{"id":9684,"date":"2023-12-12T14:21:32","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T06:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/?p=9684"},"modified":"2023-12-12T14:21:32","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T06:21:32","slug":"restaurant-wine-review-le-bernardin-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/p\/9684.html","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant & Wine Review: Le Bernardin in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Le Bernardin<\/strong><\/p>\n

155 W 51st St<\/p>\n

New York, NY 10019<\/p>\n

Tel. 001 212-554-1515<\/p>\n

The dishes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Layers of thinly pounded yellowfin tuna, foie gras, toasted baguette, chives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shellfish medley:\u00a0 uni, razor clam, lobster; geoduck, shrimp custard, smoked pork dashi broth\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The wines<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Diebolt-Vallois NV Champagne Blanc de Blancs\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 93<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schloss Gobelsburg 2019 Ried Lamm Gr\u00fcner Veltliner \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a092<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I recently had lunch with a friend at New York\u2019s premier French seafood restaurant, Le Bernardin. Opened in 1985, Le Bernardin is in the opinion of many experienced dinners the best French restaurant in Manhattan and easily one of the top ten restaurants in the city. Its consistency over these nearly thirty-eight years is nothing short of amazing. It is one thing to reach the pinnacle. It is quite another to maintain it. Service is attentive and professional without being overly solicitous. And of course, the food is nothing short of exceptional. On this day, I opted for the Layers of Thinly Pounded Yellowfin Tuna, Foie Gras, Toasted Baguette, Chives<\/strong>. The\u00a0textural and flavor contrast\u00a0was convincing. To be\u00a0sure, unusual. The sweetness of the tuna combined with the rich saltiness of the foie gras was a complete success. Finesse in execution, subtle intensity on the palate. This is pure Eric Ripert thinking in action. The following dish was the Shellfish medley:\u00a0 uni, razor clam, lobster; geoduck, shrimp custard, smoked pork dashi broth<\/strong>. A complex dish with five different textures modified by the dashi.\u00a0Everything\u00a0at once elegant but also intellectual: like the first course, this was subtle, and demanding the full attention of the diner. Nothing loud. A musical dish with\u00a0lingering\u00a0overtones. Ripert is gifted at combining seemingly disparate flavors and textures. And I\u2019d say almost always convincing!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chief Sommelier Barbara Wong, a long-time acquaintance of Ian D\u2019Agata, took care of us expertly. We drank two half bottles with lunch: the Diebolt-Vallois Blanc de Blancs Champagne<\/strong> and the 2019 Schloss Gobelsburg Ried Lamm Gr\u00fcner Veltliner<\/strong>. A family business, Diebolt-Vallois is located in Cramant, one of the grand cru villages in the C\u00f4te de Blancs. Grape growers back to the 1550s, it was not until 1978 that the estate underwent a sea-change with the extension of the estate and the construction of new cellars, and then a winery. The basic Blanc de Blancs proves to be one of the best Champagnes of its type I have tasted recently. Blancs de Blanc, made entirely from Chardonnay, can be harsh and aggressive at times. But here was a Champagne that captured the vivacity of the grape but with a nice creamy texture which allowed the freshness to shine without edginess. The Diebolt-Vallois NV Champagne Blanc de Blancs <\/strong>was pale straw, light, fresh, high-acid, delicate and soprano-like. It boasts nicely ripe Chardonnay fruit, such that this is not at all green, angular or tough. Ready to drink now, I\u2019d enjoy this over the next four or five years. By contrast, the Schloss Gobelsburg 2019 Ried Lamm Gr\u00fcner Veltliner <\/strong>is nicely dense, but at the same time penetrating in its very Gr\u00fcner aromas and flavours of white pepper, herbs and crushed minerals. Rich and full-bodied, this finishes long and mouthcoating. Like the Champagne, it too is ready to drink now, and I recommend drinking it over the next five years or so, though it will still be a lovely wine well after 2028.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now I come to the real point of this report: drinking a still wine after getting acclimated to a Champagne can prove to be a let-down. On its own, the Gobelsburg Gr\u00fcner is a formidable wine of great density, length and palate penetration. But going from a high acid wine with lovely soprano notes to a weighty baritonal wine creates palate dissonance. A high-acid dry Mosel Riesling, an Assyrtiko from Santorini island or possibly a Pinot Blanc from Alto Adige would create much less of a clash than between a light, sprightly Champagne and a rich, full bodied white wine. Of course, going from a Champagne to a red wine is an adjustment that is easily made. I learned an important less from this experience: be careful in going from a Champagne to a still white wine.<\/p>\n

New York can be an abrasive city. To spend two-three hours in complete civility being served superb food and excellent wines should never be taken for granted. Le Bernardin is a true classic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Le Bernardin, wines, and a lesson learned
\nby Robert Millman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":9688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restaurant-and-wine","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9689,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9684\/revisions\/9689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terroirsense.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}