to the dining room and main kitchen are at the northwest corner building. Cross the street of via Rose, it has back office operation, staff recreation room and preparation room for the kitchen. 

 
There are three types of menus – a la carte, Tradition in Evolution tasting menu and Sensation tasting menu. While Tradition in Evolution tasting menu is mainly comprised of its signature dishes, Sensation tasting menu is comprised of new inventions in progress. I, therefore, chose the Tradition in Evolution.

It was a surprise that bread and virgin olive oil were served before any appetizer was brought to the table.

1^st Course – Memory of A Mortadella Sandwich Borlengo

This course was comprised of three items:

1).Gnocchi bread and an artistically squeezed mortadella cream ornament. It also had some cream of sweet garlic, pistachio and sweet garlic on the side. The mortadella cream tasted a bit like bologna, gnocchi bread is fluffy and fresh.

2). At the bottom was a thin layer of waffle made of Parmigiano cheese and flour. Waffle was topped with flakes made from Parmigiano cheese protein. Parmigiano cheese protein was derived from boiling cheese in water, let the protein settle at the bottom, drying the protein chunk and grating them into flakes. On top of the Parmigiano cheese flake was coarsely chopped truffles. Parmigiano cheese flakes had a lighter texture and milder taste than cheese itself.

3). Rabbit macaroon – stewed rabbit was sandwiched in between macaroons. Rabbit was cooked with bell pepper and ground pepper, and was not spicy.

More varieties of bread were served  - grissini, zoccolette, and Panini made from flour and rice flour.

2^nd Course – “Foie Gras Ice Cream Bar with Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena

Aged Balsamic Vinegar was filled inside a rectangular shaped foie gras lollipop. Then, foie gras was coated with toasted and chopped almond and hazelnuts. This is my favorite item in this meal, it was a true masterpiece with well-balanced taste.

 

3^rd Course – An Eel Swimming Up the Po River

Eel was from the local Po River. It was cooked sous-vide in low temperature, that is then finished in the oven, and finally lacquered (broiled until sauce thickened) with Saba sauce (aged Balsamic vinegar.) Lastly, lacquered eel was sprinkled with black onion powder (grounded slow roasted onion). Eel was served with green apple jelly sauce on one side and polenta on the other side. This is a delightful Japanese-Italian fusion dish with a beautiful balance between freshness and richness. I am very fond of food cooked sous-vide because slow cooking makes for a more tender texture.

 

4^th Course – Caesar Salad in Emilia

It was a baby Romano lettuce heart inserted with 22 ingredients in between the layers of lettuce leaves, including bacon, crispy Parmigiano, anchovies, 10 aromatic herbs, garlic sauce, egg sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard seeds, egg yolk cream and yogurt. The lettuce itself and the inserts were sweet, fresh and tasty. It was a good salad, but was not stunning. I wondered this course was served as a palate cleanser for the following course.

5^th Course -  Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in Different Temperatures and Textures

1). Parmigiano crisp, at room temperature, was made from 40-month cheese;

2). Parmigiano mousse that had a curd-like texture, at cold temperature, was made from 36-month old cheese;

3). Parmigiano cream, at cold temperature, was made from 24-month cheese;

4). Parmigiano demi-soufflé, coldest temperature in this course, was made from 30-month old cheese. Demi-soufflé is less airy, less fluffy and creamier than soufflé.

5). Parmigiano air (lighter than foam), cold temperature, was made from 50-month old cheese.

This was another masterpiece and was my 2^nd favorite.

6^th Course – The Crunchy Part of the Lasagna

Three different kinds of flavored lasagna (tomato, spinach and original) were cooked, made into paste, dried and fried. They looked very different from their ordinary texture and form as a result of experimenting with molecular gastronomy. It was a true transformation. In the process, they can be made into different shapes and displayed any way you desired vs. the plain old lasagna appearance. These chips were served with Ragu sauce made of veal, pork and bone marrow. It involved a lot of work to transform lasagna into this fancy and artfully looking appearance. But, was the taste incrementally enhanced commensurate with the incrementally enhanced appearance?

 

 

7^th Course – Spin-painted Veal, not Flame Grilled

It was slow-cooked veal tenderloin surrounded by ashes (which looked grilled). It was served with beet, polenta, yellow pepper sauce, orange pepper sauce, balsamic vinegar and colorfield (in green). The small pile of white flakes were grated fresh horse radish. This dish was inspired by Damien Hirst’s painting at the entrance. This course is a true artful work. It had both the visual as well as palatial pleasure.

