Lux

NYT: Daniel, 3-Stars

23 JULY 2013

Serving the Stuff of Privilege

By PETE WELLS

Your job may be worrying you, or your father’s health, or your own. You may have been up at 2 that morning drafting a better ending for a long-ago memory. But certain restaurants, if you can afford them, can knock down the barriers between you and happiness for a few hours. Every taste seems to transport you to another world, while every gesture of the staff convinces you that you live in the privileged center of this one.

Daniel, which turned 20 this year, can make you feel that way. Does chilled pea soup sound like the stuff of privilege? It is when it comes from this kitchen, where Jean François Bruel has been the executive chef since 2003, and which Daniel Boulud, the proprietor, watches over from a windowed perch above the saucepans and sieves.

Those sieves got a workout on this soup, straining it to a gliding smoothness. It had the clear, refreshing sweetness of the smallest peas eaten straight from the pod. Salty diamonds of smoked sable and a white ring of rosemary-infused cream helped the soup’s purity shine more clearly. This kind of exquisitely sensitive, profoundly seasonal, fundamentally French cooking helped lift Daniel to several four-star reviews in The New York Times, the most recent one by Frank Bruni in 2009.

Again and again, I have been startled by the excellence of Mr. Bruel’s ingredients and his talent for unlocking all they had to offer. I have never tasted more calmly flavorful veal tenderloin, or fresher and more gently handled swordfish, or a more skillfully roasted breast of guinea hen.

But some of these star ingredients were embedded in elaborate, multipart compositions that didn’t fully reward the attention they demanded. At times, the restaurant gave the impression that it was trying to garnish its way to greatness.

And while the service can be among the best in the city, with a supreme attentiveness softened by a surprising warmth and even chattiness, it is not always that way for everyone. When people who are known at the restaurant tell me about their meals, they look blissful. Others look disappointed or resentful as they tell me about cramped tables in the neoclassical arcades around the grand sunken dining room and hasty, perfunctory service.

One night I had a reservation 15 minutes apart from a colleague who wasn’t likely to be recognized, as I repeatedly was. We both ordered the six-course $195 tasting menu. (A three-course prix fixe dinner is $116.) Our meals were virtually identical. Our experiences were not.

The kitchen sent two amuse courses to my table. His got one. A few remaining sips of my wine, ordered by the glass, were topped off. His glass sat empty at times while he waited to be offered another.

We both ate extraordinary fried lollipops of filleted frogs’ legs on a long stick of bone, but only I was then brought a napkin-covered bowl of rosemary- and lemon-scented water for rinsing my fingers.

My servers were solicitous: Was this course, or that one, or that one, prepared to your liking? Was the pacing of the meal satisfactory? Could we interest you in a cheese course? Would you like your espresso with dessert, or after? Finally, as I neared the revolving door on East 65th Street: Can we help you find a cab tonight?

My colleague wasn’t asked any of those questions. Still, the next morning, he reported feeling very well taken care of. And a restaurant can’t be blamed for trying to impress a critic.

It can be faulted, though, for turning its best face away from the unknowns, the first-timers, the birthday splurgers, the tourists. They are precisely the people who would remember a little coddling at a place like Daniel for years.

And while a missing finger bowl won’t seriously mar anyone’s evening, missing Daniel’s cheese cart might. It is one of the finest four-wheeled vehicles in New York. Whenever I wondered if I really wanted cheese, a server would lay his knife on a soft wheel, pressing gently. The mounded top would fall for a moment then rise up again, gracefully and almost willingly. After that, the question was not if I should have some, but how many kinds could fit on one plate.

It was just as pointless to try to wave away the basket of Mark Fiorentino’s gorgeous breads, like a garlic focaccia, round and dimpled in the center. Rajeev Vaidya, the head sommelier, shepherded me past the many bottles that could land a weak wine lover in debt to more affordable ones. He has a 2007 halbtrocken from the German riesling maker Georg Breuer. Some buyers scoffed at the vintage, pushing prices down, but not Mr. Vaidya. A bottle can be yours for the princely sum of $25.

Recently, the title of executive pastry chef passed from Sandro Micheli to Ghaya Oliveira, and the dessert course, already exciting, has a little more energy. Ms. Oliveira’s approach is more modern and wide-ranging, embracing unusual spices and exuberant swipes of color. Her mint-scented strawberries are a giddy, flagrant essay in pink, with triangles of watermelon, columns of half-frozen strawberry mousse and ladyfingers tinted with powdered strawberry skin. It was a soft, lilting summer tune I won’t get out of my head before Labor Day.

