Wining & Dining
Dancing Dinosaurs
By Geoff Kalish, M.D./Photography by Bob Buchanan
With all the excitement generated by daring new eateries featuring “new”
Italian, “haute” Iberian, and Asian, Cuban or Turkish fusion, how
vital are the old standbys? Do our favorite, time-tested meals still excite
the palate in a world seemingly awash in foams and infusions? Is the traditional
progression of appetizer-entrée-dessert rendered a quaint notion by the
anything-goes world of tapas and do-it-yourself protein/side/sauce combinations?
And is formal wait service (with a “captain,” et al) still relevant,
or best consigned to the age of butlers and under-stair maids? We visited two
highly regarded restaurants, generally considered bastions of traditional fare
and service, to see if they’re lumbering toward extinction or finding
their own niche in the region’s rapidly evolving restaurant scene. The
verdict? These venerable “dinosaurs” can still compete on these
stomping grounds—or anywhere else.
Restaurant
JEAN-LOUIS
61 Lewis St., Greenwich
(203) 622-8450; www.restaurantjeanlouis.com
Expect to pay $120 to $140 for dinner for two (excluding wine, tax, and tip).
Open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday. Reservations
a must.
While Restaurant JEAN-LOUIS in Greenwich offers a la carte dining, award-winning
chef and owner Jean-Louis Gerin touts the frequently changing five-course tasting
menus as the best way to fully experience the creativity of his cuisine. On
Valentine’s Day eve, two such menus were offered, one for monsieur and
one for madame (at $250 a couple), so we joined 15 other couples for the second
seating at 8:30 p.m.
As expected, diners are wearing chic semiformal evening attire and fit in perfectly
with the simple, yet elegant ambience provided by colorful abstract lithographs
lining the walls and stylish white-cloth table settings. Rather than go with
the set wine pairing, we order a half-bottle of straw-colored 2002 Corton-Charlemagne
($66) with flavors of spice, pears, and vanilla, and a half-bottle of deep purple
2003 Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($40) that has a bouquet and taste of
ripe blackberries with a smooth, pleasant finish. One professional individual
provides our service with the assistance of manager/sommelier Linda Gerin who,
at times, pours our wine.
An amuse-bouche of tiny, warm leek tarts paired with garlic-infused
tuiles awakens the palate and suggests pleasures to come. The first course consists
of delicate bay scallops bathed in a fragrant bouillabaisse-like broth flavored
with Mexican saffron (for Mme.) and a brioche filled with mush-rooms, perfumed
with truffle butter and mated perfectly with slightly bitter baby arugula (for
M.). In comparison, second courses seem too fussy. An ambitious roulade of ginger-scented
Dover sole filet topped with caviar (for Mme.) contains too many disjointed
flavors. The oysters (for M.) are served floating in a hot vichyssoise of leek
and potato that masks the taste of the bivalves. Matters improve dramatically
(for one of us) with the third course. Sautéed andouille sausage with
scallops and a dice of vegetables lathered in an orange beurre blanc (for M.)
dazzles the palate with just the right amount of sweetness and salinity. It
weds wonderfully with the red wine. Meanwhile, Mme. contends with a surprisingly
bland roasted halibut in a red wine elixir and strikes out on the next course
of Hudson Valley pheasant, which, while flavorful, could have spent less time
in the oven. A tender filet mignon of beef (for M.) gussied up with a sliver
of sautéed foie gras and surrounded by a red wine coulis with molé
is a carnivore’s delight, evoking remembrances of Valentine’s Days
past when rich, steak Diane and filet a la Rossini were the rage. Desserts of
a creamy white chocolate emulsion with lady fingers and a chocolate fondant,
its sweetness perfectly counterbalanced by a strawberry soup laced with Grand
Marnier, provide dreamy, flavorful finales to the meal.
Crabtree’s
Kittle House Restaurant & Inn
11 Kittle Road, Chappaqua
666-8044; www.kittlehouse.com
Expect to pay $100 to $120 for dinner for two (excluding wine, tax, and tip).
