For our big dinner during my short visit back to NY, we went to Degustation, a really small "tapas bar" in the East Village. It's counter-seating, surrounding the little kitchen. It adds for a very unique dining experience to be able to watch the three chefs and single waitress in action. It may not be the most romantic, but it's certainly ideal for foodies. Gabe and I had planned to do the 10-course tasting menu. I had some doubts about it, afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish my food, but I went for it anyways since it's only $15 more expensive than the 5-course. We also each got a glass of txakoli wine from the Basque region - very crisp and refreshing white wine!
We got an amuse-bouche of pork croqueta and quail egg tortilla done in a new way. The tortilla was shallot with quail egg wrapped in a sheet of potato.
Course 1 - chilled almond soup with muscat grapes. We absolutely loved this one, and it was one of my personal favorites. It was very nice and smooth, and the grapes added sweetness, bite, and crunch to the soup.
Course 2 - Crudo of Hiramasa. The fish was very fresh and tasty. It was drizzled with good olive oil and garnished with tomatoes, shallots, and some other vegetables that we can't remember in order to add a bit of acidity.
Course 3 - Fried artichokes with blood orange supremes, an oyster, and grapefruit foam in a mussel broth. I didn't like this one at all. Gabe liked the individual components but didn't think it worked as a whole. The mussel broth was a bit fishy to me, and I just didn't think the artichokes were good with the other components of the dish. Personally, I'm not a fan of artichokes or grapefruit, so that's another reason why I wasn't a fan of this dish.
Course 4 - Sardines 3 Ways. This one was awesome, but in my opinion, the portion was too big. Sardines have such a strong flavor that I didn't think it was necessary to make each piece as big as they were. The marinated one on the right was accompanied by a potato salad. This one was my least favorite because it just had too much of the salty sardine flavor. The fried sardine sandwich, accompanied by pickled onions, in the middle was both mine and Gabe's favorite, however he didn't particularly like the pickled onions. The grilled one on the left was accompanied by red peppers and was also pretty good, but Gabe said he had a little bit of bone in his.
Course 5 - Grilled squid with some kind of mushrooms in a dashi broth. Gabe liked this dish because it was an interesting departure to Japanese flavors. I honestly don't remember much about this one, but Gabe said that I just thought it was ok because the dashi broth and seaweed was too fishy to me. I also thought the squid was too chewy.
Course 6 - Slowly scrambled duck egg in brown butter, with lamb bacon and migas. This was probably both mine and Gabe's favorite dish of the night. It just shows how sometimes, simplicity is key. It was rich and creamy, but flavorful. The migas (breadcrumbs) added texture, and the little piece of lamb bacon added additional crisp.
Course 7 - Pork belly with quinoa, grilled ramps, soft-poached egg, and a green sauce that neither of us can remember. The pork belly itself was nothing out of this world, but it was cooked right, and the skin was so crisp. The grilled ramps and egg were perfectly cooked. The quinoa gave a nice crispiness and was probably there more for the texture than anything else.
Course 8 - Grilled sweetbreads in a white bean + something else sauce sauce. This wasn't the best sweetbreads I've had, but it was cooked right. The sauce was a bit spicy, but added good flavor to the sweetbreads.
Course 9 - Oxtail cannoli. The very flavorful oxtail was wrapped around by potato, and it was garnished with fried shallots and radishes. I liked the shallots but didn't try the radishes.
Course 10 - Torrija. This was an awesome dessert. The torrija is like french toast, but was so moist, almost like custard and with a bruleed topping. There was blood orange on the side, but I'm not such a fan, so only ate a little piece of it.
While some dishes had a minor fault or two, it was, overall, a wonderful meal at such a "bargain." The 10-course meal was $75, and as you can see, we ate a ton of food. This would, however, be ideal for someone interested in eating a large tasting menu without the $150+ price tag. If I were to go again, I would probably just go with the 5-course at $50 because the 10-course was just too much for me (even though I've had a bigger tasting menu at Eleven Madison Park). We both also really enjoyed watching the chefs prepare our food, so anyone who enjoys cooking or is curious about the way chefs work in the kitchen would enjoy this. Highly recommended!
Degustation
5th St. btwn 2nd and 3rd Ave
New York, NY
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