8th Course – La Torta di Riso

This is a dish of rice similar to the Five Aged Parmigiano. But, this dish did not offer much pleasure to the taste bud. It comprised of rice cream, licorice/rice granité, toasted rick cake slice (beautifully standing in the middle of the bowl) with anise jello in the cream. The little square piece at the bottom of the bowl was bergamot.

9^th Course – Oops! I dropped the Lemon Tart

                    Vignola
The course was comprised of two deserts:

1). Lemon Tart – This is one of Osteria Francescana's signature dishes, made to look like someone dropped the lemon tart, served on a specially designed plate. Lemon sabayon cream at the bottom and topped with cream and then butter tart. Served on the side with green mint, bergamot, lemon pulp, caper, oregano, chili pepper. A well-thoughtfully constructed dish with a well-balanced sweet and citrus flavor.

2). Crispy chocolate cake (with a texture like cookie) at the bottom, topped with a chocolate filled with cherry liquor and cherry sauce inside.

Petit Four – from left to right, mini lemon meringue cake, chocolate with almond, chocolate with hazelnut and passion fruit with coffee. My favorite was passion fruit with coffee. I later met the pastry chef in its kitchen, she informed me this item was a new invention.

After the meal, I had the opportunity to visit its kitchen and met its head chef Takahiko Kondo who is a Japanese. Its kitchen is divided by section and has about 24 staff members.

It was a unique and nice experience to dine at Francescana. Its cuisine was creative, with a lot of focus on the transformation of form and artistic presentation. It delivered Emilia Romania region’s produce and traditions in an ultra-contemporary approach. Two years ago, I dined at the #1 restaurant El Celler de can Roca and have thought of revisiting it ever since. To compare, the current price of tasting menu at Roca is 195 Euro (for 14-courses & multi-course of Amuse Bouche, and more lavish ingredients) and at Francescana is 175 Euro (7-courses and no Amuse Bouche.) I dearly miss Roca.

Atera, NYC

Atera, NYC, 7/17/2015, $257 (incl. gratuity and taxes)

Atera, a Michelin 2-star restaurant, has a new chef Ronny Emborg, a Dane from Copenhagen. He was the executive chef in a Michelin starred restaurant Marchal before joining Atera with New Nordic flair and molecular gastronomy style. Some of the preparations are highly technical and with emphasize on visual appeal.

There is only one set of menu available, the Tasting Menu which is comprised of approximately 18-20 courses, including bread, amuse bouches, appetizers, entrées and desserts. There are two seatings available daily, at 6pm and at 9pm. The price includes gratuity, a European practice.

Atera has an open kitchen with U-shaped counter for customer to eat and watch how each dish was prepared.

1^st Course, Green Tomato/Juniper

Dark green colored juniper oil in the middle of the bowl surrounded by white powdery iced green tomato juice. At the last minute, server poured tomato juice from the green tomato. It was very refreshing, served as the palette opener.

2^nd Course, Herbs and Flowers/Shrimp

I was informed by my server to start with yellow flower then clockwise. The yellow flower was from Nasturtium plant which is a member of cabbage family with edible leaves and flowers. What made this flower unusual was the stuffing in the middle with Whelk Snails from Maine. Whelk Snails inhabit in the Atlantic Ocean, range from a couple inches to 9 inches long with spiral shell. They have slight briny-sweet taste and slight chewiness. Snails were chopped into small pieces and mixed with mayo into paste. It was very delicate and delicious.  Going clockwise, next was French Sorrell, pea flower, agretti, Fava leaf (with good green-taste flavor) and lime mint (with pungent minty and refreshing taste more than the ordinary mint leaves.) This was the 1^st time that I have ever tasted agretti, it is a late springtime Mediterranean succulent with very short season. It looks like a cross between fennel fronds, rosemary and grass and it tastes with robust grassy flavor. What made this course unusual was some of these fresh produce are from Atera’s own greenhouse.

On the side in a bowl, emotion of shrimp was served as dip to accompany each flower or leaf. Shrimp was finely grounded and mixed with olive oil into a very thin paste-liquid. It had a distinctive but not overpowering shrimp flavor.

