Le Bernardin
Pictures by Danny Kim
Is that French hip-hop I’m listening to?” requested one in every of my barely disoriented company as we cooled our heels within the posh little “lounge” space, one in every of many new options of the marginally disorienting 2.0 model of the nice midtown restaurant Le Bernardin. There was no racy backbeat nor even a correct lounge space at Le Bernardin, in fact. The previous entrance of the home included a bar so small that you just had been discouraged from sitting at it and a sofa or two the place you can perch whereas ready to gather your coat. There was no lounge menu, both (the brand new one features a $35 caviar-and-salmon croque monsieur, and Eric Ripert’s homage to the American lobster roll, truffled and served “en brioche” for $19), nor a number of signature cocktails with names like MLC Mezcal and French Connection, which have been designed for this regal midtown seafood palace by the mixologist Greg Seider, the proprietor of Summit Bar down on Avenue C.
These radical adjustments, plus many extra, are the results of an elaborate and well-publicized makeover designed to make Le Bernardin extra accessible to what longtime co-owner Maguy Le Coze describes because the restaurant’s “youthful clientele.” The distinctive previous oil work of French fishermen and Brittany seascapes have been packed away and changed with tobacco-brown latticework and a big triptych of a stormy wash of waves by the Brooklyn artist Ran Ortner. The stunning coffered wooden ceiling continues to be intact, however the rug is now grey and the home windows are lined in shimmery metal-and-bamboo therapies. The brand new, barely clunky hotel-lobby-style chairs are comprised of shiny metal and lined in darkish, cigar-colored leather-based, and the ocean-blue vests and ties the waitstaff used to put on have been changed with modish Nehru jackets that appear like they’ve been lifted from the wardrobe of the Inexperienced Hornet’s sidekick, Kato.
“I’m nonetheless getting used to this,” mentioned Mrs. Platt as we had been led to our desk underneath one of many towering, twig-filled botanical preparations that dominate the middle of the restaurant’s extra fashionable, however barely extra generic-looking, eating room. That’s the hazard of a full-body makeover, in fact. As any legendary model from Coke to Mercedes-Benz is aware of, you might entice a brand new form of clientele if you tinker with the venerable previous formulation, however you additionally threat baffling your devoted followers. The brand new room, designed by the architectural agency Bentel & Bentel, which additionally did the Danny Meyer eating places Gramercy Tavern and the Fashionable, is extra commodious than earlier than (there are fewer tables). However the postmodern touches (the tinny, upbeat soundtrack, the hard-edged artwork, the gleaming new plates by Bernardaud) make the area really feel busier and extra hectic, and the important stately character (the “Frenchness,” as Mrs. Platt put it) of the previous restaurant is gone.
It could take time for a few of us to acclimate to this racy new look, however fortunately nothing a lot has modified in Ripert’s legendary kitchen. The brand new $120 prix fixe menu appears extra sophisticated than earlier than (it’s stocked with components and laid out over two pages), however the dishes are nonetheless divided into Ripert’s sacred classes (Nearly Uncooked, Barely Touched, Flippantly Cooked), and the most effective of them are nonetheless definitely worth the value of admission. After I completed chugging my bracing (and, sure, scrumptious) mezcal cocktail, we took supply of the amuses, which included chunks of truffled lobster in a celeriac velouté so luxurious and complicated that I discovered myself licking the underside of the demitasse cup during which it was served. Ripert’s signature tuna-and-foie-gras creation arrived shortly after that (strips of sashimi-grade yellowfin laid over a cool slice of duck-liver pâté), together with deliciously dissolving slices of uncooked scallop dressed with tangy, faintly minty chimichurri sauce and served in a pearl-bottomed shell.
One or two of the gadgets within the Barely Touched part (the moist, Bolognese-stuffed calamari and the rounds of tuna in an innocuous dashi gelée) lacked that further dimension of taste that Ripert is legendary for. However nobody at my desk had something unkind to say concerning the melting little slices of octopus (they’re smoked, char-grilled, and scattered with Asian-style fermented black beans) or the peekytoe-crab cake, which the chef garnishes with a teaspoon of guacamole tipped with tequila and a stack of penny-size potato crisps. Ripert dabbles with related fusion combos on the Flippantly Cooked part of the menu, however the most effective issues are usually the traditional Eurocentric dishes, just like the crimson snapper (spiced with smoked paprika and chorizo and encrusted with a buttery scrim of toast), and the scrumptious codfish barigoule, which Ripert rings with buttery strips of artichoke and stacks with shavings of Périgord truffles.
Just like the previous Le Bernardin, the brand new one tends to really feel extra like a enterprise membership at lunchtime, when the company fits flood in, and it doesn’t matter what time of day you drop by, the curb exterior is lined with a formidable array of gently idling fat-cat limousines. When you get used to the Inexperienced Hornet outfits, the service is as immaculate as ever, and there are nonetheless 4 sommeliers on the ground to assist clients navigate what’s arguably probably the most refined assortment of white wines on the planet. Longtime pastry chef Michael Laiskonis might be leaving on the finish of the yr, which can clarify why a number of the new desserts (frozen Harmony-grape spheres, an apple-cinnamon parfait obscured in apple foam) appear overwrought and unfocused. For now, the easiest way to finish your meal is with the slim, candy-bar-size crémeux made with wickedly darkish Dominican chocolate. However given the dizzying tempo of occasions at this grand previous restaurant, that, too, is certain to vary.
Le Bernardin
Handle: 155 W. 51st St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-554-1515
Hours: Dinner Monday via Thursday 5:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday to 11 p.m. Lunch Monday via Friday midday to 2:30 p.m.
Costs: $120 prix fixe.
Best Meal: Peekytoe-crab cake, octopus or seared langoustines, codfish barigoule, chocolate crémeux.
Word: Ripert’s truffled lobster en brioche is undoubtedly probably the most decadently scrumptious lobster roll in the town. It’s the dimensions of a small plum, nonetheless, and prices roughly $10 per chew.
Scratchpad: That is one in every of solely two eating places that’s ever gotten our “ethereal” five-star designation. Just a little little bit of the previous magic is gone with the brand new renovation, and so is likely one of the stars.
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim
Le Bernardin
Picture: Danny Kim