The Modern - Bar Room

For one of mine and Gabe's dates during my visit to New York last weekend, we went to The Modern's Bar Room before enjoying a few hours at the MoMa. It's the cheaper alternative to the dining room, but obviously with a more casual atmosphere. The menu is pretty flexible such that you can eat as much or as little as you like with as few or as many courses as you want. The menu is split into 3 categories called "one's", "two's", and "three's." The One's and Two's are single person appetizer size while the Three's are half-entree portions. Gabe and I just picked a One and Two each and shared a One. Is that confusing?

They gave us bread and butter to start with. For me, the mini-baguette was way too hard. I had to pull on it with my hands and teeth, and even that was difficult.


We decided to share the Arctic Char Tartare with basil and trout caviar. I really liked this one. It was a light and refreshing way to start out our meal. The caviar added just the right amount of saltiness without overpowering the arctic char.


My next dish was the Steak Tartare with quail egg. It's unlike me to get two of the same type of dish, but I was deciding between the arctic char and steak tartares, and since Gabe wanted to share a first dish, I ended up eating two wonderful tartares. While the steak tartare wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it was pretty good with the soft-poached quail egg. I think it could have used more flavoring, but overall, it was pretty solid and just the right portion.


My last dish was the Slow Poached Farm Egg "In a Jar" with Maine lobster, sunchokes, and sea urchin broth. This was the dish that piqued my interest in going to this restaurant, and it certainly delivered. There was a very generous serving of lobster. The egg, when broken, and the sea urchin broth created a sort of soup. It was a pretty rich dish, so for what looked like a small portion in a cute jar, it satisfied me pretty well. The flavoring was wonderful, but my only critique is that it was on the salty side for me. My taste buds seem to be sensitive towards salt, so this might not be noticeable to everyone.

Even though I would have liked to end the meal on a sweet note, I decided against dessert because not only was I already decently full, but I knew it was already getting to the expensive side for lunch.

Here's what I gathered from Gabe about his dishes:

This was the Wild Mushroom Soup with Chorizo Ravioli. The toasted chorizo and the earthiness of the wild mushrooms were both very strong flavors, but they complimented each other very well.


Gabe's next dish was the Roasted Long Island Duck Breast with peppercorn-crusted apples and toasted truffle pistachio dipping sauce. He liked this one and thought the truffle pistachio dipping sauce provided a unique flavor to compliment the duck and apples.

I would definitely recommend anyone to go to The Modern's Bar Room. We both basically paid around $60 each, including tax+tip, so it's definitely not cheap for lunch (or even for dinner), but the food is delicious and unique, while still maintaining a classical style.

The Modern - Bar Room
9 West 53rd St (btwn 5th and 6th ave)
New York, NY