Went to Carne Mare last night at the Seaport, Andrew Carmellini’s new steak heavy restaurant on the pier. Firstly, the place is beautiful. They did a great job with the space. Went to the bar to wait for my guests and had a really great cocktail. We ate upstairs, which i would recommend as it was a lot quieter. We shared everything and had the mozzarella sticks with caviar, the arancini with Uni and the spanish octopus with crispy pepperoni. The octopus was excellent. We split the house “wedgini”, their take on a classic wedge. That was a standout. Then we had the Prime Rib and the Salt Baked Black Bass. The bass was perfect and the crust on the prime rib was very tasty. We had the corn and the carrots with bone marrow as sides. I would do the carrots again, the corn was extremely buttery. Very heavy. We shared a bottle of the Azelia Barolo- which matched well with the prime rib and sides, but overpowered the bass.
All in all, a great new place - well worth the trip.
anyone been to Per Se recently? we’ve never been, despite doing much of the fine dining circuit when we lived in NYC for a few years. my wife decided she’d like to go for her birthday this year, so i made a reservation. really looking for any thoughts on supplements to get/avoid (since Per Se is the place you pay $1000 for a $500 dinner, smh) and thoughts on the wine list vs. wine pairing. i remember the wine list being expensive even by NYC 3* standards, not sure if that means just shrug and go pairing or if the pairings are expensive and also boring as well.
i know Per Se is polarizing, haters recommending EMP/Le Bernardin/etc., i hear you, we’ve done those, thank u, next.
I have been to Per Se three times. All three were excellent but it’s been a few years. It isn’t perfect for the reasons you already mentioned. And like others, I prefer other High end NY restaurants. That said, my experiences have been positive. If you haven’t been but have hit the other high end places I would give it a shot. But, like I said, it has been a few years.
I’ve been to Per Se twice in the last 12 months - once in the dining room and once in the salon. We had the full 9 course chef’s tasting menu with 2 supplements (waygu for me, truffles for my guest) in the dining room, and the 5 course tasting in the salon.
First, the dining room. One thing I can say right off the bat was that the staff in the dining room is fantastic. Very casual conversation - I’m sure they have a lot of intimidated customers and do everything they can do to put them at ease. The somm was particularly good. He came over to the table and asked us if we wanted anything special - told us that wine with every course was much too much wine - but then paired everything that way anyway. The food was excellent. All of the Keller hits were present, and delicious. I was warned not to eat lunch, and I’m glad I didn’t - it was a lot of food, but not too much, if that makes sense, I didnt feel bloated when I left, even though they literally put out a full table of desserts at the end. Value is tough to gauge. It was very expensive. Very expensive relative to other restaurants in it’s class. I am a regular at Jean Georges and I couldve eaten there twice. I really enjoyed the meal, I’m not sure it is somewhere I would go even somewhat regularly. Well worth the trip for a special occasion if price is no object. Dinner was 1877.76 for two.
The salon, for me, was largely a disappointment. Service was a couple of notches below the main dining room and that made all the difference. The food was fine - but the service really made the experience worse. Waitstaff was gruff, often gone for a long time. The worst part is that we had enjoyed eating in the dining room so much. Dinner was $910 for two and to be honest not worth the price at all. I would not go back.
The wine list is very deep- and surprisingly you can find some fairly priced bottles for this type of restaurant - you’re not getting any deals, but I didn’t feel as though good wine was out of reach, everything that the somm brought was very good - and they were fair with their pours, even giving another splash if you were done before you finished your courses.
All in all, it’s a personal decision whether this type of place makes sense. There really isn’t anything like it in the city, but to be honest you can have a really great meal elsewhere for much less money.
Can anyone provide a recent update on Casa Mono? Should a group of four that is open to everything order the entire menu and share as it comes out or are there certain tapas we will want multiples of?
Thank you for your advice and recommendations.
