Mario Batali, the chef who does wonders in Kitchen Stadium in his orange crocs. Joe Bastianich, the legendary restaurateur with 17 award winning establishments. Dave Pasternack, the “fish whisperer.” An elaborate, seven course meal at the award winning Esca, on 43rd street and 9th avenue.
A huge disappointment.
I chose to wait two full months before writing about this experience - it would give me ample time to “cool off” a bit. I would have time to reflect and give the meal a fair evaluation. To those of you who knew about this dinner and asked me about it, my sincerest apologies for lying. I told you it was an amazing dinner, but it really wasn’t a satisfying experience. Here it is, the truth about Esca.
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Back in April, my foodie “a bit of a foodie” buddy Eric and I dined at Esca, one of the seven Batali-Bastianich joint ventures. Esca, which means “bait”, specializes in preparing pristine seafood. The chef, our waiter told us that evening, is very close with his team of fishermen and knows all of them on a first name basis. It was a beautiful little restaurant, with dim lighting, wine bottles lining the walls, and an immensely friendly waitstaff. The executive chef, David Pasternack, was on site - we saw him walk out halfway through the dinner.
Each dish was very delicately prepared, simply seasoned, and incredibly fresh.
By now, you may be wondering what my issue is with the restaurant. You’ll see soon enough.
Without further ado, here are the photos from the event (I apologize for the photo quality. These were just taken on my droid, not a real camera):
Crudo:
Crudo, first flight: Pemaquid Oyster, simply served on the shell, shrimp “scampi”, flavored with lemon and drops of clarified butter, dusted with salt and white pepper, Wild Portuguese Orata, with sea salt from trapani, sea beans, and meyer lemon.
This first course was delicious. I’ve never had raw shrimp before (raw lobster in Taiwan, yes. They’re pretty similar in flavor profile)- it was sweet, and it brought me back to the ocean. The oyster was incredibly fresh and brimming with terroir. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Eric…well lets just say he kept it down (and I’m very proud of him for that. You really should have seen him!). The orata was incredibly flavorful and refreshing in its little drizzle of fruity olive oil and spritz of meyer lemon. This flavor profile, though, comes back over and over and over again.
and then 40 minutes pass…
Crudo, second flight: Swordfish, with a peppery crust of toasted hazlenuts, Yellowfun Tuna, a carpaccio with olio verde, and Razor Clam, a two minute ceviche with chilis, scallion, and mint.
Again, a very texturally interesting dish. The swordfish was so delicious that it didn’t make it into the picture. Eric noted that the flavor profile of these three pieces of crudo was somewhat similar to that of the previous flight. Extra virgin olive oil with a spritz of acid. He was right.
20 minutes later…
Flash fried frog leg with spinach pesto served with artichoke hearts lightly dressed with olive oil and meyer lemon nestled in radicchio leaves. The dish was finished with another splash of fruity olive oil.
The frog leg was moist and tender (for those of you who’ve never had it, you should try it. It really does resemble chicken, like people say). Again with the olive oil and lemon combo, though.
Ok enough with the waiting comments. We waited a very long time between each course.
Spaghetti Neri: squid ink spaghetti with tiny cuttlefish, green chilies, and scallion in a rich shellfish broth
Trust me, it tastes better than it looks. This dish was my favorite of them all. It was rich, flavorful, it tasted of the ocean. It was somehow refreshing at the same time.
Merluzzo: montauk cod with a delicate ragu of morel mushrooms and artichoke hearts, dressed with aceto balsamico tradizionale
Yeah, dredged, lightly fried and served with something tossed in olive oil and lemon juice. Look familiar? It was moist and fresh, but…
Maccarello - whole, flash fried local mackarel with toasted nuts, dressed in meyer lemon and olive oil
You get the idea.
By now, our palates were tired, and so were we. It was 11:00 (dinner started at 6:30). And then the most amazing course arrived:
Not going to try and make it sound good. It’s what it looks like. A tiny ball of cheese. Burrata mozzarella, with honey, on a huge plate.
And finally, at 11:30, our desserts arrived.
Torta di Ricotta: goat’s milk ricotta cheesecake with candied kumquats and pistachio
It looks beautiful. Then I took a bite of a spoonful, and it was so devoid of sweetness that I was taken aback. It was more of a cheese course dessert than a dessert as we generally know it. At least it looked good, though.
Affogato di Caffe - caramel gelato drowned in a shot of hot espresso, served with a duo of merengue cookies and a quenelle of creme fraiche
This was delicious. Thank goodness we had it too.
Anyway, that’s my summary of Esca. Each dish would have been great on its own, but there was just too much of the same, and the service was incredibly slow.
But oh well, it was a great evening spent in great company. This dinner is a great example of why pretentious restaurants aren’t necessarily the best. It’s not about the 30 different kinds of olive oil and 10 different kinds of sea salt that you can sprinkle on a piece of fish (they actually counted on their website somewhere). It’s about creating a memorable and satisfying experience for your guests.
And for me, it was still definitely time well spent (I don’t get to see the New Jersey kids all that often anymore, you know?). We should have done something constructive, like write haikus while we were waiting, but we laughed the night away (and took pictures for a pretty strange couple sitting nearby).
Cheers!