Open for lunch Monday through Friday (Sunday brunch) and daily for dinner. Reservations
suggested, especially for weekends and Sunday brunch.
Once upon a time, the Kittle House was the place to take visiting relatives
for very traditional Stouffer-frozen-dinner-like fare in a musty, country-inn
setting. Then, in the early 1980s, along came the Crabtrees (Dick and Columbia
English literature-graduate son, John), who refurbished the facility, built
a world-class wine list, developed a cadre of professional, caring servers and,
less happily, earned a reputation for annoyingly in-consistent New American
cuisine.
However, we have good news to report. Based on a number of visits this past
year, the fare at Crabtree's Kittle House no longer inconsistent. In fact, it
soars to a lofty level found at only a very few other area establishments. Moreover,
despite its stolid image, the Kittle House is very much in step with the times.
Dishes are creative, with worldly flair, and while some newer establishments
make a lot of noise about using locally sourced ingredients, few do it as resoundingly
well as the Kittle House. Happily, the almost “retro” style of formal
service remains unchanged. A captain takes your order and a specific waiter
brings the food. And although this restaurant has served President Clinton and
numerous luminaries, it’s not the kind of place that fawns over favorites
and ignores more plebian diners. I am known to John Crabtree as a wine and food
writer, yet I’m not afforded any “special treatment” beyond
that given to a regular patron.
A Sunday evening meal serves as an example of recent experiences here. Soon
after being seated in comfortable chairs at a well-appointed table in the main
dining room, we are brought an amuse-bouche of ripe Camembert cheese
and a single duck ravioli. Seemingly incongruous, the flavors marry harmoniously
and pair perfectly with sips of fruity Prosecco from Italy. After ordering appetizers
and main courses, we select for comparison (and to match our food), two half-bottles
of 2001 red Burgundy from an encyclopedic list of more than 5,000 different
brands. The delicate, fruit-forward Daniel Rion Premier Cru Vosne-Romanée
($41 a half-bottle), gets the nod as our early favorite, but as the meal continues
we prefer the Clos des Lambrays Morey-St.-Denis Grand Cru ($71 a half-bottle),
with complex flavors of herbs and black cherry that mate memorably with the
fare.
After a short wait, appetizers arrive. An artistic mix of jumbo lump blue crab,
avocado, tomatoes, passion fruit and taro proves light and tasty with the accompaniments
imparting an exotic flavor to the silky crab meat. Each of a decadent trio of
Hudson Valley foie gras preparations—a torchon, brochette, and brûlée—comes
with a small portion of sweet fruit to act as a foil for the heady duck liver.
An entrée of magret of Long Island duck, medium-rare as ordered, arrives
atop a flavorful mix of sweet cipollini onions, soybeans, and maitake mushrooms,
all doused in a fragrant pool of Bing cherry broth. Sautéed fennel beneath
a main course of a meaty, pan-seared snapper filet adds a lusty flavor and crunch
to the dish. Following sorbet, we partake in two ethereal desserts, a rich,
white chocolate parfait and a “ménage a chocolate” (layers
of hazelnut tort, chocolate ganache, milk chocolate mousse, and crème
chantilly served with a shot glass of warm white chocolate).
As you’ve probably discerned by now, Crabtree’s Kittle House is
an excellent restaurant—and not only by Westchester standards. The food,
service and wine selection here rivals recent experiences at some of Manhattan’s
highest rated spots. And, in summary, the fare at these two establishments seemed
neither staid nor dated when compared to newer area spots touting more adventurous
dining. Moreover, the elegant table settings and traditional style service provided
by well-trained staff enhanced the overall experiences, making them very special—even
on a Sun-day evening.
Captions:
Top to bottom: Restaurant JEAN-LOUIS' filet with sliver of foie gras; Crabtree's
Kittle House's duck confit agnolotti
