Ken's Way: September 2011

I decided to come here for my birthday dinner I do every year with my 2 close girl friends from college. We've heard lots of good things and a few bad things about GE. So I wanted to find out for myself if this was a good restaurant. I thought the ambiance and decor was nice. The crowd was mixed ranging from young to older people. When you dine at Graham Elliot, you can either order the ala cart or their prefixed menus. There isn't a ton of choices from the Ala cart but it would be less expensive if you ordered that way. They have the 5, 10, or 15 prefix menu. Most reviews I read said the 5 is good without being too expensive.

Menu::: 75$
Deconstructed Caesar Salad - gem lettuce + brioche twinkie + white anchovy
Sweet Corn Bisque Soup - spiny Lobster + toasted coquito + vanilla marshmallow
Seared Alaskan Halibut - leek brandade + orange gel + haricot vert
Charred Bison Loin or Pork Belly - puffed hominy + breakfast radish + farm egg
Flourless Chocolate Cake - rootbeer + port cherry + birch caramel

As we sat down we were given this popcorn appetizer that is made with truffle butter, black peeper and Parmesan fluff. At first I thought popcorn for appetizer was not going to do it but it was actually really good and full of flavor from the truffle butter + Parmesan fluff. The next item they gave us was the water melon amuse-bouches. I thought it was okay. The deconstructed caesar salad was really good! It was a twinkie with lettuce and a piece of anchovy on top. I really love that idea of a salad looking like a twinkie. The twinkie was hard to cut into at first but when you tasted the dish, it tasted great and it's a fun dish to eat.

The next dish which was the corn bisque was not bad but I didn't think there was anything special about the dish itself besides the way it was presented. The next small dish was an interesting dish but I wasn't sure why it was even put on the menu since the flavors of this 5 dishes doesn't really correspond to the calamari and brussel kimchi curry. It was so small and I couldn't really taste much besides a few rings of calamari and the kimchi ????? I really don't think that dish worked well with everything. If you are a foie gras fan then you should definitely try the foie graw lollipop. I wasn't a fan to start off with but I wanted to try it anyways because it was shaped like a lollipop with pop rocks on the outside of it giving the candy feeling for the dish. The halibut was really yummy. It was cooked just right where the fish melt ted in your mouth. The flavors were good but nothing too special here. Instead of the bison which was part of the prefix, I asked for the pork dish which I heard people talking about. I really liked the dish a lot. The flavors really hit your mouth and the puffed hominy and the chorizo foam sauce along with the farm egg really gave it a nice meaty flavor. I loved the hominy ( corn that has been processed to remove the hull and germ ) they were fun to eat and the flavor from the chorizo and sauces soaked the hominy giving each one of them good flavor.

The service was very good and attentive. Our waitress was super nice and I have heard of a wait staff who is not friendly and thank god I didn't get them for my birthday meal. I would come back but I wouldn't do the prefix menus.