The courses before dessert could be just as wonderfully haunting. I’d give a lot to recapture the happiness I got from slow-baked abalone, rich with creamed avocado and slightly tart with heart-shaped wood sorrel. I’m still transfixed by a peekytoe crab salad’s bravura variations on apple and celery, carried through to the juices in a walnut-oil vinaigrette.

And nothing quite prepared me for the untamed whoosh of intense green herbs in a bowl of olive-oil-poached cod teased into big, glistening flakes, then seasoned with za’atar and a bright cilantro sauce.

But the kitchen’s compulsion toward complexity could also result in a proliferation of dollhouse garnishes. Grilled sweet shrimp were outfitted with a heart of palm purée, microcubes of mango and cucumber, bok choy, tiny tapioca crackers, curls of shaved hearts of palm, among other things. The parts never quite gathered into a rush of flavor.

A variation on Mr. Boulud’s classic roasted sea bass with syrah sauce came with radicchio so bitter I wanted to slap it. A drum of sweet potato purée with a candylike crust of marrow on top only made the next bite of radicchio harder to take.

The kitchen loves to put two or three treatments of an ingredient side by side, when it might do better to focus on the one that works best. In a triptych of striped jack, a poached piece on a salad of mustard seeds with cubes of riesling gelée tasted as if the components were destined to be together. But there wasn’t the same inevitability about the lettuce-wrapped dumpling of striped jack tartare topped with caviar, or the smoky rillettes surrounded by crunchy carrot and asparagus.

Daniel built its fame on Mr. Boulud’s exquisite refinements on French peasant food. Over the years, the refinements have multiplied while the peasant food has been sent away to his many spinoff bistros.

Traces of it are still around, as in the short rib braised in red wine, half of a beef duo. The last time I tasted it, I was sure it was the finest French beef stew in existence. I knew my servers were trying to make my night one I’d recall with a smile. And I wished everyone could be so lucky.

Daniel

★★★

Fleurs Jaunes

Équidistant

Sashay

Élan

Comprise

Glitz, Bitch

Hot Weather, Cold Beer

SYBARITE: The inhabitants of ancient Sybaris, a Greek colony in southern Italy, supposedly devoted themselves to unrestrained self-indulgence - which is how their name became synonymous with "pleasure-seeker." But unlike the Epicurean, whose quest for pleasure isn't necessarily an exhausting one, the sybarite works at having fun. What's the point of that? See: DEBAUCHED, DISSOLUTE, EPICUREAN, LUXURY.

26 June 08
Beer: Anchor Bock, Anchor Brewing Co.
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $10.99/6pk
Grade: 6.9

Coffee, chocolate, super dark almost porter-like roasted bock. Smoked oak, bitter berries, sludgy malts. But even with all the complexities, it isn’t a very classy or beer worthy of being held high. It’s more of an average beer with odd and peculiar flavors thrown into it. It's definitely an enjoyable beer, but not necessarily a beer that heeds a need to drink again any time soon. You can taste the barley and the wheat, even some dark corn syrup, but afterwards you want a finer bock beer. Very heavy in taste, but not necessarily in body. Funky flavors but not a lasting beer.

26 June 08
Beer: Blue Moon, Blue Moon Brewing Co.
Location: Zip’s, courtesy Mroczka & Dylan Bros.
Price: Gratis
Grade: 6.0

The beer that people enjoy because it’s different, but little do they know Molson-Coors owns it. Better than most mainstream American brews, but still a sad comparison to the true Belgian Ale. Compared not on a scale of International v. Domestic, but rather Quality v. Reproduction. The ridiculous amount of sugary orange and sweetened coriander makes it taste more like a bad cocktail than a beer. It’s like a vanilla diet coke of beer. An earnest try to introduce a new beer to the market, especially a wheat ale, but still it comes up short in terms of proper beer quality. The wheat and the yeasts make their way through, but there’s a cloyingly, thick syrup that coats it all. Goes down in a viscous manner that sticks on the tongue. Spritzy carbonation but taken over by bubbly, sour taste which imitates lime-infused sparkling water. Murky golden color, pretty for sure, but still a let down – at least if it calls itself a Belgian-style wheat ale. Basically, an unnatural, imitated beer that really tastes… well, like an imitation - an earnest imitation.

