Le Bernardin - New York
Stormy waters and a view of West 51st St
Rating: 17/20
Where: New York, NY
When: Lunch for 3 on 12 July 2023
Cost: Tasting menu $298, Wine pairing $170
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars, #44 on Top 50 Restaurants list (2023)
Why: Large variety of perfectly prepared seafood; many excellent dishes; amazing wine pairing
“Le Bernardin” is a veritable New York institution, holding three Michelin stars and a four star rating from the New York Times for what feels like forever. I had been here twice before, in 2010 and 2016, and both visits were delightful, easy 19s in my book. I still remember the heavenly salmon that was worlds away from the overcooked version that was a staple of my childhood. But seven years is an eternity for a restaurant, even without a global pandemic in the middle - so how would lunch in 2023 hold up?
Outwardly, not much had changed. The location was still the same, at the ground floor of a nondescript office building in Midtown. But this ground floor in Manhattan meant amazingly high ceilings, giving the dining room an airiness that a more conventional space could only dream of. The interior design still heavily used medium-brown wood, which would have been considered modern in the 1970s, but seemed a bit dated now. With a large, multi-paneled canvas of crashing waves at the far end of the dining room (see above), this felt designed for a more conservative, older, and (presumably) moneyed clientele. Keeping with this theme (and somewhat unusual these days), there was a dress code. And, as one of my dining companions inadvertently found out, it was definitely enforced. Compared to our last visit, jackets were no longer required, but short-sleeved shirts were still a big no-no for men. Thankfully, the restaurants provided loaner jackets just in case.
The waves dominating the dining room are a hint: Le Bernardin almost exclusively serves seafood. While it is possible to order meat, that's a bit like ordering a burger in a sushi restaurant - you’re probably missing out.
For lunch and dinner, there is a choice between a prix fixe menu and a tasting menu. While the tasting menu is the same throughout the day, the prix fixe becomes longer for dinner: four courses instead of three. And that prix fixe menu is impressive (see below), it contains literally dozens of seafood dishes - one could eat here every day for over a week and not repeat a single dish. We went for the tasting menu and its accompanying wine pairing, which consisted of eight glasses: four whites, one rose, one red and two dessert wines. The quality of these wines was impressive, they were consistently very good - even among three-star restaurants this was a stand-out wine pairing. Definitely worth checking out.
Surprisingly, our lunch started inauspiciously. Smoked salmon rillettes was served with toasted bread slices. The dish pretty much looked like a mix of salmon and mayonnaise. On the plus side, it wasn't quite as heavy as it looked, and the salmon was quite fresh. Unfortunately, tastewise this dish seemed more at home at Whole Foods than at a three-star restaurant. I appreciate that the kitchen didn't waste any “leftovers”, but this was an oddly low-key way to start our tasting menu 14.
Four different kinds of bread were offered afterwards, all served at room temperature: a baguette, a focaccia, a raisin bread and a flaky roll. All fine, but not particularly memorable 14.
Our first official course looked dramatic. Taragai is an enormous clam, almost as large as a regular dinner plate. And that's what its shell was indeed used for: it held Taragai that was sliced sashimi style and seasoned with basil, a saffron gelee and olive oil. Toast was again served on the side and was meant to contrast with the texture of the sashimi. And what an unusual texture it was - quite meaty and solid, very unlike most seafood that I’ve had. Tastewise, though, the clam was almost a no-show. In contrast, the gelee was actually pretty nice and had just a hint of spice, but there was just too little of it compared to the amount of clam present. As a result, this dish felt considerably underseasoned. And the not-particularly-crunchy toasted bread didn't help either, it spread the spices even thinner. In summary: not bad, but lacking salt (or more gelee) 16. The paired Spanish white wine was pretty spectacular though - almost saving this course by itself.
Luckily, the next course was much better, and closer to what I had remembered from prior visits. Warm Maine scallop tartare was served with a scoop of royal osetra caviar and a sauce mariniere. Serving the scallop warm was a masterstroke, the flavors were so much more intense than they would have been in a chilled presentation. The scallop itself tasted great, only some pieces had a bit of a fishy aftertaste for me (but not for my dining companions) - weird. The caviar was excellent and added a nice dose of saltiness, and the wonderfully buttery sauce brought the dish together. Simple perfection, hard to see how to make this any better, other than the aftertaste 19.
