Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Tse Wei+Diana, Jeff
Renovations are complete at Journeyman so Tse Wei and Diana take a well-deserved break: a long weekend jaunt to NYC. After much technological intervention -- I counted 66 texts and surfed innumerable websites -- we arrive at Estela on this holiday evening.
Estela is a chefly boîte in the space that used to be The Knitting Factory. Plates are carefully crafted, ingredient by ingredient; a style we're happy to explore.
We divide and conquer: Tse Wei and I work over the wine list while Diana organizes the menu...
Cured fluke with kohlrabi, avocado - The first dish we order and the best, as it happens, but it does require having all components in your mouth at once. I'm not much of a kohlrabi guy but this was sliced thinly, scented with lemon, and contrasted beautifully with the rich, oily avocado paste and the (clove?) spiced fish.
Beef tartare with sunchoke - Hm, it's tartare with crunchy bits. It is fatty and rich and pungent with tiny capers... but not original.
Endive, walnuts, anchovy, and ubriaco rosso - A nice umami salad.
Fried arroz negro with squid and romesco - The other really excellent dish, smells very marine but it is a little tamer in the mouth. None of us is sure why there are occasional hazelnuts in it but it's good, anyway.
Monkfish with spinach, tarragon - Quite a substantial portion of fish under quite a substantial mound of greens (but there's more here than spinach and tarragon... leek? chard stems?). Nicely done.
Pork with burnt cucumbers and leeks - I had no idea one could burn cucumbers. The pork was tender and well-seasoned.
Parsnip ice cream with sesame paste - Alas, the flavor is far too faint and the over-the-top creaminess makes it seem that somebody is trying too hard.
cheese plate - er, um, one hard, one triple creme, and one blue, with a dollop of kumquat jelly; good.
The wine list is long and interesting. We see lots of good choices and we converse a couple times with the sommelier who, perhaps, lost his cat earlier... or twisted his ankle... or something because he just could not find a smile or any energy at any time. Here are two geeks ordering pinot meunier and pineau d'aunis but he's got the sincere demeanor of a shoe repairman. Oh, well.
Christophe Mignon 2008 Champagne "Pur Meunier" - We were a little cautious that this might have been made in an oxidative style but Mr. Rubber Heels says it is actually reductive. In any case, it is delightful, quite fresh, fine fizz, yet somehow still offers a hint of meunier muskiness
Dom. de Belliviere 2014 Coteaux du Loir "Rouge Gorge" - A favorite of mine and also TW's. And, wow, this shows really well for such a young wine, great depth of flavor, dark cranberry-mulberry fruit competing with the scratchy cement-floor thing. I can drink this all night.
Tissot Macvin Rouge - We are all Jura wine fans and I had a really good red macvin at Dom. Pignier so when this showed up on the dessert drink list we jumped on it. This is actually rather porty: the wine is unfermented(!) but the brandy component is pretty assertive. The vivid acidity compensates for a somewhat simple palate. And, fortunately for me, we discover that the wine is non-staining.
We've kept up a steady flow of conversation all through dinner and we continue as we head out of the restaurant, down the block west to the subway, then back a bunch of blocks east to Il Laboratorio del Gelato...
- Cajeta is clearly in the dulce de leche school but I don't know anything else about it
- Creme Fraiche is true-to-life... creamy with just a touch of sour
- Guinness tasted mostly of brown sugar and was pretty one-dimensional
- Tarragon with Pink Pepper is unbalanced, they need to bump up the tarragon a bit
- Zabaglione tastes very strongly of Marsala, good if that's what you're expecting
then back west to the subway. We might still be at it.
Renovations are complete at Journeyman so Tse Wei and Diana take a well-deserved break: a long weekend jaunt to NYC. After much technological intervention -- I counted 66 texts and surfed innumerable websites -- we arrive at Estela on this holiday evening.
Estela is a chefly boîte in the space that used to be The Knitting Factory. Plates are carefully crafted, ingredient by ingredient; a style we're happy to explore.
We divide and conquer: Tse Wei and I work over the wine list while Diana organizes the menu...
Cured fluke with kohlrabi, avocado - The first dish we order and the best, as it happens, but it does require having all components in your mouth at once. I'm not much of a kohlrabi guy but this was sliced thinly, scented with lemon, and contrasted beautifully with the rich, oily avocado paste and the (clove?) spiced fish.
Beef tartare with sunchoke - Hm, it's tartare with crunchy bits. It is fatty and rich and pungent with tiny capers... but not original.
Endive, walnuts, anchovy, and ubriaco rosso - A nice umami salad.
Fried arroz negro with squid and romesco - The other really excellent dish, smells very marine but it is a little tamer in the mouth. None of us is sure why there are occasional hazelnuts in it but it's good, anyway.
Monkfish with spinach, tarragon - Quite a substantial portion of fish under quite a substantial mound of greens (but there's more here than spinach and tarragon... leek? chard stems?). Nicely done.
Pork with burnt cucumbers and leeks - I had no idea one could burn cucumbers. The pork was tender and well-seasoned.
Parsnip ice cream with sesame paste - Alas, the flavor is far too faint and the over-the-top creaminess makes it seem that somebody is trying too hard.
cheese plate - er, um, one hard, one triple creme, and one blue, with a dollop of kumquat jelly; good.
The wine list is long and interesting. We see lots of good choices and we converse a couple times with the sommelier who, perhaps, lost his cat earlier... or twisted his ankle... or something because he just could not find a smile or any energy at any time. Here are two geeks ordering pinot meunier and pineau d'aunis but he's got the sincere demeanor of a shoe repairman. Oh, well.
Christophe Mignon 2008 Champagne "Pur Meunier" - We were a little cautious that this might have been made in an oxidative style but Mr. Rubber Heels says it is actually reductive. In any case, it is delightful, quite fresh, fine fizz, yet somehow still offers a hint of meunier muskiness
Dom. de Belliviere 2014 Coteaux du Loir "Rouge Gorge" - A favorite of mine and also TW's. And, wow, this shows really well for such a young wine, great depth of flavor, dark cranberry-mulberry fruit competing with the scratchy cement-floor thing. I can drink this all night.
Tissot Macvin Rouge - We are all Jura wine fans and I had a really good red macvin at Dom. Pignier so when this showed up on the dessert drink list we jumped on it. This is actually rather porty: the wine is unfermented(!) but the brandy component is pretty assertive. The vivid acidity compensates for a somewhat simple palate. And, fortunately for me, we discover that the wine is non-staining.
We've kept up a steady flow of conversation all through dinner and we continue as we head out of the restaurant, down the block west to the subway, then back a bunch of blocks east to Il Laboratorio del Gelato...
- Cajeta is clearly in the dulce de leche school but I don't know anything else about it
- Creme Fraiche is true-to-life... creamy with just a touch of sour
- Guinness tasted mostly of brown sugar and was pretty one-dimensional
- Tarragon with Pink Pepper is unbalanced, they need to bump up the tarragon a bit
- Zabaglione tastes very strongly of Marsala, good if that's what you're expecting
then back west to the subway. We might still be at it.
