[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: April 14, 2008]
Two more dinners in St Paul, and then back to New York for a rather better meal. Regular readers know the drill by now...
The St Paul Grill. Oh dear, yes. Salmon tostadas - mercifully faded from memory - and a prime rib hash with eggs over easy - which seems an extravagant use of prime rib. Next evening, a Caesar salad is followed, in my notes, by veal tenderloin "in a sweet, sticky sauce". Allegedly roast veal, I said at the time, but "more like bbq". A bottle of Dme Drouhin pinot noir accompanied each debacle.
I had brought some Einstürzende Neubauten CDs to play in my hotel room. Not the sign of a sunny mood.
I escaped again, and fled immediately to Danny's Broadway Piano Bar on my return, where the elegant Eric Comstock could be relied upon not to play anything remotely resembling "My Achy Breaky Heart".
Following an aperitif at Zinc Bar on Houston, a pleasant bistro experience at Le Gigot in the Village. I am not so sure about the butternut squash soup with crayfish, but I remember enjoying a traditional blanquette de veau - I've had worse in Paris.
And suddenly it was Easter Sunday. After a lazy day with the Wine Spectator's New York issue, and a few champagne cocktails made with apricot nectar, I made my debut at Danny Meyer's famous Gramercy Tavern - very much Tom Colicchio's kitchen back in '98. A good meal it was too, in a French-American vein.
A taste of white salmon with tarragon, washed down with Veuve Clicquot.
The ragout of sea urchin, crab meat and potato in the halved urchin shell. What a terrific appetizer this was, and imagined long before sea urchin made its presence known on menus all over town.
Roast sirloin with marrow, fava beans, morels, bacon, pearl onions, a veal reduction and a speckling of fresh chives. The sort of cooking for which Gramercy Park was rightly known - robust but classy. And I recall the waiter bringing me an extra portion of glistening marrow slices after I expressed my appreciation.
A good cheese course too, also in days when that was less common. Banon, Garrotxa, Prince de Claverolles, Beaufort, Valdeon. Some kind of lemony buttermilk pre-dessert, then mango tart and rhubarb crumble, spiked up with a black pepper ice cream.
Gewürtztraminer had followed the champagne, to be followed in its turn by a 1er Cru Pernand-Verglesses. Subsequent dinners at the Tavern have not always been as successful, but this first justified its high reputation.
The bijou Le Gigot is still hanging in there, and the Tavern is now in the hands of chef Michael Anthony.
In case you were worried - no Minnesota next week. I'll be opening up that Golden Gate instead.