Following this, slices of poached Maine lobster tail were served with zucchinis and cucumbers in a lobster consomme that incorporated Thai curry, lemongrass and kaffir limes. The lobster itself was perfectly cooked and very tender. The acidic sauce was also very good, but this dish had the same problem as the clam - there was simply too little sauce for too much lobster, making the combination feel underseasoned. Simply doubling the amount of sauce (or adding some salt) would do the trick 17.
A sauteed langoustine was served with a small salad, a mushroom puree, truffles and a balsamic vinaigrette. The langoustine was again cooked perfectly. The mushroom flavor was distinctive without being overpowering. And the light acidity of the vinegar cut through the umami and brightened up the dish. All in all, again a really good sauce. The combination of seafood and mushrooms was a bit unusual - more in the “I like it, but do not love it” category for me 18. My newly-jacketed dining companion thought that this was the best dish of the afternoon, and would have rated it a 19.
Pan-roasted fluke was served with a mini potato, braised leeks, some uni (sea urchin) and an uni bouillabaisse sauce. No surprise here: the fish was again cooked perfectly - props to the kitchen for nailing this every single time. The outside of the fish filet was crispy and its insides flaky. The crispy part of the fish was delicious, it had enough flavor to go without a sauce. But unfortunately there was plenty more of the fish, which led to the (by now half-expected) problem: while the sauce was lovely, there was simply not enough of it. As for the sides, the cold sea urchin was good, but the best part of the dish was the excellent potato topped with a creamy sauce (20 by itself). Mostly due to the shortage of sauce, this comes to a 17.
The final savory course was the only one that was paired with a red wine. Steamed halibut was served on a truffle sunchoke puree, and surrounded by a baby root vegetable medley and a sauce bourguignonne. This sauce was the only non-pescatarian element of our meal - it contained beef and pork, and tasted quite meaty. The truffles were very good, but the star of the dish was the perfectly cooked fish. The flaky, juicy, tender halibut was among the best examples of this fish that I've ever had (a 20 by itself). With the sauce (of which there was plenty) it was lovely as well 19.
Time for a palate cleanser. Compressed watermelon was served with a pandan sorbet and topped with a house-made cookie. The sorbet was excellent, the watermelon light and refreshing - a perfect pre-dessert 19.
Our main dessert was a citrus “madeleine” - really a vanilla sponge cake covered with a lemon “couverture”. A citrus fruit sorbet and a berry compote completed the dish. The fake madeleine was lovely, it had a crunchy shell with a soft interior and was overall much lighter than a traditional madeleine. Adding the great sorbet, this made for a fresh and light dessert 19.
Three petit fours concluded our lunch (picture taken after the first bite, oops). An almond peach financier was lovely and clinging-to-your-teeth sticky 16. A chocolate praline was advertised to contain whiskey, but its almost liquid center tasted more of Grand Marnier 15. A coconut marshmallow had a hint of lime, and was decent as well 15.
The service throughout dinner was good, but seemed a bit on auto-pilot and impersonal. This was not a place where anyone engaged in chit chat or, say, asked you where you were from. Diners were served food with minimal fuss. And as a result, the service was extremely efficient, it took only two hours for the entire lunch - which is quite short for a tasting menu of this length. But somehow I felt neither excessively full nor particularly rushed during our meal. They really got the timing down to a science, it appears.
Overall: French cuisine meets an astonishing variety of seafood. And said seafood was consistently cooked perfectly; the kitchen really knows what it is doing. The sauces and accompaniments were generally first-rate as well. Tragically, it was the combination of fish and sauces that often fell short, half of the dishes ended up considerably underseasoned. The good news is that this would be easy to fix by just leaving some extra sauce at the table, or simply providing a salt shaker. Alas, as it stands, this unevenness meant that Le Bernardin didn't quite reach the heights of my previous visits 17.
