A Valentine's Celebration at Gilt

Gilt

(51st Street and Madison Avenue)

Hubby-to-be (H2B) and I recently enjoyed a delayed Valentine's Day celebration at Gilt.  Gilt is a proud recipient of 2 Michelin stars, which only 5 other restaurants in the city have equal rights to brag about.  It is also located in New York's Palace Hotel, which is one of the ritziest and most finely-decorated hotels I've seen in this town.  Needless to say, the Michelin star rating and overall classiness of the hotel set the bar high for this fine dining experience!

 

Taken on my iPhone from the outside of Gilt, looking down onto the lobby of the hotel

 Love the chandelier and grand pillars

We had a reservation for 7pm on a Saturday night.  In order to get to Gilt, one walks through the hotel bar... a very interestingly decorated bar, to be exact.  It's hard to describe the theme but it has a spiky igloo apparatus sticking out from it.  A large wooden door separated the outside bar from Gilt, and we walked through it and were seated promptly.  The ambience was striking and reminded me of being in a castle tower!  Dark wood panelings covered all the walls, and a dark red light cast a glow over the restaurant.  I felt like a queen, and H2B was my king!  A very austere-looking medieval painting adorned the main wall.  I was definitely impressed by the ambience and decor of this restaurant, particularly the way the dark wood and red glow came together.  It was slightly eerie but also incredibly romantic.  It definitely gave me a feeling that no other restaurant has evoked before, so I am giving the decor/ambience rating a 5 out of 5!

 Taken from Gilt's website

H2B and I went with the 5 course tasting menu for $110 per person.  I had a glass of Malbec (my new favorite wine alongside Pinot Noir!) and my manly man had a Manhattan.  Service was only so-so for a high-end restaurant.  The waiters weren't as attentive as they should have been and one in particular was too grouchy-looking.  Patronage was overall older, but actually young compared to the other fine dining establishments I've eaten at.  We saw 2 other couples that were also in their twenties/thirties, and I'd say overall most people were in their forties and fifties.  Sidenote: I prefer to dine at restaurants with older people... the older, the better.  People in their sixties and beyond are quieter, better dressed, extremely refined, and know where all the good food is!  When I'm surrounded by older people, I know I've found a gem of a restaurant.  What can I say, I'm 24 going on 42!

So back to the story.  Our 5 course tasting menu began with an amuse bouche... can't remember what on earth it was (something involving a blueberry?), but it was AWFUL.  The worst amuse bouche I've ever eaten.  Blech.  This set the tone of the meal rather awfully, but fortunately it got much better from there.  By the way, another criterion of mine in determining a good Western restaurant is the selection and quality of bread.  Is bread served warm?  If so, the restaurant earns major points with me.  Do they serve at least three to five unique varieties of bread?  If so, wonderful!!!  Butter over olive oil?  Perfecto!  There's not really much in life I enjoy more than a warm sourdough roll slathered in top-of-the-line French butter.  :)  Gilt had a wonderful array of breads, including sourdough, whole grain, lemon tart, and apple cinnamon.  My favorite part was when the waiter asked me what bread I wanted and after I chose sourdough, he said "And?"  I don't think any waiter has ever asked me that before.  Nothing makes me happier than ordering 2 pieces of bread from the get go!  I loved the sourdough roll.  The lemon bread was tasty as well but I just didn't want to be eating something sweet with dinner.  By the way, the best bread rolls belong to Daniel.  I remember the waiter there carried around a tray of approximately 8 types of bread!  Amazing.

The remainder of our meal consisted of - 

First course: Spot prawns (avocado, coconut, pomelo, and aji amarillo).  Very delicious, but each "prawn" was more like a circle of one-inch in diameter.  TINY. 

Second course: Some sort of bass.  TASTY.  I don't know what sauce they put on the fish but it was extremely delicious.  Again, a small portion.

Third course: Veal sweetbreads.  WOW.  This was my first time ever eating sweetbreads, and let me tell you, it's not anything to do with breads.  Rather, sweetbreads are... wait for it... the thymus (throat) of a baby cow.  It sounds gross, but was actually really yummy!  They are served in little bite sized circular morsels, and funnily enough, they actually tasted sweet.  Who knew?  In this case, I was appreciative of the smaller portions.  I don't know how much sweetbreads I could have eaten (they are rather rich).

Fourth course: Ribeye.  With a name like "Ribeye," I was expecting a slab of steak to be served to us.  I was hoping for the sake of my pride (I did pick out the restaurant) that ONE dish out of the entire tasting menu would be served in a normal size portion to keep my fiance full.  But that was not to be.  The "ribeye" was served to us in 4 inch long by 1 inch wide sliver of beef.  It was cooked nicely (medium), but left much to be desired.  This was the most unoriginal course of the meal for me.
Intermezzo: Palate cleanser consisting of dipping dot style ice cream in Asian flavors. 

Five course: Chocolate panna cotta. Another blah dish.  I don't go to fancy restaurants to be served with panna cotta for dessert!  :(  I would have rathered something more creative that would show off the chef's skills a bit more.

The meal ended with a platter of 5 different types of bite-sized petit fours and mini chocolates, as well as chocolate and gold-covered almonds.  

Overall, I would say the gothic ambience and decor was one of the best of any restaurant I've been to.  It was certainly the most memorable and emotive.  Service was nothing to write home about.  Half of the dishes were very good, but the other half were only so-so.  Portions were teeny tiny for the price - not so worth it.  I was full at the end of the night but probably mostly due to all the water/wine/tea I imbibed as well as the 3.5 sourdough rolls I consumed!

