Dessert at Jax

Trio of creme brulee(from left to right): Vanilla bean, raspberry, and coffee.


Milk chocolate bread pudding with chocolate gelato, fresh berries, whipped cream, and a bourbon caramel.

After a large meal of roast chicken and mashed potatoes cooked by my very own mother we our family went out to get dessert at one of our long loved family favorites, Jax Fish House. The fish is very good but I really enjoy the desserts. We started with a trio of creme brulees: Vanilla, raspberry and coffee. The vanilla was very nice, it had a perfect crust of burnt sugar on top. The vanilla creme brulee had a very light vanilla flavor, I would have liked a bit more vanilla flavor. The coffee creme brulee was very strong. It had coffee beans baked into it and the whole custard was flavored with coffee. On the top was a chocolate covered coffee bean. Now I want to talk about the raspberry. This one was special. It was a plain creme brulee, with whole raspberries baked into it. In the process of baking the raspberries let out juices making the entire custard taste like fresh raspberries. The next dessert was a Milk chocolate bread pudding with chocolate gelato, fresh berries, whipped cream, and a bourbon caramel. The bread pudding had a great chocolate flavor and was piping hot so it was only logic to put some ice cream on it to control the temperature balance. Then the whipped cream added a very light refreshing flavor and texture to all that decadence. Over all great desserts!

Radda Trattoria

This is Radda.





Salumi Misti: Proscuitto, spek, salami and cured beef with EVOO and bread sticks.


Gnocchi bolognese.


Prosciutto and egg pizza.


Whole roasted striped bass with a radish, fennel, and arugula salad.

Radda is a small Italian restaurant in my home town, Boulder. In fact, I used to work at this restaurant. Now, I am not meaning to pick on our waitress, but, the service was terrible. Our waitress was all over the place and clearly did not know what she was doing. The food, on the other hand, was very nice. The very first course was Salumi Misti: Proscuitto, spek, salami and cured beef with EVOO and bread sticks. I really enjoy salumi when I can identify every flavor in the meat. With this I could tell what was salami I could tell what was cured beef, but I could not tell the difference between the proscuitto and the spek. But, over all it was a very good dish. Next up we had Gnocchi bolognese. This has been my favorite at Radda for a very long time, in fact, it was the very first dish I cooked in the Radda kitchen. The bolognese sauce has the perfect amount of meat to sauce. The sauce is super rich and a flavorful, with just pinch of heat at the end. The gnocchi are so light and soft. You could chew the gnocchi with your tongue they were so soft. Probably the best dish in the restaurant. Our next offering was a proscuitto and egg pizza. The crust was super crispy and yet very soft on the inside. There was a great amount of proscuitto on the pizza, and to top it all off there was an egg cracked onto the middle of it. It was a very good pizza. Our final dish was a whole roasted striped bass with a radish, fennel, and arugula salad. What was really cool was how the fish had no bones, but stayed perfectly in tact. The fish was cooked very well it just needed a bit more salt. My big problem was that the fennel was not fresh so it had a pretty rubbery texture. Well Radda is a very good restaurant, and I hope that more people will come visit.