 

3^rd Course, Baerii Caviar/Pistachio, Beer

Baerii Caviar is from Siberia, it is not too salty and balanced well with the sweet Pistachio ice cream and beer foam.

4^th Course, Waffle/Cheddar, Truffle

Crispy waffle was made of unbleached flour and placed at the bottom of the stack. Then, a layer of aged Cheddar cheese was spread on the waffle. The next layer was a master piece of work, a layer of fermented mushroom. Since my taste bud could taste something besides cheddar cheese, I asked one of the chefs and found out that the fermented mushroom would take about two weeks of processes. On top of these spread, there were five slices of gorgeous summer truffles. Bravo, this was my favorite item of the meal.

 

5^th Course, Crab/Tomato, Rose Hip, Pansy

Small pieces of fresh snow crab, from Canada, mixed with diced red tomatoes at the bottom of the bowl, covered by a white layer of dome-shaped jelly made of rose hip and milk. As I broke open the jelly, I noticed there was more layer underneath crab meat. It was the unset soft rose hip jelly. Chef Emborg emphasized the elegant presentation of each dish; this one was adorned with a cute piece of pansy flower. This course was my 4th favorite.

 

6^th Course, Golden Whitefish Roe/Green Almond, Sunchoke

Whitefish roe is in beautiful orange-gold color, it looked very appetizing. This golden roe were small and tasted a bit chewy. Roes are fish eggs which are neither cured nor salted. It was served with almond milk, almond ice and crispy sunchoke (in light brown color). It was adorned by the cute green leaf named “ice flower”. The highlight of this course was the fused taste of almond ice and the roe.

 

7^th Course, Scallop/Apple, Horseradish

Scallop credo was at the bottom of the plate, with horseradish snow (powdered iced horseradish), Dianthus dill and dill oil. Each ingredient complemented other ingredients and made a perfect overall taste. Credo dish always required some pungent spicy item to enhance the taste. Here, the powdered iced horseradish served the pivotal role of bringing all other ingredient together.

8^th Course, Dumpling/Sepia, Uni

It was a cute bite-size dumpling wrapped with an ultra-thin slice of cuttlefish. What wrapped inside were uni, lark and almond butter. Uni was still half-raw, fresh and quite tasty. Lark is something often brings up the taste, but don’t tell that to your family physician.

I had a replacement dish because of the chewiness of cuttlefish slice. It was risotto made with North Caroline rice and egg yolk, with little cute nasturtium flower adorned on the top.

9thCourse, Oyster/Ponzu

Island Creek oyster was served with elderberry and ponzu sauce. It was adorned with Queen Ann flower. The special feature in this course was the warm ponzu sauce. When I visited Tokyo a year ago, I found out that Japanese restaurant in Tokyo purposely raised the dining room temperature and using the body temperature to warm up seafood in the whole process of serving customer. Their way was in contrary to what we practice in US; here we like to make everything cold.  The reason for keeping things a bit warmer was to enhance the flavor of seafood.

10^th “Course, Whole Wheat Batard

I was eager to munch on bread by now and was glad the restaurant finally served a slice of house-made sour dough bread. There were two kinds of butter served, one was the regular butter and the other one was butter with brown onion.

11th Course, Razor Clam/Bitter Greens, Miso

Razor clams was poached and diced, served with baby green pea leaves. Sauce was made of foamy brown butter and miso, with beautiful little flower on top. Razor clams were thoroughly cleaned and sweet, they were less chewy than Whelk Clam served earlier in the evening.

12^th Course, Sourdough Croissant

A whole wheat flaky mini croissant was served. It was slightly warm when you touched it.

13^th Course, Monkfish/Snow Peas

Monk fish was excellently prepared; it was still half-raw in the center and tasted tender. It was with one of the best textures that I have ever had. At the bottom, there were some purple colored snow peas and white currants on the side. White currants were small and looked like little crystal balls. This was the 1^st time that I tasted purple snow peas. Purple snow peas had lesser green taste than the green snow peas. Fish was served with orange blossom Sabayon sauce. Orange blossom was not too overwhelming; this course was another perfect inspiration.

14^th Course, Onion/Mushroom

This course was comprised of varieties of mushroom, Maitake, milk cap and Chanterelle, and Nasturtium leaves, served with foamy French Oulett cheese sauce. On the side, there was one thinly sliced onion marinated in Champagne vinegar. This piece of onion greatly enhanced the balance of this course.