Fun fact: Before Gilt was housed in the Palace Hotel, Le Cirque actually occupied that exact space.  How coincidental, as we just had dinner at the new Le Cirque 2 weeks ago!

M-Stars:

Decor/ambience: 5 out of 5!  Stunning.

Food: 3 out of 5 (some dishes were excellent, others only slightly above average; portions were laughably small)

Service: 2.5 out of 5 (not as impressive as one might expect from a 2 Michelin star restaurant)

Value: 3 out of 5 (even as a staunch believer in quality over quantity, I was a bit shocked by the tiny portions... thank heavens for the bread rolls)

"It" factor: 3.5 out of 5 (loved the ambience, but one visit was enough for us)

M&M's overall satisfaction: 3 out of 5

Bottom-line: Gilt is a great place to go if you want to be moved by its overall atmosphere, and if you prefer above-average quality over quantity.  One visit was enough for us, and at least now we can say we've been to Chuck Bass' (Gossip Girls) home!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!  May you all have a happy and prosperous year of the tiger!

I'm sure Chinese New Year means a lot of different things to different people.  Growing up in Taiwan, I had the luxury of experiencing an authentic CNY experience for 13 years.  When my sister and I were young, our dad would buy a myriad of fireworks/firecrackers/sparklers and set them off in our backyard.  It was loud, dangerous and awesome all at the same time.  CNY also always meant angpows (red envelopes with money) would be coming our way!  That was definitely a highlight for my sister and me, and we'd often stay awake until midnight so that we could collect our angpows.  My dad would always host a CNY party at our house for his work colleagues, and every year we would cater a different kind of food.  Sometimes we did Mongolian BBQ (with the big grill and all!) and I remember one year we had Indian food (don't ask me how that makes sense...).  My dad and his buddies would always be sitting around the table playing poker and gin rummy, while the ladies would be chatting with us and our mom.  Those were fun times.  :)  As we got older, fireworks/firecrackers became illegal for purchase... but the fun didn't stop there.  Instead of obliging by the law, our driver would take us to hardware shops and after some schmoozing, the storekeepers would lead us down to their basement where whaddya know, they had a large contraband stash of firecrackers that they were happy to sell to us!  Oh, what great times we had in Taiwan.
   
In New York, celebrating Chinese New Year is a little bit tougher, especially if you're someone like me who doesn't fancy being swallowed by the crowds in Chinatown.  This is where Peking Duck House comes in.  A few friends wanted to get together for a triple-date last weekend and the only somewhat-classy Chinese restaurant I knew of stands right across the street from my apartment! 
 
Peking Duck House
(53rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)

I am highly biased to Peking Duck House because 1) I looooove peking duck - there is nothing better than stuffing roasted duck skin, cucumbers and sauce (hold the spring onions) into a delicious Chinese pancake (or as my fiance calls it, tortilla... *smacks forehead*) and 2) with "Peking Duck" as part of its name, this restaurant I assume has got to be one of the best in town for peking duck, right? 

Mmm... I can taste the skin and fat already...

 
ARGGHHHH!!!!  I just googled 'peking duck' images and this popped up on my screen!!!

 

Apparently this is what live peking ducks look like, just wandering the farms of China!  How adorable????  I had no idea real peking ducks were so... cute... I mean, this duck is smiling, for crying out loud, and doesn't have the slightest inkling about what is to hit him!  He's so white and clean... almost like a little swan or goose.  AWWW... I am feeling quite a bit guilty at the moment, I must admit. 
 

Anyway, Peking Duck House was great.  We ordered the set menu which is basically around $30 per person and you get appetizers, soup, one peking duck for the entire party, plus 4 entrees and rice.  Really quite a good deal!  The peking duck was sooo good... too bad we only got 2 rolls each though, since we had 6 people.  (I recommend going with a small party so that you get to eat more!)  Haha.

M-Stars:
Decor/ambience: 3 out of 5 (classier than anything you'd ever find in Chinatown)
Food: 4 out of 5 (peking duck is to die for... although the accompanying entrees are only so-so on average, depending on what you order.  Must admit that the non-Asian people in our group wanted to order the General Tso's chicken and orange beef - these ended up being better than the 'authentic' Chinese dishes, believe it or not!)
Service: 3 out of 5
Value: 3 out of 5
"It" factor: 3.5 out of 5 (the peking duck is the "it" factor!)
M&M's overall satisfaction: 3 out of 5

Bottom-line: The peking duck is spectacular for NY standards, and the $30 set meal comes with all the bells and whistles.  We will be back next Chinese New Year!

After dinner, we all went our separate ways and my fiance and I ended up at Bill's Gay Nineties pub, on East 54th Street.  I am a huge fan of live music (especially of the Frank Sinatra/jazz variety) and I was thrilled to find that there was a bar with live music a few blocks away from our apartment.  Sidenote: I looooooove living in Midtown East!!!!  Best neighborhood ever.  I will never leave until we move out of NYC.  :)

We had a great time.  We were only two of maybe six patrons, so the pianist/singer wasn't playing all that much music at the beginning.  Everyone was scared off by the upcoming snowstorm, we think.  Once he did start to play though, he was incredible.  He performed "Your Song" by Elton John, and several songs by Frank Sinatra ("Mack the Knife," "The Way You Look Tonight," etc.).  I always admire anyone who can play the piano.  I used to play the organ but it's extremely difficult buying organs nowadays.  Parents don't seem to make their children play instruments or cultivate any classical talents anymore... but I'll leave that to a separate post.  I'd like to learn the piano someday.  :)