Porter House New York

In honor of restaurant week I wanted to test another restaurant, this time during lunch with a coworker. I've just come back from Porter House filled to the brim. The $24 prix fixe restaurant week lunch menu has excellent offerings. The menu is three courses with three options available for each course. I also discovered that the restaurant offers a very similar prix fixe menu all year round that they have coined the park-view lunch. So there really is no rush to take advantage of Porter House now during restaurant week.

The restaurant fits perfectly into the Time Warner Center, exuding an ostentatious largeness. I do find the restaurants on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center to be imposing. For one reason they overlook Columbus Circle and Central Park, but for another, they are out of the average person's price range. Here I mean Per Se and Masa with their $250- and $400-priced per person menus respectively. Porter House is also out of an average-salaried person's range, but the lunch menu is completely affordable. I can honestly say that I didn't even bother to look at the rest of the menu.

Expecting to see a lunching business crowd, I was surprised to see average-looking people like us along with a smattering of foreign tourists. Maybe they heard it was restaurant week, but then again the prix fixe menu is permanent. I guess they know more than me. I'm sure the restaurant management uses the prix-fixe lunch menu to make up for usually slow business at lunch time.

To finally delve into the food, I begin with the first course. I had the Belgian endive salad with bleu cheese and walnuts tossed in light vinaigrette. There was also available the butternut squash soup or a Cesar salad. For the main course I had skirt steak au poivre and pomme frites. I ordered my steak medium rare, but found it much rarer and purple, but it was still delicious. Other options included the salmon with carrots and leeks or the grilled chicken paillard with spinach. For desert I chose the key lime pie with coconut crust. The slice was a bit too small and only the crust edge was coconut. There was also devil's food chocolate layered cake or raspberry sorbet. I usually go for chocolate, but the waitress recommended the pie. It was not a bad choice but I wondered about the chocolate cake. To accompany our lunch we chose the Rosenblum petite sirah and immediately noticed that sirah was misspelled on the menu. We mentioned it to the waitress, but when she came back with the bottle she was happy to prove us wrong. Later I learned by way of Wikipedia that this is in fact a type of wine. Some misgivings included a few unclean utensils and very fast service. It was as if everything was prepared ahead of time. There was hardly a wait at all. But this was all beneficial, because we did have to get back to work on time.

I must say that I enjoyed the entire meal with little objection. The service was good and the waitress seemed willing to join my coworker in snarky banter. I would recommend Porter House to anyone who wants to have a quick lunch with friends. It's also great for the business lunch, but for a dinner or a special occasion I would not recommend it. The food is not spectacular or plated uniquely, but it is good and hearty.

Porter House New York
Time Warner Center
10 Columbus Circle at 60th St., 4th fl.
New York, NY 10019
212-823-9500
Open daily for dinner from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and for lunch from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Appetizers and salads range in price from $10 to $16 and entrees from $17 to $52.
The park-view lunch is available all year round for $24, including choice of salad, entree, and dessert.

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Nougatine at Jean Georges

A gem of excellence, Nougatine is the front room of Jean-Georges's namesake restaurant Jean Georges. As its confectionary name suggests, Nougatine is a sweet morsel of delight. Restaurant week was the perfect opportunity to try Nougatine with a friend. Both of us opting for the $35 four-course tasting menu was the perfect way to familiarize ourselves with the restaurant's simple and elegant cuisine. With white wine for the lady and red wine for me, we toasted our good fortunes. The meal began with complimentary amuse-bouches from Jean-Georges, an hors d’oeuvre of a cooked shrimp topped with a parsley pesto and a petite cup of mushroom soup with gruyere and croutons. It was a perfect introduction to what was to follow.

The first course was a tomato soup with a sourdough crouton and shredded cheese. The soup was silky and smooth with just the right balance of sweet and salty and the crouton was crunchy and tasted of earthy caraway. The second course was a cod sautéed in maple syrup served on a bed of celeriac puree topped with celery slices, pickled onions, and drizzled with pink peppercorn vinaigrette. The fish was perfectly done with a hint of sweetness. The different textures of crispy and soft along with the peppery bite of the vinaigrette made for an interesting meal that did not quite follow through. The dish was a fair attempt at elevating an otherwise dull fish. The third course was a crisply baked chicken breast and thigh with sautéed onions and garlic, steamed green beans, and a spiced jus. Once again the crunchy and soft textures and spicy broth worked well together. I tried to eat the crispy skin as fast as I could because it began to soften due to the broth. But it was a benefit that the broth was the last addition made to the dish table side. My only complaint was that the thigh was undercooked. Quite filled by this point, I would have preferred only having been served the breast.

There is a saying in Hungarian, loosely translated, that there is no filled wagon that cannot fit any more. With this in mind I awaited the final course. Apt as is the restaurant’s name, it does not fail to deliver scrumptious desserts created by Johnny Iuzzini. A double serving presented on a rectangular plate was placed before us both; in one corner the apple tart with honey-ginger ice cream and in the other corner the molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream. Truly, I was as happy as a hog in mud when I tasted that chocolate cake. The tart was forgettable but the chocolate cake was simple perfection. We left the evening very content and very full.

Those who visit Nougatine after restaurant week will not find any of these dishes on the regular menu except for the desserts. I urge you to go now and visit Nougatine, if only for this wonderful dining experience. With its impeccable service, attention to detail, and great food you will not be let down.

Nougatine
Trump International Hotel and Tower
1 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
212-299-3900
Open daily for dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., for lunch from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., and breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
For dinner, appetizers range in price from $9 to $19 and entrees from $22 to $65.
The dinner tasting menu is $68 and the lunch tasting menu is $24.

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Welcome to Gastronomer's Guide

Welcome! I’m Joseph Erdos, The Gastronomer of Gastronomer's Guide. I started this blog during New York restaurant week in January 2008. For a long time I had been searching for a way in which to share my musings on food topics with others. This blog became just that.

After graduating from New York University with a degree in English and a dream of becoming a screenwriter, I had stints in daytime television, marketing, and nutrition before I realized that food, cooking, and eating had been my favorite subjects all along.

In the past I have worked at Everyday Food magazine at Martha Stewart and Columbia University Press, one of the largest academic book publishers. I was and still am continually inspired by countless food books, particularly those written by the father of molecular gastronomy, Hervé This. His passion made me see food in a new and different way. And from him I took a deeper interest in gastronomy, food science, and experimental cuisine. After earning a certificate in publishing from NYU, I turned to the world of blogging and began Gastronomer's Guide.

With this site, I celebrate the world of gastronomy in both the simple and elegant forms, from basic home cooking to elaborate restaurant cuisine. My aim is to teach, entertain, and expand the reader's/eater's fundamental experience with food into the extraordinary by exploring science, history, culture, cooking, dining, and eating.

With a focus on food-related things to do and see in and around New York, with coverage of events, cooking demonstrations, lectures, readings, and dining experiences, and with my recipe creations, I hope Gastronomer's Guide will become your source for food and culture.

Please join me in my gastronomical adventures.

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