27 June 08
Beer: Six Point Sweet Action
Location: Botanica
Price: $5/Pint
Grade: 7.0

So mellow, so subtle yet so good. A very nice gulpable, yet enjoyable session-bar kind of beer. Great on draft – since that’s the only way you can get it.

27 June 08
Beer: Paulauner Hefeweizen
Location: Botanica
Price: $6/Pint
Grade: 7.3

Very nice, robust, cheery, rich golden color, twist of citrus.

28 June 08
Beer: Stone Russian Imperial Stout
Location: Associated
Price: $7.50/650mL
Grade: 8.8

Dark, thick, syrupy, super roasted, manly, probably has the testosterone of a bull thrown into the brewing process also. A man’s man’s man’s drink. Still has a cute sweet tinge to it though.

28 June 08
Beer: Harpoon Summer Beer
Location: Associated
Price: Gratis, via Cohen Inc.
Grade: 6.9

Citrusy and yeasty, a very pleasant brew that would definitely make a great drink on the back porch whilst entertaining guests.


30 June 08
Beer: Fantôme Saison, Brasserie Fantôme
Location: New Beer Distributors, Chrystie St, NYC
Price: $13.75/750mL
Grade: 8.9

Super spritzy-carbonated like a soda, same feel and body. Very, very bubbly – like champagne. Almost has a combination of champagne and hard cider taste to it. Sweeter spices come through, with the common citrus notes. Though there is a very apparent yeasty smell in the nose. It’s like smelling the rind of a maturing cheese or an old vintage that has just been given life. There are tastes of apple, pear, lemon and spring-like berries. This is a very peculiar beer – unlike anything else I’ve really had. Unlike the other 750mL bottles, this had both a bottle cap and cork – yet the cork required a corkscrew, just like a wine. It has a very sharp ping that hits your tongue with a highly concentrated burst of flavor, yet there is little “after-life” or body to it. Very much a beer that kicks around and tingles in your mouth. Worth taking in small bites or sips – not so much a smooth, session, gulpable beer. If you were to gulp, you’d be wasting all of its qualities. It holds a somewhat cloudy darkened amber color; however farther down the bottle you can see the “curdled” yeast resting at the bottom. Should be a much more powerful beer, I assume, once I near the bottom. This isn’t necessarily my most favorite beer, yet it gets high marks for its peculiarities. 2nd pour very, very dark and cloudy – so different from the previous pint. Looks like an almost straight milky-brown. Cannot see through at all. Much fuller body, less acidic-spritzy. Must be the difference, as if the top of the beer separated from this part. Much stronger taste throughout. Alcohol much more apparent. A very complex, yet dry, clean-ish finish. Has traits very similar to wine, oddly enough – but with the body and feel of a beer. Truly unique beer.

4 July 08
Beer: Shiner Bock
Location: Hoffhaus Warehaus, Houston, TX
Price: Gratis, via O.M. Hoff Suppliers
Grade: 6.5

A standard. Texas standard. Like Blue Bell, BBQ and Tex-Mex. It’s just something you need to have in your life – a wonderful session beer that may not be the most complex or well-thought Bock beer, but it falls into the category of “Great with any meal, or at least most” and makes you look good at any party. There’s the people that bring Coors light to parties and then the people that bring Shiner. Who should you befriend then? I would hope it’s not that hard of a choice.

4 July 08
Beer: Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel
Location: Spec’s 249, Cypress, TX
Price: $3/500mL
Grade: 7.0

Nice, roasted, malty. Dark and a little spicy, but definitely has more potential in character and feel. Nice body, could have more to it though. Rich brown color, all right carbonation.

5 July 08
Beer: Julius Echter Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel
Location: Spec’s 249, Cypress, TX
Price: $3/500mL
Grade: 7.3

Not bad at all. Rich, dark, cloudy, hazy look. Beautiful roasted red-brown color. Very refreshing yet medium body feel in the mouth – slightly like roasted berry malts, acorns?, almonds, chestnuts, cloves, cinnamon. A refreshing gulp that doesn’t last for crazy long yet it’s still a nice slosh and bite, rather enjoyable. Enough bubbly and effervescence to seem lively and spritzy – but not so much that it’s like a bubble-central Belgian ale or what not. Wheaty, a little yeasty with good mealy flavor to it.

