Restaurant Review: The Modern at the Museum of Modern Art
Astounding. Where do I begin? My friend Julie told me that The Modern was tops on her list of fine dining anywhere, and she’s been everywhere. So when I planned a trip to New York City and made a reservation several weeks in advance. It’s pricey (AF), so there isn’t a months-long waiting list, but you won’t in there “this weekend” unless you have some pull at the restaurant or the attached Museum of Modern Art. And this is not the place to go if you have a nut or truffle allergy or a budget. Trust me. But otherwise, sheer heaven. My iPhone pictures cannot do this justice.
Although I’m not a trained chef, I get a lot of my inspiration from the fanciest of cuisine. My goal is always to make dishes that seem impossible to us mere mortals, approachable to the average at home cook like me. I’ve done tasting menus before but this was the best of the best. At the end of the meal, we counted a total of 11 separate dishes served to us with 8 separate wine pairings. If you haven’t done a tasting menu with courses paired with wine, I highly recommend it. I don’t know a lot about wine but my husband and I like to try new things and learn what we can. This was quite a learning experience just through taste.
So we started with a few unlisted courses. Our waiter David warned us that we would have many courses that were surprises. The first was a pretty big start.
Potato & Cheddar
“Tartelette & Tea”
So they counted this as one course on the menu but it is most definitely two. This was a course without a wine pairing but we were still enjoying a glass of champagne we ordered when we sat. This little cheddar cheese tartelette was topped with chives, thinly sliced fingerling potatoes and a small salami and paired with a “tea” that was a drinkable potato soup with chive and horse-radish cream and a touch of truffle oil. I could have had a gallon of this with another plate of taretlettes and moved on to dessert. Until they presented the next course . . .
Eggs on Eggs on Eggs
Caviar & Toasted Brioche
Champagne: Fleury, Extra Brut, 2006
I’m not always a big fan of caviar. This was incredible. Caviar in a little dish with a perfectly poached egg yolk and an egg custard. Too creamy, right? Nope. They put this crispy little perfectly toasted rectangle of brioche with dill and little onions that totally balanced the texture and taste. You had to eat all of it. And the champagne was this older vintage that was a little “nutty” if that makes sense that balanced it so well. And as if they sensed the creaminess, they next dropped on us a big simple surprise.
Pretzel Croissant
Mustard Butter
Sounds simple, but this little salty puff of preztel had a dijon cream mustard in it that was not melted, yet baked in. Clearly that pumped in a frozen blob of this delicious creamy delight and then quick-baked it. Following the creamy, heavier egg dish, it was a perfect balance for the palate. Salty, savory and airy.
The menu and wine pairings at The Modern made for a memorable and special evening out. The first mini-course was potato soup with chive and horse-radish cream and it was incredible. There was an egg course that was out of this world, the beef was the best beef I’ve ever tasted (and we have steak all the time), the butternut squash with cream and black truffle was amazing, and the wines were very unique and special. The flavors and combinations were very creative and nothing I would’ve ever considered. The Modern is expensive but worth it for a special celebration.
