My wife and I went to this restaurant to see if it was appropriate for a small offline. It is owned by the owners of Jewel Bako and had received great reviews from New York Magazine and The New York Times. The small upstairs dining room holds 12 people and we had assembled a group of ten prospective forum members to join us if the results were good. The upstairs dining room is reserved for those chosing the $75 tasting menu. The wine list was not particularly well chosen and the prices were higher than expected. there was a reserve wine list with some impressive wines, though at borderline obscene prices.

I wore a jacket (no tie) and we sat next to the digital thermostat. On a cold evening outdoors, it was 75 degrees in the dining room. All the men wearing jackets removed them, as did a woman sitting next to us with her sweater.

The food was pretentiously labeled, but we figured that was part of the atmosphere the restaurant was trying to create. Everything we ate was good, but nothing was special. The oysters Rockerfeller deconstructed was probably the best thing served in the tasting menu, but the entire portion fit easily into a spoon smaller than a normal teaspoon. The turtle soup has some spicey heat to it, but other than that was relatively flavorless. The quail stuffed with foie gras was also good, the quail done perfectly, but there was absolutely NO foie gras in the dish. The poached pear dessert was tough and underpoached. I do this same dish much better than they do. I would not return to this restaurant under any circumstances.

Sorry to hear that, Board-O. It sounded like it had possibilities.

That's pretty disappointing Board-o. I wonder, did they have a good selection of oysters on their raw bar?

Man, that sucks. Thanks for waving us off.

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but there was absolutely NO foie gras in the dish

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This is the equivilant of a dry martini. You pass the bottle of vermouth (preferibly still sealed) over the top of the martini glass. The fois is passed over the top of the chicken.

This is also similar to the way titanium golf clubs are made. A truck carrying the clubs drives by a titanium factory.

TJ, one of the dishes on tasting menu was 4 small different types of oysters, each accompanied by a different sauce.