Bun Boy Eats NYC – JEAN GEORGES – CENTRAL PARK

JEAN GEORGES – CENTRAL PARK – LUNCH

August 3, 2015 5:34 am

Roasted Rack of Lamb, Jalapeño Pea Purée, Mint Crumbs

Jean-Georges Vongerichten is one of the world’s most famous chefs (this quote is directly stolen from his website) with 11 restaurants in New York and others all over the world.

He runs an empire. ABC Kitchen being his most popular spot. A foodie rarely visits NYC without dining in at least one of his establishments.

Today we enjoyed an incredible birthday tasting menu at his eponymous ‘Jean Georges’ next to Central Park. A beautiful meal at a beautiful restaurant in a beautiful part of town.

I’m not counting the crazy bird ladies, swarms of tourists or the leering hot dog vendors. Those folks, not so beautiful.

The first thing we noticed upon walking up to the restaurant’s entrance were three bumbling pre-teen boys frantically tucking their shirts into their nice slacks. Were they on their way to church?

No, they were on their way into Jean Georges for lunch!

My mind began to boggle, trying to figure out their story. First, why would they come to an uber fancy restaurant without their parents making them?? Wouldn’t they rather fill their gross bellies with Taco Bell?

Second, where did they get the money? They seemed so well-behaved the entire meal, which led me to believe they all had Benjamin Buttons disease. Or the less plausible: they were rich kids.

Jean Georges once offered a famously affordable lunch pre-fix menu of two courses for $28 and some change. Those days are over. That deal is now $48, not so fabulous anymore.

Which led us to the decision to throw caution (and the contents of our wallets) to the wind and get the $158 6 course Tasting Menu.

A very wise decision.

Instead of getting wine pairings, we sipped delicious cocktails. Almost as many drinks as there were courses. You could say we basically opted for Booze Pairings, which one would think might lead to disastrous results. Vomit and Caviar seldom go together.

Here are some highlights:

The Warm Potatoes with Caviar was a fantastic start. The caviar (which I usually don’t enjoy) added just the right amount of salt and brine to the potatoes, a great pair.

The Morel cream sauce atop of the asparagus was orgasmic. Seriously, incredible.

The fish was perfectly cooked but the star of the show was the Lamb covered in jalapeno pea puree and mint bread crumbs. It was SO good!

Since Rhubarb was in season, we were given a dessert sampler containing said ingredient. All were quite tasty, but the soufflé stood out as the best.

The meal ended with mignardises (tiny, pretentious nibbles) and homemade marshmallows.

The sugar rush ended up nicely balancing out our buzz, so we wandered over to Central Park after our meal to lay on the grass and dry out, I mean people watch.

A truly memorable and enjoyable meal. Thanks, S!

1 Central Park W
New York, NY 10023
Upper West Side
(212) 299-3900
jean-georges.com