Bar Boulud

I love New York Restaurant Week because it combines my love for food, a good deal and good company.  Of course, choosing the company will be up to me and not the restaurant.  Three courses for lunch for $25 on what would normally be just an entree sounds good to me.  And so the first restaurant I went to for the first NYCRW of 2013 was Bar Boulud.  This is one of several restaurants owned by Daniel Boulud and I've been reading and hearing a lot about them.

The simple, minimalist interiors didn't impress my lunch date but it looked elegant to me.  It could've used a little softening up with a few flowers here and there.  Anyway, we were chatting up a storm and so I totally forgot to take a picture of our appetizers.  I ordered the Soupe de Potiron which is basically a roasted squash soup and my friend ordered the pate.

Squid ink farfalle with rock shrimp, saffron pearl onion, confit fennel and bouillabaisse jus for my entree.

She had the Atlantic skate, leeks fondue, glazed scallions, potato tuille in a  syrah sauce.

Of course, the grass is always greener on another plate.  I preferred the skate, which was prepared just the way I wanted, crispy but not overcooked.  The farfalle was nothing special and the fennel on top of it was weird. 

And for my favorite part, dessert.

Hazelnut frangipane, chocolate ganache, coffee ice cream - this was heavenly.

Almond biscuit, lemon & lime compote, lemon-thyme meringue, orange mousse. I'm not a lemon-y person so I didn't like this that much.

In a city where real estate costs a lot more than one's soul, I find it fascinating how architects, designers, restauranteurs make up clever ways to fit everything in.  Like ways to incorporate wine cellars into the small space they have.  Bar Boulud's wine cellar lined the corridor going to the restrooms and their private function room.