6 July 08
Beer: Orval Trappist Ale
Location: Spec’s 249, Cypress, TX
Price: $4.20/Bottle
Grade: 8.9

Sweet Jesus. This shit is awesome. A true beer for a true drinker. Trappist Ale, one of the six. Golden, hops apparent, slight sour-tartness throughout. Darker, roasted-orange-like taste. Very sharp bubbles and carbonation. Darker than a golden ale (Duvel, etc), yet almost like a saison. It’s not even that the flavors are amazing or a peculiar combination of ingredients, but rather the texture and mouth feel of the beer itself is unique. If anything, the taste jumps at you from behind, after it’s sat around on your tongue for awhile. The alcohol comes through, then a yeasty citrus tingle. Much more of a “genuine” tasting beer in comparison to imitations like Blue Moon. Doesn’t seem like a forced flavor or attempt at beer. If this is one of the better beers out there – it makes you realize that a beer’s character and feel is much more important than covering up a sub-par beer with “complex” flavors and odd job ingredients. To round it up, this beer gives you a new look at what a beer should feel like – not so much what it should taste like.

6 July 08
Beer: Boddington’s
Location: Spec’s 249, Cypress, TX
Price: Gratis, via O.M Hoffman Suppliers
Grade: 7.0

Beautiful creamy head, but the actual beer is kind of bland.

7 July 08
Beer: BitBurger
Location: Spec’s 249, Cypress, TX
Price: $4.50/4pk
Grade: 6.6

Ok German. Pale, thin, lager-pilsner-y. 16oz. can, nice, light, bitter hoppy with a very crisp, dry taste. Just a pale beer with a clean, light golden color and light feel in the mouth. Nothing crazy, nothing horrible, nothing amazing. A little grassy, but without enough "umpf” to have a taste to it. However, a bit watered-down to be a real thirst-quencher or ‘truly’ enjoyable beer.

9 July 08
Beer: Weihenstephaner Vitus
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $2.49/500mL
Grade: 7.8

Very wonderful beer. Rich, slightly cloudy golden-amber color. A wheaty, good bodied beer that has a fine hop bit with substantial yeast taste. A good froth and overall complex yet enjoyable gulp to it. A mellow sweetness to it that could be like baked apples – almost cobbler like. Notes of honey and very light brown sugar. Has a minimal sour tongue feel that sticks around, slightly malty also. Kind of like a fresh, yeasty dinner roll that just came out of the oven and is still soft – so imagine that in a cooled, liquid form with a little less density and heaviness. A delightful beer.

11 July 08
Beer: Weihenstephaner Festbier
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $2.49/500mL
Grade: 8.0

So German. This really makes me think of a good, German biergarten where you want a giant stein of this stuff. Such a good medium body that isn’t too strong, isn’t too light, but has enough subtle, hearty flavor that it just seems so properly balanced. Nothing really bites out at you, but it’s like a really comfortable pillow or blanket you want to fall on. Basically, this is an ideal fallback beer – something you can sit around and have a few steins of. I don’t think I can stress that enough. Bit of apricot, bready yeasty-ness, some malts and a fitting floral nose. Very moderate in the taste region. Some peach, some light hops, dry finish, nicely subdued. I suppose if you want to be picky – it could had a more creamy feel or more sturdy body – since this does have a slight weakness at times. Has the potential to be great, but for now it’s in good standing.

12 July 08
Beer: Guiness (Bottle)
Location: Avenue D Bodega
Price: $10/6pk
Grade: 6.0

A session beer. A dark one for that matter. Could use some more life to it. Usually better on draught. Excuse me - always better on draught.

13 July 08
Beer: Weinstephaner Korbinian
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $2.49/500mL
Grade: 7.8

Nice. Dark and roasty, molasses and caramel. Quite lovely.

13 July 08
Beer: Gouden Carolus – Carolus D’Or: Cuvée Van De Keizer
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $9.99/750mL
Grade: 8.2

Fragrant, sweet, almost like a coca-cola with a berry-like alcohol taste to it. Some dark, roasted malts but nothing too smoky or roasted. Plum and berries come through, even a bit of vanilla? It’s a peculiar fellow but it’s nice. Not my favorite but surely not a bad one. Very smooth and a good amount of sweetness. A nice complexity that doesn’t seem like they tried too hard, but really know how to meld flavors well. Sort of a ruby-brownish red color, a nice one for a Strong Dark Ale. Interesting enough to be a solo-drink, but also complemental enough to add to a meal. Has a little ping to it as well as a creaminess, but neither shows up too strongly. Surprisingly, kind of like a Port-ish beer, as much as I dislike Port wine? Basically, a rather candied dark ale that will hit you before you know. No need to forget it’s 11% ABV.

