Nougatine

**for those of you reading...this was a blog entry that became a class assignment. The assignment came before I went to Nougatine, but I thought it would be easier for me to write if I was writing it first here. enjoy :)

I entered Nougatine at Jean-Georges around 1:45pm on a Sunday afternoon. The less formal cafe-style front room to Jean-Georges at Trump Towers (Central Park West at Columbus Circle), Nougatine boasts around one-hundred seats stationed around clean, modern decor. The largest table area was directly in front of me and my dining companions as we walked in. Off to our right was a lengthy bar, lined with stools for guests to enjoy a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Beyond the bar, at the bar of the rectangular shaped room was the kitchen. I really liked the fact that you could see straight into it. Your food wasn't a mystery, like it seems to be many other places. A refreshing amount of light flowed through the floor to ceiling windows and properly lit the entire dining room. The first thing I noticed, though, was the shade of wood used not only for the flooring, but also the chairs, and wooden table elements. It was all honey colored. Strikingly similar to, well, Nougatine. Brunch is served on Sundays until 3pm, so I think by the time we had arrived, most of the crowd had left for the afternoon. However, there was about six or seven tables of people still enjoying their meals. Just as we were seated at a window table for four, our waiter, Jeff, was kind enough to place our menus in our hands for the feast to begin.

First and foremost, the entire staff at Nougatine is top notch. Attentive, welcoming, and definitely eager to meet customers needs. Not to say that quality is a rarity in upscale establishments, but more often that not, the staff is discouraged from interacting with clientele beyond "yes sir, no ma'am." Everyone that waited on us was courteous and more than happy to answer questions we had. As we browsed the brunch menu, Jeff was quick to point out that there was plenty of other options that were not listed on the menu. Its by this piece of information alone that we were able to get particular items added to our meal. Personally, I believe that brunch is the best meal of any day. In fact, I've think that 'breakfast' and 'lunch' should be eliminated all together and restaurants should have brunch every day. We made our meal choices and no more than ten minutes later, our brunch had arrived. There were four of us at the table and two of the party chose a waffle with roasted bananas and the other two of us had omelets. This was the only part of our dining experience that wasn't shared between everyone, so while I cannot speak for the others in at the table, I will say that it was the freshest egg white omelet I have ever had. I could tell from the first bite that they used fresh whites, as opposed to pasteurized boxed egg whites. There is a distinct taste difference between the two and I was even more happy that there was no greasy aftertaste in my mouth or residue on the plate. It was served with mesclun greens topped with a sweet vinaigrette dressing and a circle of roasted, thinly sliced, potato medallions


I also enjoyed a side of fresh fruit with the biggest blackberries I had seen over the past 6 months and superbly ripe pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.


We didn't think our experience could be any better, until we realized why we were all around the table at Nougatine in the first place: DESSERT.

The dessert menu at Nougatine consists of six dessert choices, a selection of ice creams and sorbets, and a chef's selection of four cheeses. The ideas for the individual desserts are the handiwork of Jean-Georges and Nougatine executive Pastry Chef Johnny Iuzzini. Iuzzini, a 2006 James Beard Award winner and one of Forbes.com's 'Most Influential Chef's' of 2007, is an chef who is as plainly talented as he is innovative. We were able to reap the benefits from some of his work in molecular gastronomy as we ate our way through all of the six individual dessert choices. Now I'm sure you're thinking, 'six desserts?! But there was only four of you at the table!' You would be correct, too. In fact, we only ordered four of the six, but one of my fellow diners is also an exceptional pastry extern for Jean-Georges and Iuzzini. This meant we got all six desserts even though we only ordered four. Knowing the right people definitely works in your favor sometimes.

On to the desserts. I originally ordered the Crisp Warm Apple Tart with Honey-Ginger Ice Cream and Date Puree. It was basically an apple tart tatin with puff pastry. The flaky puff pastry itself was perfectly prepared and baked, as were the apples. The particular apple they used was well balanced with sweet and tart flavor. There was a hole cut out of the middle of the puff pastry to serve as an anchor for the Honey-Ginger Ice Cream, which seemed to have actual bits of crystallized ginger in it that melted on your tongue. The ice cream topped tart was placed on a smear of Date Puree, which was spiced and actually almost tasted like cinnamon applesauce. Seeing as the apple is my favorite fruit and food, I was in heaven. The only criticism I had was that it wasn't warm ENOUGH for me. I would have like to have seen a bit of steam coming from the apples themselves.