Jean Georges

Amuse trio


Seared scallops


Goat cheese gnocchi


Trout sashimi


Confit of chicken leg


Slow cooked salmon


Chocolate tasting




Petit fours


Jean Georges kitchen

Well who would have thought that me, a 13 year old boy from Boulder, CO, would end up eating at two three Michelin star restaurants in one trip to New York. Jean Georges is one of the best restaurants in New York City. I first herd about Jean Georges when I was reading about pastry chefs and found Johnny Iuzzini, his desserts looked so good that I just had to look up the place he worked. Now Jean Georges is located right next to the building where Per Se is located, but that does not stop people from coming. My father and I were seated, and then about 3 minutes later they brought out a complementary amuse trio: Fluke tartare with a sweet pea remolade, carrot and miso soup with lime oil, and a 7 grain toast with mustard butter and a breakfast radish. Fluke is a very silky fish so putting a very crunchy ingredient along with it is a very good idea. The pea remolade was very flavorful but did not over power the subtle taste of the fish. To me it tasted like tuna fish salad, no, more like the best tuna fish salad you have ever eaten. The carrot and miso soup was fantastic. Depending on the kind of miso you use, it can either overpower a dish or be overpowered by something else. In this dish the miso pact a large punch, but so did the carrot, and the lime oil kind of put it all to rest. Finally we had the toast with the mustard butter and breakfast radish. When I fist looked at it I expected the bread to be super crunchy or as hard as a rock, the bread was surprisingly soft. By the taste of the mustard you could tell it was homemade because of how strong it was. Most mustard you buy in a store has been diluted but this mustard was not at all. After we finished the amuse, our next dish came out, Seared scallops with caramelized cauliflower and a caper-raisin emulsion. I have never had, nor seen, scallops paired with cauliflower and I am not sure it works that well. The scallops were cooked very well. In my opinion, the sauce was the best part of the dish. It had a great contrast between sweet and sour. My one big problem with the dish is that they sliced the scallops into thin disks. I think if you have an ingredient that is as beautiful as a scallop you should keep it as it is, not slice it up. Scallops are also much prettier when in their full shape. The next course was Goat cheese gnocchi with crispy artichokes. Now this is what I am talking about. The gnocchi where so creamy, and so soft. The artichokes were so lights and crispy. It was quite a contrast in textures. I do believe there was a small touch of citrus in the bottom of the bowl, which made the dish all the more decadent and delicious. Our final appetizer was Trout sashimi with trout eggs, fried trout skin and lemon foam. I looked at the menu and I saw trout sashimi, trout eggs, and fried trout skin, that makes me really excited. It came to the table and just looking at it made me excited. Now, trout is a very light fish with a low fat content, it does not have a very robust flavor. When you pair trout, especially raw trout, with something as strong as lemon it will be over powered and that is exactly what happened on this dish. That was the only rough part of the dish was that the lemon over powered the trout. Now the first entree comes; Parmesan crusted confit leg of chicken with salsify and lemon butter. Usually when I eat chicken it is dry, this chicken was probably the most succulent, moist, tender piece of chicken I have ever eaten. Crusted in Parmesan cheese, my god, that to me is like gilding the lily, but in a very very good way. Our last entree before we moved into dessert was Salmon with spinach ravioli, crispy pancetta, and bacon vinaigrette. The salmon was cooked to perfection, it was cooked sous vide so it would be evenly cooked all the way around. Cooking sous vide is basically cooking something in a vacuum-sealed bag, in temperature controlled water. The vinaigrette had a very nice bacon flavor. All in all it was a very good dish. Now it's time for dessert. The Chocolate tasting: Jean Georges chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream and a honey caramelized flexible chocolate ganache with amaranth seeds, hibiscus streusel, and beets. This is what I have read about, watched TV about and now I finally get to eat. For me, there is nothing better than a perfect chocolate lava cake. If you agree with me you must try the Jean Georges chocolate cake. It is perfectly cooked on the outside, but just gushing lava when you cut into it. The ganache was super light but and the same time super rich and creamy. I do not know what is up with people putting vegetables on dessert but it is amazing. Then came our Petit Fours: Strawberry and raspberry macaroons, assorted chocolates, vanilla marshmallows. The marshmallows were cut table side from this large jar of marshmallows. All of them were great petit fours. At the end of the meal I got a private tour of the Jean Georges kitchen. What a trip!!!

Le Bernardin

Crab with cauliflower


Thinly pounded tuna


Smoked tuna


Egg and caviar


Charred octopus


Seared langoustine


Nori crusted skate


Pan-roasted monkfish


Baked striped bass


Crispy black bass


Surf and Turf


Baked lobster


Goat cheese spheres


Mascarpone Cream


"Egg"


