Tuesday, January 25, 2011

SHO Shaun Hergatt

SHO Shaun Hergatt
40 Broad St.
New York, NY 1_____

After a five-year hiatus, I dove back into Restaurant Week at SHO Shaun Hergatt.

I'd like to think of Restaurant Week as a Top Chef Quickfire Challenge of sorts: a competition that many NYC restaurants begrudgingly go through for two weeks in order to attract and impress as many customers as possible. Certainly, one can't judge a contestant on Top Chef by simply how well they perform in a single Quickfire. But you can certainly get a good idea on whether they'll make it past Chef's Table. To be fair to the critics, a Restaurant Week meal will never provide complete insight into a restaurant's full creativity and execution. However, it will certainly dictate whether I vote to visit the restaurant in the future with my wallet.

My dining companions (who are more frequent SHO Shaun Hergatt customers that they want to admit) remarked that the Restaurant Week dinner was much different than the full-court press: less fussiness, offset by fewer explosions and contrasts of flavor. But the artful composition and precision of execution remain the same throughout.

The Tasmanian Ocean Trout truly looked like a Miro composition: the deep orange glow of the slivers of trout were like thick brush strokes against the white canvas of the plate that was accented with geometric brunoises of crunchy jicama and a tuft of small paddlefish caviar. The trout was painted with slightly tart calamansi vinaigrette, which highlighted the ocean taste.

The loup de mer was less artful, but more precise. A perfect execution of contrasts, with the crispy, fried skin of the loup providing a crunchy background for the flaky, succulent fish. All this swimming in an small sea of mushroom cream sauce along with miniature button mushrooms, pearl onions, and carrots.

Dessert was less impressive, but I simply ordered poorly. Among the trio of sorbets, the passion fruit was the only standout, with the sharp acidic flavors balancing out the roundness of the tropical fruit. My dining companion's beignets with caramel sauce was the route best taken, their light airiness seeming also impossible despite being deep-fried.

In proper French restaurant fashion, I had the wine pairing with the prix-fixe meal. The sommelier gets a lot of credit for 1) being the most enthusiastic sommelier I've ever encountered, and 2) devising a pairing of New York-based wines that complemented one of three completely different appetizers, entrees, and desserts. The Hudson Valley Tocai Fruiliano was the best of the bunch, with its light-body and slight minerality a good pairing with delicate Tasmanian Trout. Although the overly-oaked, fruit-bomb of a Cabernet Franc was my least favorite, it did pair excellently with the loup de mer and my friend's risotto. The sweetness of Finger Lakes Late Harvest Chardonnay (despite its flabbiness) rounded out the citrus flavors in the trio of sorbets (lychee, raspberry, passion fruit) that came with dessert.

And on top of that: coconut macarons, fruit jelly petit fours, and a $24.07 gift certificate redeemable for dinner within the next two months.

I will be back again.

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