Part of this past Christmas gift to my Boyfriend Chef was dinner at the restaurant of his choice in NYC followed by Colin Quinn’s Long Story Short (highly recommended, btw). He chose Esca for obvious reasons including its proximity to the theater.
I have to admit that I didn’t look into where we were going. I trust BF Chef to pick a great place and I’d been crazy busy at work. Plus, I am the TOOMA Foodie & it didn’t even dawn on me *exactly* where we were going. I’ll admit it: I missed the Mario Batali part.
We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation and were seated immediately. BF Chef perused the wine list but the menus were decidedly missing. It took a few minutes for our server to return thinking we need some assistance from the sommelier; no, what we need are some menus. Once he returned we were lead through the menu which I could have done without. One item of note was that the red mullett is served whole, so there would be bones (obviously).
We opted for the tasting with the wine paring as follows:
Amuse: Mackrel and bean bruschetta
First: I had the pink snapper with black lava salt. BF Chef chose the extra crudo tasting supplement: Oyster simple, nothing on it; ruby red shrimp, simply natural; fluke with pous pied and watermelon radish; black bass with toasted pine nuts; alfonsino with Ligurian Olive Oil and toasted pine nuts; and scorpionfish with toasted sunflower oil.
Second: Fegato di Pescatrice, seared monkfish liver with cranberry compote and roman hazelnuts
Third: Bucatini, house made fat spaghetti with gulf shrimp, razor clams, kale, pickled garlic, and Sicilian cherry tomato
Fourth: Pollock, pan roasted with wild mushrooms and salsify
Fifth: Whole red mullet with toasted nuts
Sixth: Buffalo ricotta with honey
Seventh: Dessert! I had the apple fritters with nocino caramel and BF Chef had the ice cream (Irish stout chocolate and butter pecan) & waffles.
My items of note? BF Chef REALLY enjoyed his crudo. I’m glad I passed because as small as it was the entire meal would then have been too much for me. The Irish stout chocolate ice cream was incredible. I’ve never had ice cream with that complexity. It started chocolatey and creamy and ended with a stout finish, not too strong but just enough.
The big disappointment was the bones in the mullet. I tried to enjoy it but there is no pleasure trying to pick tiny bone splinters out of your mouth. It was so awful that this is one of the more prominent recollections of the meal which is unfortunate. This isn’t the experience I would expect from any of the Batali-Bastianich restaurants.
Esca
402 West 43rd Street
New York City
212-564-7272