Went there last week with high expectations : a 3 star Michelin , nr 1 Zagat etc…
Well , well . It’s a beautiful location and the service is excellent . But … any 3 star restaurant in Europe i"ve been to starts with amuses , approx. 5 to 7 of them . Here , a toast with some salmon spread , that’s it . Same for the coffee : you order coffee and you get coffee . Where is the rest ? No cookies , beautiful small desserts etc…
The wine list is outrageously expensive : times 6 to 8 . A Puligny Pucelles from Leflaive at $ 650 ? A glass of excellent Madeira from 1988 : $ 50 .
The starters were great : small portions but very tasty and beautiful presentation . The halibut was drowned in excessive saus , there wasn’t much to taste .
Stars in US are dumbed down in order to sell the Michelin guide. Just like a 5 star hotel in Europe would probably be a 4 star here, there probably are no true 3 star restaurants here. French Laundry and Per Se are probably 2 stars by European standards.
If you are still in NYC, try Per Se and Eleven Madison Park for you fine dining experience.
Though I may be lynched for saying so I prefer the seafood at Marea to Le Bernardin. Maybe I’ve always hit it on off days but my three visits to LB did not leave me with any inclination to return given the cost.
I still definitely prefer Le Bernardin to Marea, but my June meal at LB was not without its hitches:
I haven’t been to Le Bernardin in at least a decade, so was pleased to get to dine there last week. If recollections are remotely sound, the menu is far more refined, and there has been a shift from more a more European-style approach toward a more Asian-style. It’s not like the place was ever bad - it’s just different now.
Now the context of the meal has to be within that of some wonderful meals I’ve had the last year. While this will clearly be one of the finest meals I have this year, it clearly won’t be > the > finest. The high points are exceedingly high, but a couple things left me a bit cold.
The pre-ap salmon spread was good and was homey, and I gobbled it up while drinking a gimlet. (After that I moved on to a split of 2007 Puligny Montrachet Domaine Leflaive, that nicely went well with just about everything.)
The Wagyu tartare with caviar to really start may have been my favorite dish. It played up the saltiness in a way that the tartare needed - really nice. The peekytoe salad was nice, but the apple-lemongrass nage was very odd to me - is it a salad or a soup? The nage was also room temp, which made the dish even weirder. It was good, but threw me off.
The octopus was a hit, and was pure Mediterranean, with olive and black garlic emulsion - completely solid dish. The sea medley was good, but the custard at the bottom of the rather challenging to navigate bowl did not taste of Yuzu to me - though my biggest (if quite unfair) problem of the dish was that it echoed Robuchon’s uni in potato puree, while being inferior to it - a custard that kind of breaks up in a broth is just not all that elegant. Nice flavors, but ho hum.
The artic char was all Spring, with peas and favas, and another home run. The monkfish (I’m guessing this is a signature dish) was tasty and perfectly prepared and the broth was fabulous, but (as cool as it looked) I thought the mustard greens and daikon ‘sandwhich’ didn’t work, because the daikon (within the context of the plate) is really jarring. Desserts were good. Service was great.
I’ve always had great food at Le Bernardin but I totally understand the criticism. It’s pretty formal with jacket required and has the feel of a European 3 star. I agree it would be nice to have more small bites both before and after dinner. I also agree about the wine list but that’s in line with most other top restaurants in NYC unfortunately. I enjoy my visits there, but for true 3 star dining both EMP and Per Se, as mentioned above, would be better bets in the style you’re describing.
I’ve been to several Michelin starred restaurants in France. An amuse or at the most 2 has been the norm. LB is an excellent restaurant and certainly NOT dumbed down Michelin starred. That’s just plain ridiculous and pompous.
The Pucelles 2011 is 110 Euro’s here .
By coincidence , I was at two 3-star Belgian restaurants this month . At Hof van Cleve , we got 5 amuses , at Hertog Jan ( Brugge ) we got 7 .
I no longer order any desserts as with the coffee , you get more than desserts enough : choice of at least 10 different chocolates , cakes etc .
at Hof van Cleve , we had a starter , a main dish , coffee and a bottle of Leroy Vosne Romanee les Beaux Monts 2001 ( delicious wine ) and the total bill was ( 2 people ) 440 Euro’s .
Le Bernardin , tip included , was over 600 $ ( 2 wines by the glass , a Kistler and a Madeira ). I don’t find this excessive as this is New York , but I would like to have received more of everything .
Agree with Per se and 11 Madison , we had great dinners there ( and fabulous wine lists ) .
The food at Le Bernardin was outstanding . My criticism is purely focused on the lack of the extra’s that make it a 3-star experience .
Haven’t been there for ages, found it very good but a little on the “correct” side but am really interested in going back for lunch sometime (when the tariff is more friendly).
this is so wrong, that in the context of comparing NYC Michelin stars to Frech, the opposite is more often true. NYC 3-stars are easily at the highest level of food and service as compared to, say, the temples of France. At the 1- and 2-star level, service tends to be significantly better, as does, for example, wine service and selection thereof. Food is more difficult to compare since European restaurants tend (largely) to be French in France, etc., whereas NYC is blessed with a much wider range of styles and cuisines.
I cannot comment on Le Bern as I’ve never been (mostly because consensus is reviews like this), but when you look at the NYC 3-stars, they’re easily as good as their Euro counterparts, and typically cheaper!
Don’t know what to tell you. OP 's complaint as someone who lives in Europe and has dined at many 3 stars in Europe was that it isn’t cheaper than Europe’s 3 stars and it wasn’t as good.
I lived in NYC for 5 years and have dined at Jean Georges, Daniel, Le Bernardin, and Per Se multiple times. I don’t find them to be on par with the two 3 star places I tried in Paris either.
Love them, and go to them when I’m back in NYC but no 3 stars in my experience.
i know re: the OP - but that’s about Le Bern, not the generic comments you made, to which I responded.
I don’t know where you tried in Paris, but i’ve found that even among the 3-stars, there is very wide variability.
I also made a very pointed comment about the rest of the stars – which was directed at your comment re: “dumbing down” which I don’t find at all. You’re talking about a sum total of 6 restaurants in both cities, i’m talking about a hundred.
I’m sure Herwig–who I count as a friend–has tried every Michelin 3 *** in Paris as well as much of France. Herwig is a true bon vivant with an impeccable palate and love of great food and wine. Indeed, Herwig has probably been to more Michelin ** and *** restaurants in Europe than anyone else on this board.
My perspective is actually quite akin to Herwig’s, and I will go as far as to say (Yaacov–who I also count as a friend–and I have different perspectives, I am afraid) that NO Michelin *** restaurant in the USA can compare to almost any Michelin *** in France or Belgium (Italy and other countries, Netherlands included, are different). Indeed, a celebrated Michelin *** NY chef once pivately shared the same sentiment with me—that top restaurants in the USA cannot hold a candle to their French counterparts.
I also agree the Michelin *** restaurants in France and Belgium are usually cheaper than the ones in the USA. Same for the wine list–you’ll find some real treasures and value at Troisgros on the wine list…the same cannot be said for most (not all) Michelin *** in the USA.
Yaacov, I just don’t think the ones in the USA measure up…I should modify what I said above–I haven’t been to every *** in France, but I’d say that I don’t think any NY Michelin *** can compare to any Paris ***.