TN: Racines (July 30, 2018)

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
Jayson and me and the BYO night at Racines. It's a Monday in summer so the restaurant is quiet. Arnaud has time to talk, the wait-staff is bored attentive, and it's very nice for me to unwind after a day of work.

We do the 5-plate tasting menu which I thought very good: 1. a tangy, tasty, fragrant bowl of pho with crabmeat; 2. three kinds of melon served with liquid corn and crunchy buckwheat, really interesting combinations; 3. "Lobster Paris-Brest", beautiful lobster meat on a delicate pastry with squid-ink meringue(?) on top, we took the truffle add-on; 4. a crispy chunk of lamb with olives, cranberry beans, and a bit of curry wrapped in a squash blossom (leaf?); 5. a fancy nut-free brownie (that wasn't what it was called). Everything was delicious and desirable except for the truffle add-on to the lobster dish (the truffles were there but we found very little aroma or flavor).

We brought wine:

Dom. Chantemerle (Boudin) 2001 Chablis 1er "l'Homme Mort" - Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, yo ho ho... ahem, sorry, wrong dead man. This one is the northern extension of the Fourchaume vineyard map(pdf). The wine is beautiful on entry with a silky texture and stony bouquet. The mid-palate is very muted; with some air, it revives a bit and continues the sensations of the entry. The finish is flush and strong, apricots and cashews and a sprinkling of mineral dust. Great bottle.

Edmund St. John 2003 Syrah "Bassetti Vineyard" - Very muted on opening; after a while, it starts to show the ripe blue-purple fruit of the hot year. There's a little twang to remind you it was made by blindly lucky pilgrims but it is somewhat heavy and hearty. This bottle is more a team player than a star.

And we meant to buy wine, too. We scanned the list for old Bandol but Arnaud says it won't arrive till the Fall. So, we grab a couple off the glass list:

Kiralyudvar 2015 Tokaji Sec - furmint; Comes galloping out of the gate, vivid, tart, lime leaf and white peaches, a teeny bit bitter and assertive about it, works great at the table.

Ch. de Coulaine 2015 Touraine "Les Pieds Rôtis" - chenin; Also on the quiet side tonight. Good chenin but not going to knock-off any of the longtime Disorderly faves.

If this became a monthly or bi-monthly appointment, I think I could live with it.
 
Don’t forget the hint of kaffir lime in the pho broth and the shiso garnish. Or the pimento financier amuse.

Agree that if a dish has truffles, and one pays the supplement, one should taste the truffles. And we didn’t.

I do think the Coulaine aired out and gained some weight even if it suffered next to the Furmint. Plus the Coulaine was a better and excellent match to the lobster dish. The flavors of each exploded together while the Chablis was too dry and the Furmint too powerful for the lobster.

I think you were generous to my singleton bottle of the Chablis. It was best between say 30-60 minutes open, with your note spot on except not sure I’d call it Great and my sense this is starting to maderize. Time to drink ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. I looked on CT and there are zero bottles there of the 2001, so it might be a unicorn. This bottling and the Fourchaume used to be readily available every vintage from Garnet back in the day.
 
my wife and i recently had the tasting menu at Racines too. it was terrific and we were lucky enough to have Pascaline take care of us. if i live din Manhattan i would try and go often while chef Liebrandt is still cooking.
i find truffle supplements annoying. if the chef feels truffle should be in the dish then go ahead and put it in. but those black summer truffles to whatever they are called usually are dry and add nothing to a dish.
 
originally posted by Bill Lundstrom:
my wife and i recently had the tasting menu at Racines too. it was terrific and we were lucky enough to have Pascaline take care of us. if i live din Manhattan i would try and go often while chef Liebrandt is still cooking.
i find truffle supplements annoying. if the chef feels truffle should be in the dish then go ahead and put it in. but those black summer truffles to whatever they are called usually are dry and add nothing to a dish.
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The Truffle Truth.

The meal I had in May was an entirely different menu and equally delicious. Arnaud told us Liebrandt has now extended his extended stay — through the end of the year.
 
These were not summer truffles; you are correct those are useless.

These are genuine tuber melanosporum vitt grown in Australia: some madman, and then the copycats, planted groves of oak and hazelnut, bought spores in Perigord, and waited 6 years till something happened. Fast forward 15 more years and they are "farming" 50+ hectares of trees and set to out-produce France in 2018. You can buy them on Urbani, fresh, right now.

But the ones on Monday were ineffective. Natural product and all, I suppose.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
Don’t forget the hint of kaffir lime in the pho broth and the shiso garnish. Or the pimento financier amuse.
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Or the tomatillo granite!

I do think the Coulaine aired out and gained some weight even if it suffered next to the Furmint. Plus the Coulaine was a better and excellent match to the lobster dish. The flavors of each exploded together while the Chablis was too dry and the Furmint too powerful for the lobster.
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It was superior with the lobster but I thought that a narrow sort of skill.

I think you were generous to my singleton bottle of the Chablis. It was best between say 30-60 minutes open, with your note spot on except not sure I’d call it Great and my sense this is starting to maderize. Time to drink ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. I looked on CT and there are zero bottles there of the 2001, so it might be a unicorn. This bottling and the Fourchaume used to be readily available every vintage from Garnet back in the day.
Click to expand...
Well, I like Chablis.
 
We also had the Lobster Paris-Brest on Bastille Day. Or was it the Monday after Les Bleus won the Coupe du Monde? Tout les deux? Anyway, truffles weren't an option, and I suppose I am glad that is true. Delicious as is.

It's also quite the coup du monde that Liebrandt has holed up at Racines.
 
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