| Three of us had dinner at Papillon last night (Hudson & W. 11th.) Probaby it deserves more of a write up then I am going to give it. They've been open about 2 weeks and have not been reviewed yet that I know of. This is the chef from the much hyped but ill fated Atlas (Central Park South) which closed earlier in the year. Evidently the chef went back to Europe, but now is back again in NYC at this much smaller location. The place gave me a weird feeling at first. You have to enter through the bar next door (which looks like just another bar on Hudson, but is actually part of the restaurant.) Then you go through the back into the actual restaurant. Not a problem, really, but there's something about the layout I don't like. In any case, our waiter was very good, and she quickly turned my intuition from doubtful to hopeful. The menu is short. Either a two or three course prix fixe (where the third course is either cheese or dessert) for $35 and $45 resepctively. We had a thai spiced pumpkin soup (with a martini glass on the side filled with some crazy pumpkin sorbet concoction,) frog leg salad with some sort of (Atlas signature) foam all over it, and the best item, a langoustine tartar with a crustacean foam and an anchovie (it worked.) We drank a nice Meursault. Other apps included a fois-gras, a mushroom dish, and I think one thing I can't remember. Everything was small (or, not overly large) and well presented. Definitely get the langoustine. For the main course we had a chicken dish, a stripped bass, and pig cheeks. Pig cheeks got the thumbs up although I didn't indulge. Very rich like the short ribs at 71CFF. The chicken was reportedly cooked to perfection, as was my stripped bass. The bass is all I can comment on really, and it was done well, over a puree of jerusalem artichokes. A big pile of bitter greens on the side was a great touch. Very nice. And then dessert. Get dessert. Get five. By far the best part of the meal. Three chocolate dishes which the waiter explains with the actual percent of cacao involved. Something called "Wylie's Margarita" which is another one of those crazy foam concoctions involving limes and salt served in a martini glass. It's named after 71CFF chef Wylie who I guess gave them some sort of special lime juice to use (I don't think he knows his name is on the menu though.) If you can wrangle a few words with the pastry chef maybe you can get sent the little sampler we closed with which contained some small cookies and a bunch of strange tasting sugary cubes which completely blew my mind. Oh yeah, and the toasted sugar coated macademia nuts weren't too bad either. Did I mention dessert was the best part? Anyway, aside from the weird room (which I can't even say why I think it's weird) Papillon is looking good. Very empty last night, so you might want to go soon (before the reviews come.) At $45 it's a pretty good deal for the level of food you get. The wine list seemed small to me, and I had trouble locating a red to start with, but we had a decent rioja with the mains. My guess is they need some help in that area, but I'll have to wait for the more learned opinions on matters of the vine. Afterwards we walked into the White Horse Tavern where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, learned of the Yankees loss, and sat for awhile discussing WWIII. The table next to us kept going for the juke box, playing Frank Sinatra over and over: "Start spreadin' the news..." It seemed like everyone thought the Yankees had done well enough. I think the same goes for Papillon. |
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