15 July 08
Beer: Kulmbacher Eisbock
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $2.99/Bottle
Grade: 9.4

Sweet Lord Jesus. I have not had a beer this mind-blowing in awhile. The per-fect body – sort of a heavy/dense yet medium body. It fills your mouth yet with the touch of your tongue melds into this wonderfully effervescent, properly balanced beer of the Gods. Taste of dark chocolate, dark fruits, a slight tang of leather with malts and breadiness. I suppose you could almost even compare to a really, really good pumpernickel. The kind that is baked just right with the thin, crusty outside yet perfectly soft, pillow and luscious center – all with a middle ground of chewiness that plays with the jaw yet does not pain it. This beer is all about balance, structure and complexity. You even get some taste of meat in the background if you swallow it a certain way – like a rare filet mignon with the right amount of spice. I swear, I’ve never gotten so much out of a beer. Maybe I’m just overly exuberant right now but this beer is fantastic. Has plum, oak, molasses and a soothing carbonation. Figs come through also as well as a baby-like bitterness near the end. It’s really just an enjoyable bite from start to finish. Finishes pretty clean with some raisin like taste. Color is rather dark – a very dark brown, like a well polished leather with age. Rather opaque, becomes a dark red-brown when put against light. For such an enjoyable beer, it’s also 9.2% ABV. A few more of these and not only will I be happy because of the taste, but also because of…. Well, yeah. Good stuff. Definitely recommended.

16 July 08
Beer: Schaefer
Location: Key Foods, Avenue A @ E 4th St
Price: $4.19/6pk cans
Grade: 2.7

Surprisingly not horrible – but still has that “Oh, this is meant for Beer Pong” taste. Has a little sweet, stickiness to it, Light carbonation, cheap hop taste to it. Very, very short lasting flavor and feel to it – yet this odd, sort of wet barley taste sits on your tongue. Maybe it’s just a cheap beer thing to do? Nonetheless, it’s a beer that makes you feel like a farmer on an Iowa farm. Or maybe a frat boy in Wisconsin. Either/or really – they’re basically interchangeable… or one leads to the other. What I mean to say is: Avoid this beer…. Unless you’re playing beer pong. If that’s the case, proceed with caution.

16 July 08
Beer: Schlitz
Location: Key Foods, Avenue A @ E 4th St
Price: $4.19/6pk cans
Grade: 1.9

Worse than PBR but better than Keystone. Even the novelty name of “Schlitz” can’t save it. Super pale, super clear, sweet grainy taste at first then nothing. It’s one of those beers that you have; yet you feel bad as you drink it. It has a sort of stickiness that just stays around and annoys. Makes you feel fat for drinking the beer – not a good thing. Has that annoying kind of carbonation – where it isn’t exactly crisp bubble but rather an annoying tingle on your tongue. Clammy aftertaste, kind of reminds me of a light, yucky corn syrup. The only reason I give it some points is because it’s novelty, it has some form of taste (albeit shitty), and has a prettier can than Keystone Light.

17 July 08
Beer: Fuller’s ESB Ale
Location: Whole Foods Bowery, NYC
Price: $3.99/500mL
Grade: 7.4

Super enjoyable, super drinkable. Excellent blend of hops and malts, really like a 50/50 with a good lightly roasted, nutty bite to it. Perfect for a meal of pub grub or the stereotypical fish & chips. A medium body, which comes in full, yet isn’t heavy at all. Doesn’t weigh you down or make you feel guilty or gluttonous. Rather a nicely flavored, very well balanced and drinkable beer that is very crispy with a smooth, light and dry finish. Tastes of grain, wheat-like germy taste, roasted nuts (thought lightly roasted) and almost like an apple-pear hint.

17 July 08
Beer: Steinlager
Location: Sunburnt Cow, Avenue C @ E 7th St
Price: $6/Pint
Grade: 5.3

Lame New Zealand beer, tastes wheaty. Lame-y. Light, boring, insipid, bland and just life-less in general.

Sybarite excerpt from: Glenn, Joshua. THE IDLER'S GLOSSARY.