We did the 5-course salon menu back in June and thought it fantastic. In particular, the service in the salon was some of the best I’ve experienced. I actually think our primary server may have been one of the sommeliers, and he was able to strike the perfect balance between being friendly, funny, and still proper.
I also liked the atmosphere in the salon. You miss much of the view of main dining room but we sat right across from where they prepped all the wines people were ordering and it was fun to label spot all of the insane wines people had ordered (I spotted a cheval blanc, d’Yquem, etc).
The food was great across the board. Highlights were the oysters and pearls (I’ve had several times before but this time things clicked on this dish in a way it hadn’t before), a crab “Pierogi,” and a seared beef short rib.
And I thought the salon menu, while very expensive, delivered relative value vs the main dining room. The salon menu was $110 less than the main dining room and I think the menu was identical save for one less seafood and one less meat course. And we got a complimentary welcome glass of sparkling wine (it looked like most tables got this) and the full tables worth of deserts, the full box of chocolates, take-home treats, etc. that you get in the main dining room.
If there was a weak spot it was the deserts, which while abundant, didn’t stand up to the rest of the meal for me.
Judging a meal like this on value it difficult as a lot is about how comfortable you are spending +/- $1,000 on dinner. I view a meal like this less as dinner and more as creating a memory, and in this case it’s one I’ve thought about regularly since we dined there, which in my view makes it a success. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.
yep, we have the early reservation so breakfast/lunch will be a coffee and maybe some sort of bar to stave off hangriness. i also didn’t opt for the extended tasting, as it seems to stretch the price/value ratio even farther into unfavorable territory. from past articles i’ve read, the “wine pairing” is a bit different than at other tasting menus in that it seems sort of modular-to-customizable based primarily on what you’d like to spend? i’m not sure if that’s an accurate way to describe it? i’m always torn between doing something like starting with a bottle that will pair with most of the earlier courses (a Kabinett-or-drier Riesling, Champagne, white Burgundy, maybe Sancerre) and going from there with half bottles/glasses/etc or just not thinking about it at all and going with a pairing.
One thing I like about the wine list at Per Se (and the French Laundry) is they have a large selection of half bottles of excellent quality at a range of prices. I often find half bottles are a great way to go for longer tasting menus like this.
Justin, have you considered Brooklyn Fare? I would rank it ahead of per se, Le bern and emp by a wide margin.
Recap of a few recent places:
Batard
Good service, food, and wine program. I like the 2-3 course fixed price a la carte format that they have. Food was descent, well made, but nothing particularly exciting. While I enjoy desserts immensely, I have this pet peeve about being pressured by the restaurant to decide on whether I want dessert or not at the start of the meal when ordering. I’d rather make my way through the courses and then decide on whether to linger longer. Didn’t enjoy that aspect of it. They built a nice little outdoor space, which with this weekend’s weather seemed to hit the spot just right. Standard serviceable restaurant stems.
Contento
Yannick built an awesome and inclusive space. The ambiance is lovely, food is delicious, wine program is varied and carefully curated. Gabriel Glas StandArt stems. A spot I left wanting to return again soon.
Ernesto’s
I love the lighting project of the space. It makes it feel warm, open and inviting. Outdoors is equally enjoyable, especially on an evening like when we went. Menu is good, varied and enjoyable. Similar critique to Batard, in which we were slightly pressed to order everything together. Especially for Spanish food, I’d rather linger and order over the course of the evening as the need arises. Stems were those smaller almost ISO glasses, albeit slightly bigger.
glad to hear about yannick’s place
thanks for the note
Friday street-table dinner at Tacos Güey in Chelsea.
A newish case for New York fast becoming as Modern Mexican Central, East Coast style. The ceviches and the soft-delicate tacos 
were nicely executed and delicious. I chose beers, but was told $35 per btl corkage.
Tried to go there this past Wednesday as a last minute walk-in. Placed was packed and I was shut out. Glad to hear that it was good.