Caramelized corn custard


Cinnamon-caramel parfait


Passion fruit mousse


Petit fours


Le Bernardin Kitchen

Le Bernardin, wow, this is a meal I have wanted to eat since I was first interested in cooking. Chef Ripert is the biggest influence on my love of food. I first saw him on an episode of Top Chef season 3, he was the guest judge, and he was like a walking-talking dictionary of cuisine and flavor profiles. Hearing him talk about the simplest of dishes with such love and knowledge really spoke to me and inspired me to start cooking.
The first thing that happened to me when I sat down at my table was that the headwaiter, Julio, delivered an envelope to my table. Inside the envelope was...A SIGNED MENU FROM CHEF RIPERT HIMSELF. After something like that a night can not get any better, right? Well, guess what, it did. Julio came to our table with the complimentary amuse bouche, lump crab with a Parmesan tuile and cauliflower foam. You could tell this crab was not fake because of the really briny texture. Crab is very sweet so you would not think it goes with something also sweet like cauliflower, but it works perfectly. Our next dish was thinly pounded tuna with foie gras toast, chives, EVOO, and lemon. Most of the time when I eat tuna, either the tuna is over powered by the other flavors or it is bland and only has a fishy taste. This tuna dish had fantastic flavor and you could still taste the tuna. Foie gras on toast just made that dish totally perfect. Our next course was smoked yellowfin tuna "prosciutto" with pickled vegetables and crispy kombu. The vegetables were perfectly pickled and not too vinegar intensive and the tuna was not overly smoky. It was perfect. Now before I go on, let me tell you about the service. Our waiter, Julio, engaged us in friendly conversation and it felt like we were his first priority. If our water was running short, we did not notice when it was re-filled because they were amazingly discreet about it. Now, back to the food. The next dish was a poached egg with black caviar, toasted english muffin and marinier broth. The egg was perfectly cooked with a great oozing yolk. Caviar is just amazing and was great with this dish. The next course was charred octopus with fermented black bean and pear sauce, squid ink and miso vinaigrette with purple basil. Every time I have ever eaten octopus, it has been like chewing on rubber but this octopus was so amazingly tender. The black bean sauce is in the running for one of the best thing I have ever eaten. Chef Ripert ferments the beans underground in his own backyard! The next dish was seared langoustine with a wild mushroom and mache salad with shaved foie gras, and white balsamic vinaigrette. Langoustines are so sweet that you have to pair them with something earthy like mushrooms and mache. This dish had perfect flavors that worked perfectly together. Next dish was nori crusted skate, with braised winter lettuce, oysters, and ponzu vinaigrette. The skate was moist and the oysters were like little bursting lumps of the sea. Next came the pan roasted monkfish with hon shimeji mushrooms, sake broth and a turnip-ginger emulsion. The monkfish was silky and smooth and the ginger-turnip emulsion actually melted in my mouth. The next two courses were bass dishes. Baked striped bass with a corn "cannelloni" and a light perigord truffle sauce and Crispy black bass with lup cheog and beansprout "risotto", mini steamed buns and a hoisin-plum jus. The striped bass dish was the better of the two. It was flaky and moist. The corn cannelloni was very good. The corn filling was not stuffed into pasta but actually wrapped in leeks. The sauce had many chunks of truffle in it that gave it a very funky and earthy flavor. The black bass was very crispy and the bean sprout risotto tasted very fresh. Our last savory courses before the cheese and dessert were: 1) Surf and Turf: Escolar and seared Kobe beef with sea beans, eggplant fritters, pesto, and a red wine bernaise and 2) Baked lobster on a bed of truffles and foie gras stuffing with a brandy red wine sauce. Now I love the idea of surf and turf, and kobe beef and escolar are a perfect match. Escolar has a very soft and moist texture, and a very delicate flavor. Kobe, on the other hand, has a very fatty, rich flavor. When put together they are a perfect pair. Lobster is one of my favorite things to eat and this dish hit the ball out of the park. Not quite as good as my lobster at Annisa but still amazing. Now some of you may be thinking, when does this meal end? Well, dessert is coming. Our last savory item was our cheese course; Creamy spherified goat cheese with Concord grape "caviar" and candied walnuts. This dish was very unique. The goat cheese was spherified and so was the Concord grape juice. The way you spherify something is puree it up until it is smooth. After that, balance chemicals in a bowl and spoon the puree into the chemicals. This process causes a chemical reaction that creates a thin sugar around the puree that causes it to be solid on the outside, and liquid on the inside. The dish was divine. The goat cheese tasted so creamy and the walnuts and grapes went perfectly with the richness of the cheese. Next came our pre-dessert, Mascarpone cream in a crisp sugar shell with almond cocoa pain de genes. The dish was just beautiful to look at. It was so interesting the way the sugar shell was shaped, though when I broke it the sugar formed sharp edges and cut the inside of my mouth a little bit. Other than my little injury the dish was great. The next dish was our complimentary "Egg" Milk chocolate pots de creme with caramel foam, maple syrup, and maldon sea salt. The flavors were absolutely perfect. The pot de crème had a fantastic chocolate flavor. I love the mixing of salty and sweet, and maldon sea salt is super salty so they did not have to put too much on. Our next dessert was Caramelized corn custard with hazelnut praline, brown butter ice cream and a popcorn tuile. Now when I think of dessert my mind jumps to chocolate or caramel, I never think of corn. Well, corn is what I think of now for dessert. This dessert was a revelation. The combination of corn, hazelnuts, and brown butter ice cream was just so good. The popcorn tuile was the best part; it is tasted exactly like cracker jacks. Our next dessert was Cinnamon and caramel parfait with liquid pears, smoked sea salt and fromage blanc sorbet. First of all, the plating on this dish was like a work of art and second, it was so good. They did the same spherfication process to pear puree as they did to the goat cheese. When I placed the liquid pear in my mouth it burst. It tasted like the ripest pear in the world. Fromage blanc sorbet is my new favorite ice cream flavor. So rich, and so creamy. We then got a free dessert, compliments of the owner; it was Passion fruit mousse with mandarin sorbet and white chocolate. The mousse was so light, fluffy, and fruity. All the textures and flavors were spot on. It felt like a $100 dish but it was free. We received our petit fours at the end of the meal, which were excellent, and then I got a private tour of the Le Bernardin kitchen. This exquisite 19-course meal is probably something I will remember my entire life as the best meal I have ever eaten, and I doubt that will change.