Another dessert we tasted was the Sweet Grape Vacherin with Black Sesame, Shiso, and Toasted Almond Ice Cream. A Vacherin is layers of meringue and cream. In this case, it was a Sweet Grape cream and Black Sesame Meringue. Shiso is a member of the mint family, also known as Chinese basil or Perilla. The Shiso was painted across the white plate and the Vacherin in the center, surrounded with toasted almonds and sweet grape slices. The Almond Ice Cream was on top of the Vacherin, which was so cold that it created a small frozen layer of the ice cream that you had to crack through to get into the heart of the dessert. I was really surprised with its mild taste overall. When I think of grapes I think puckeringly sweet. So to have something this smooth and flavorful that didn't make your face scrunch up while eating it was amazing. The black sesame meringue was sweet and light, and shockingly still crisp! It confirmed my belief that black sesame should be used more often in pastry overall. Vacherin is something I had never eaten before, but I would order it again if it tasted like that.



Next up was the Dark Chocolate Brownie (or 'best brownie ever' as they call it in the JG pastry kitchen) with Frozen Stout, Salted Pretzels, and Chocolate Paper. Dark chocolate was swept across the plate using the same paintbrush technique used in the Vacherin. The thinly sliced (and that's all you needed) round of Brownie was placed in the center of the plate and the Frozen Stout looked like a beer souffle on top of it. Bits of Salted Pretzel (made in-house), beer powder, and the Chocolate Paper finished off the plating. The Brownie was decadent and chewy, as it should be, and the Chocolate Paper was literally paper thin. It is made by THINLY spreading out chocolate pastry cream and putting it in a food dehydrator. It was delicate and delicious. My favorite thing, though, was the Frozen Stout. I was pleased to get a smooth beer flavor that wasn't overwhelming by any means. I was concerned that it might be too strong for my taste, but it really wasn't. I think using a darker brew really made a difference. It made me think of a bar serving chocolate covered pretzels as opposed to the normal peanuts and pretzels during happy hour and I kind of wanted a chocolate stick to dip into the Beer Powder, too.



Beth, one of my table-mates, ordered the Citrus Semi Freddo with Margarita Gel, Almond Sponge, and Dehydrated Grapefruit. Semi Freddo means 'half cold' in Italian and refers to a partially chilled or frozen dessert like cake, custard, creams, or fruit. In this dessert, it was a citrus flavored custard that rested upon a cool slice of Almond sponge cake. It floated in a bright-tasting Margarita gel, which enhanced the flavor of the grapefruit which looked fresh because it soaked up moisture from the gel. With many citrus desserts, you have to watch and make sure that it doesn't come out tasting like lemon household cleaner smells. This semi freddo was well balanced and light, perfectly complimenting the moist sponge cake beneath it. They were gracious enough to toss some citrus confit on the top to complete the dish. Excellent use of seasonal ingredients.



The Bitter Chocolate Cream was served with a Crispy Praline Crunch, homemade Graham Crackers, and Milk Sherbet. It looked like an upscale S'more with 'kisses' of the cream on top of the Praline Crunch and Graham. A thin layer of Dark Chocolate was topping the Cream kisses, caramel mou was painted in strips on either side of the main attraction, and the canele of MIlk Sherbet was served in on chocolate crumble with a chocolate cigarette across the top. The cream was a velvety cross between a custard and pudding. Not too rich and just bitter enough to please the milk and white chocolate lovers too. The graham was crisp and buttery and the Praline Crunch tasted like the inside of a Butterfinger bar. Tasting the Milk Sherbet reminded me of the Ice Milk bars my father would buy for us when I was really young. Insanely good and just like everything else so far, the flavors were all really well matched and balanced throughout the whole dish.



I ended the dessert roundtrip with simplicity. Jean-Georges' Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, a standard at most, if not all, of JG's seventeen plus restaurants. This wasn't a flourless cake, but it had a slightly molten center and was baked in a traditional brioche tete mold. Dots of chocolate sauce lined 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock on the plate and a liberal dusting of powdered sugar really made the deep color of the cake pop. I will be the first to say I am not a huge chocolate cake fan. I will opt for spice cake, vanilla cake, or pie most of the time. But I would order this cake again. It was the correct amount of warmth I was looking for, both in temperature and soul-warming quality. The density wasn't light and airy, but it wasn't as heavy as the Dark Chocolate Brownie from earlier. I can definitely see why this has been on the dessert menu's at JG's establishments for so long.




At Nougatine at Jean-Georges each dessert made sense. The plating was gorgeous and the items themselves, for the most part, tasted as I expected them too. Some of them even surprised me with how good they really were. At a restaurant that has a great menu, Nougatine's desserts complete and compliment whatever you may choose for a main course well. They obviously make a point to work with seasonal ingredients and are pushing the normal limits on creativity with technology. At $9 per dessert, the prices were really fair for Manhattan and you got a great amount of food for that price. The really great thing about the flavors was that nothing was TOO heavy. One could easily finish an entire portion after a full meal and not feel sugar sickness afterwards. Iuzzini is really in touch with creating a selection of items and tastes that appeal to the pickiest of eaters. The Nougatine staff went above and beyond for us and for the rest of the diners as well. Would I go back to Nougatine for dessert? All signs point to yes.