15^th Course, Foie Gras/Black Currant

I dearly loved this course. Warm foie gras topped with chopped roasted peanuts, covered with a red color sheet made of black currant. This sheet was not made of jelly. It was made by dehydrated black currant juice. The flavor was full, not overwhelming but intensive, it was much better than the ordinary jelly often served with foie gras. This was my 2^nd most favorite for the evening.

 

16^th Course, Lamb En Croute/Huckleberry, Allium

This was a very sophisticated course with multiply layers of arrangements. Lamb was from a Pennsylvania farm, served medium-rare. It was served in a brioche crust, on casing of brioche. After I started slicing lamb, I realized there was another layer of something on the brioche. I found out, there was a thin layer of chicken mousse topped with burned onion powder. Lamb was placed on top of brioche crust, chicken mousse and burned onion powder and then topped with sliced black kale (in white color looked almost like sliced garlic), onion and red currant. This course was a true master piece. It was my 3^rd favorite for the evening.

17^th Course, Cucumber/Lemon Verbena

This course was the palette cleanser. Cucumber granite was served with lime meringue. Some lemon verbena leaves and St. Johns Worth were on the side for decoration as well.  Lemon verbena mousse was under the cucumber granite to offer a refreshing taste.

18^th Course, Milk/Raspberry, Tarragon

This is the 2^nd time that I had cooked potato in desert. The 1^st time was at L’Astrance , Paris. At Atera, cooked potatoes were diced and served with raw milk sorbet, then topped with wild raspberry. Wild raspberry had a darker color then ordinary raspberry and had a fuller taste than raspberry. Some clover leaves were on the side of sorbet for decoration. Tarragon sauce played the important role of turning this raw milk sorbet desert into a more sophisticated taste.

19^th Course, Chocolate Cake

I got a complimentary cake, with chocolate glazing and milk chocolate mousse inside.

20^th Course, FlØdeboller

This is the traditional Danish sweet. Two of them with two different flavors, both shaped like chocolate covered spiraled cones. One was with black garlic flavored cream on a layer of pistachio cream and chocolate cookie at the bottom. The other was with beet cream and you can see the light red color in the middle once you bit on it.

After the dinner, I had an escorted tour of their back-kitchen operation in the basement. It has each dry ingredient labeled in a plastic container and placed on the shelf. Things were neat and organized. What surprised me most was their greenhouse. There are at least 80+ varieties of herbs growing in the green house. Nordic people are very adaptive at growing fresh produce in the green house to overcome the inconvenience from cold climate. Since chef Ronny is from Copenhagen, he migrated the Nordic practice to NYC. He even kept a few fans to ventilate the air in the greenhouse because Nordic people believe in the stimulus from the wind can make produces’ stems stronger. Customers may not know they have got the best quality of herbs and produce served in their plates when dining at Atera. I have visited quite a few Michelin starred restaurants back-kitchen facility and have not found any other restaurant have greenhouse facility. With the quality, technical expertise, elaborate presentation and creativity offered to customer, Atera is an under-appreciated charm in NYC.

Bouley, NYC

Bouley, 9/22/2014, $55/5 Courses Lunch, French

Bouley has undergone a renovation recently. I was eager to see what Chef Bouley did to this classic place. The carpet and upholstery are new although still remains in the same color system of soft light brown and yellow. The raised floral bed was removed to make room for a few more tables. Instead, floral arrangements are used to display the flowers. The ambiance is still elegant, nice and striking. We decided to have the 5-Course Luncheon Tasting Menu for $55.

Amuse Bouche

1.Tomato and Strawberry Soup, Served with cucumber, tomato granitée, soy ice cream and fennel flower.

Chilled strawberries were at the bottom, pickled cucumber was used for another layer and then tomato granitée was placed as the top layer. It offered a very refreshing taste, perfect for a palate opener. To make the dish looks visually more presentable, an adorable Fennel flower was sitting on the top. It reminded me of the flowers usage at San Pau in Spain.

2.Kudzu Bread, Served with potato and cheese purée and topped with truffles.