Wu’s last night was better than it’s been in a while, though the duck was a bit dry (the only slightly off dish). The lamb chops and salted shrimp were fantastic, as were many of the veggie dishes. We ate outside, their setup has nice ventilation and decent spacing between tables. The wines were killer too (1996 Produttori di Barbaresco Rio Sordo was insanely good with the lamb and the duck, and a magnum of 1995 Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile was delicious with the shrimp, as was the 2001 Muller-Catoir Gimmeldinger Schlossel Spatlese with most dishes).
This is the 3rd restaurant I’ve eaten at since mid-March 2020, it felt so liberating. Our choices in San Diego are not worth the risk of infection (shamefully, frankly, considering the amazing produce we have access to), so we do mainly take-out from a few preferred places (mainly Buona Forchetta in Encinitas for pizza and a good Thai place in our town, Bangkok Bay). I strolled to 14th street with an old friend, there were many people out (granted, some not so savory), but it was so good to see the city stirring back to life despite the many, many closed spaces.
Heading to Contento tonight, will report back. It’s so good to be back in the city.
My mom and I have been going there recently, because of both excellent food, outdoor seating, and low prices. Very BYO-friendly.
I recently discovered Yakitori Hino in San Diego. It is a godsend. But don’t pay any attention to the yelps reviews. The restaurant has so many loyal regulars they have asked them to post bad reviews because they don’t want tourists and can’t handle more customers. Once you are in after a couple of visits they treat you very well. On my last visit I had just happened to go to the Torien dinner in NYC with the master and after I showed them pictures I got treated even better.
Contento last night was on-point (disclaimer, we sell them wine). The outdoor space was comfortable and airy, though I would feel uncomfortable dining indoors considering the current COVID situation, but YMMV. Decor was lovely, warm and inviting, and service was excellent without being over-bearing. We decided to share a bunch of small plates to start and one main, the Arroz con Pato (duck leg, green rice, fennel & onion salad, pomegranate gastrique - delicious!). Dishes were for the most part nicely plated and well-seasoned (over-salting is a pet peeve of mine), and the wine list in particular has some interesting choices at great prices. The Reserve List has some great deals on it too. We decided to try something we would not normally have, based on Mara’s recommendations, the 2017 Massaya Terrasses de Baalbeck Bekaa Valley from Lebanon. It went perfectly with the duck as well as some of the first plates. I don’t usually order dessert, but I was convinced to finish the meal with the banana cake with figs, which was quite good, not too sweet (another pet-peeve of mine).
That part of town is very under-served so it was also good to hear that locals are supporting them as well. Overall a must-go, especially if you’re on the upper Upper East Side.
We will have to look into it once I get back, thanks. Before the end of the world, we used to go to Sushi Ota (my mother-in-law is friends with Ota-san, and she actually wrote the book Sushi for Dummies), Himitsu and a few of the other places started by ex-Ota chefs. During COVID we’ve cooked primarily at home thanks to the crazy good produce we have access to (and we’ve become friendly with a few of the local organic farmers like JR Organics and Chino).
Yes, thanks for the tip Robert. My in-laws are in La Jolla and we really only go to Ota and Himitsu (although word is that Himitsu has gone down post-COVID, I haven’t been so can’t confirm or deny, it would be a bummer if true as we always had fun there and the food was really good).
Michel, maybe we’ll cross paths next time I’m on the west coast.
It would be great to meet up next time you’re out West.
We were going to Himitsu regularly pre-COVID, and ate once in the garden in June 2021 (our 1st restaurant visit since the Pandemic began). The meal was very good, but as you noted not as good as it had once been. Still, it was a nice, emotional treat (though the waitress informing us that she had had COVID in May 2020 so was “immune” and didn’t need to get vaccinated was a bit disconcerting).
Tonight I’m cooking at home for family, and over the next 2 weeks will get to 63 Clinton and One White Street, as well as a few other places in Brooklyn (with an obligatory stop at Ops). Then I’m on a diet for the next 6 months…