The Modern (December 6, 2005)New York, NY I'm working with a group that has a tradition of getting together for a holiday dinner every year. This year, dinner was at the Modern, the restaurant adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art. I had high expectations for this meal, as it was my first experience at a restaurant in the Danny Meyer stable, and my first time sampling the cuisine of Gabriel Kreuther, formerly of Atelier. Several rounds of hors doeuvres were served prior to the meal, with two standouts both served on miniature crisps: a beef tartare topped with a quail egg, delicate, cold, and pleasingly fatty, and the better of the two, a tiny tarte flambe with incredibly pungent and flavorful smoked bacon and a touch of melted cheese. I would very much have liked an entree-sized version of this amuse. Organic Mesclun with Goat Cheese Ravioli, Beet Carpaccio and Truffle Vinaigrette The most technically interesting aspect of this dish was the beet carpaccio, eight translucent disks of beet overlapping to form a circle, within which was a tall pile of mesclun and small ravioli squares. The aroma of the truffles was present, but left in the background. Ultimately, the visual presentation was more interesting than the salad itself, which, while fresh and crunchy, didn't provide any surprises in terms of flavor. If you've had mesclun, goat cheese, and beets, then you know what this tasted like. The white wine was dry and crisp, with a slight funk on the nose reminiscent of a Rhone red. Pistachio Crusted Bass with Wilted Spinach This, along with the dessert, was the best dish of the meal. A pave of bass, coated liberally with minced pistachio, rested in a pale creamy yellow sauce, surrounded by pieces of cooked spinach. The sauce had a subtle citrus tang, and went well with the spinach and the fish. No flavor surprises here, just perfectly cooked fish with a crispy, browned skin, and tender, juicy meat. Black Angus Beef Tenderloin with Gingered Wild Mushrooms and Roasted Endive Here, a filet of tenderloin was accompanied by sliced, sauteed mushrooms and sections of endive, roasted just shy of caramelization, all resting in a pool of deep brown glaze. The filet had good beef flavor, although this fell short of ideal for two possibly conflicting reasons: we weren't provided a steak knife to cut it, and we actually needed one, unfortunately. However, the ginger mushroom sauce was very interesting, providing an almost Japanese flair to the dish, with the endive providing a bittersweet counterpoint. The wine helped as well, with a complex fruit and tobacco flavor that made me think of Bordeaux. Caramel Parfait, Ten-Flavor Sorbet and Caramelized "Fig Banana" One of the better desserts I've had in a long time. This was presented on a narrow rectangular plate; sections of browned banana were flanked by two creamy discs, one the cafe-au-lait colored parfait, the other a pale orange, with paper-thin phyllo crisp triangles spearing the discs. The parfait had a wonderful salty-sweet caramel flavor married with an airy not-quite-foamy texture, and the sorbet was redolent with deeply flavored fruit, with passion fruit sounding the dominant note. The combination of salt, sweet, and fruit was really nice. The pruny sweetness of the Banyuls accompanied the dish well. Coffee and Tea This was followed by mignardise, which were just about as good as the dessert; passion fruit and raspberry jellies, chocolates, and small pastries with cream. I thought the meal had flaws; the salad, while correct, was uninteresting, and the beef dish was not executed as well as it should have been. On the other hand, there were tantalizing hints of deeper flavors, which makes me think a return visit, with careful selection of dishes, may be in order.
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