New York: Day 2

Cool statue

30 Rock!

La Maison du Chocolat

Open faced Ruben and The Carnegie Deli!

Per Se!!! Thomas Keller!! We did not get to eat but just the outside was cool.



A great day in central park

Annisa

Morel and lotus chawan mushi with sea urchin.

Seared foie gras and soup dumplings with jicama.

Butter-poached lobster with black trumpets, ramps and sweet pea flan.

Veal tenderloin and sweatbreads with oysters, artichokes, truffle sauce and oyster foam.

Petit Fours: Mint ice cream truffles, candied ginger and coconut popsicles.

I got to meet Chef Anita Lo! How cool is that?! I even got to wear her bandana

A great meal starts out with great service, and the service at Annisa was great from start to finish. When the food came out, though, we knew we were in for a treat. The first course was the morel and lotus chawan mushi with sea urchin. Now, for those of you who don't know, chawan mushi is a savory Japanese custard. This chawan mushi was perfectly cooked and on the top was fresh sea urchin roe. Sea urchin roe is probably one of the best things I have ever eaten, it has a great flavor of the sea and a very good texture.

The next dish was seared foie gras with soup dumplings and jicama. This dish was very interesting. When I think soup dumplings I think of the dumplings that go into wonton soup I don't think of dumplings that are actually filled with soup, but Anita Lo has found a way to do it and let me tell you it is amazing.

After our starters, our entrees came out. The first one was Butter-poached lobster with ramps, black trumpets, and sweet pea flan. Now butter poaching a lobster is absolutely awesome and when you do it perfectly the lobster melts in your mouth. The sweet pea flan was a work of the gods. It was so good. The taste was of perfectly fresh peas. The texture was like velvet.

The other entree was veal tenderloin and sweet breads with artichokes, oysters, truffle sauce and oyster foam. The veal was perfectly cooked. The tenderloin and the sweetbreads cut like butter. Both sauces were perfeclty seasoned and everything just went perfectly together. Our petit fours were perfect palate cleansers and to top the night all off I got to meet chef Anita Lo who was one of the people who inspired me to start cooking!