Potato purée was so smooth and French cow cheese Langres was not so strong but just enough to render the “cheesy” flavor. Kudzu is also called “Japanese Arrowroot”. It’s called gé gēn in Chinese and is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs in Chinese medicine. Most important, it is a very healthy product and is one type of gluten-free starch thickener. The making of Kudzu bread would take more than two days of work. It involved fermenting of Kudzu root with yeast and sugar for two days. Then, bake the dough into bread. It was a very time-consuming process. Since this item is an Amuse Bouche, it was served with a bite size. I wouldn’t mind to have more bites of it.

Among all the Michelin Starred restaurants that I have visited in NYC, Bouley offers the best selections and quality breads. If you are a gourmet bread fan, you need to starve yourself for a day before you dine in Bouley. The varieties of bread include apricot pistachio, walnut saffron, apple raisin rolls, cinnamon raisin, roasted garlic, roasted onion, rosemary olive, sour dough baguette, sour dough olive etc. To compare with other internationally well-known starred restaurants that I have visited, Bouley is only next to El Raco da can Fabes in Spain in terms of the varieties and quality of bread. Bouley’s breads are all truly gourmet, I would be happy if I just eat Bouley’s bread only. However, I have to refrain myself from eating too much bread when dining in this restaurant because I need to save some stomach room for the good food.

1st Course – Lobster Paté, Lobster Meat, Artichoke Heart and Parsley.

I was going to order “Blini of Scottish Smoked Salmon” from the menu. But, I was offered “Lobster Paté” as a substitute because its kitchen ran out of Smoked Salmon. I had no complaint about the substitute. It was lobster meat slightly seasoned with paprika and mixed with artichoke hearts and parsley, wrapped in Serrano ham, and served with sauce made of tamarind and roasted red pepper purée and passion fruit sauce. The quality and taste of this dish is so perfect and well balanced that a similar dish of “Octopus Pastrami” that I had recently at Batard lost some luster in comparison.

2nd Course - Porcini Flan, Golden Princess crab, black truffle dashi.

I have always been very fond of this dish. Over the years I have chosen this dish nine out of ten times whenever I dined at Bouley. It had a thin layer of egg custard at the bottom. Egg custard was cooked to perfect, tender and smooth. Then, topped with two different types of crabs, left side was Princess Crab and right side was Alaskan crab. Both types of crab meat taste fresh and tender. On top of crab meat was chopped Porcini mushroom. The taste was fabulous, the preparation was perfect.

3rd Course A - Organic Long Island Duck, Organic Golden Nevada Dates, Hudson Valley Hand Milled Polenta.

Only duck breast was used in this dish. It was prepared according to my instruction of “medium rare”. It was served with wheat berries, duck prosciutto, Japanese turnip. Sauce had a strong taste of date. Mashed potato was served as a side dish. The potatoes were from NY update Finger Lake region. The mashed potatoes were so tasty that it virtually melted in your mouth.

3rd Course B - Slow Braised Kobe Style Beef Cheeks, Blue Kale Gnocchi.

My sister had Kobe Beef Cheeks. It was braised with red wine and adequately seasoned. It was sumptuous and juicy, definitely had a better quality than other types of beef. Kale gnocchi had s slight taste of kale. The mashed potatoes were also served as a side dish. It was another perfect dish.

4th Course - Chilled Coconut Soup, Pineapple granite, 10 exotic fruit sorbet, amaretto ice cream

This course was served as a palate cleanser before the formal desert. Amaretto ice cream had it refreshing almond and liqueur taste and 10 exotic fruit sorbet was wonderful. I could taste the flavor of passion fruit, pineapple, lemon and lime.

5th Course - Hot Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé, White Coffee Cloud, Coffee Ice Cream, Chocolate Mousse

Both I and my sister ordered chocolate plate. Chocolate Mousse was baked with right timing, a bit soft in the center and smooth. I loved the white coffee cloud, with a strong coffee flavor and a bit of vanilla but without the bitter taste on the tongue. This course probably gave me so much caffeine enabling me to go on with good pace for the rest of the day.

Petit Four – multiple flavor of bite-size of candies, including tea flavored chocolate, sesame cracker,
Earl Gray tea flavored chocolate truffle and hazelnut flavored chocolate truffle. They were all visually presentable and palatably superb. 

There are quite a few Michelin starred restaurants in NYC offer prix-fixed lunch; most of them are the 3-course type. Bouley’s 5-course lunch stands out in terms of ultra-attentive services, quality, quantity, variety and value. I am eager to find out any other Michelin starred restaurants offer better valued lunch.