Monday, 7 April, 2014 – USA Food and Wine Tour

Because of the disappointment with the Brekkie at Harry’s Bar yesterday, we decide to go to an Italian place around the corner.

The rooms are very nice and this has to be an improvement. WRONG! The Guys described it as Fawlty Towers and the Waiter as Manuel.

The salmon looks good but is a bit dry. The problems start when no toast shows up until Julie has finished the Salmon. Then there is no Butter. For me, I order Scrambled Eggs with a side of sausage. Some time later the sausage arrives. Maybe 30 minutes later the scrambled eggs arrive. No toast. Aileen across from me orders toast and coffee. After multiple prods it is just about the last to be served. A few have ordered bananas with the rest of their stuff, none arrive. Eventually Manuel comes by and tells us that the bananas were all rotten. There were more stories but you can see that Brekkie in New York has not been a star so far.

The other thing is that it took a long time so really did not finish until after 11:00. Given that we are to meet at at ‘PJ Clarkes’ 3rd Avenue & 55th Street, for an original hamburger lunch it does not leave much time for the food to settle down before the next big meal.

Because of the late Breakfast and the rumoured massive burger, most order a burger between two of them. In fact the burgers were relatively small.

The servings, when cut in half, were small enough for some to order another whole one.

There was an Oyster bar behind us which was not getting much custom. Finally an order was served.

Julie and Di show up toward the end and quite like the place. They stayed on for a while after we left. The Men’s Loo had a giant porcelain urinal that I did not get a picture of.

http://www.pjclarkes.com/lincoln-square/menu/

At 3:00 we are to meet at Grand Central to go to the Campbell Apartment. For the story behind it refer to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Apartment

The Campbell Apartment specialises in exotic cocktails – I had the Prohibition Punch.

That night we go to another Michelin 3 star place – Le Bernardin. We were originally going to walk the 10 blocks but it is pouring rain so we jump in 4 taxis to get there. Once we arrive, we are shown straight to our tables, there are two. What a pleasure not to have any wait. The guys have all agreed to wear ties tonight.

There was an extra starter to being:

The mushroom soup is just about the best that I have ever had.

There was a specially printed menu for Gusto but the following site is it minus the Caviar. The idea is that there are three lists – almost raw, barely touched and lightly cooked. Each person is to select one of each. There are a lot of excellent looking choices.

http://le-bernardin.com/menus/#dinner

I used to have this in Singapore all the time – both raw and cooked in a broth fondue.

I called it Surf and Turf. The Tuna was very good; the Kim Chi nice and spicy and the Wagyu Beef just stunning.

There is a separate dessert list to pick one from. No cheese so none for me.

All in all stunning menu and food. My vote for favourite was still the mushroom soup. Comparing this meal to Per Se the day before, I slightly prefer the latter but they were both excellent. Back home in taxis and crash after another great day.