Le Caprice is our third restaurant review of our picks highlighted in NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2012: Where to Go along with Estiatorio Milos and Maialino. I was intrigued to try it, since it's the sister restaurant of acclaimed Le Caprice in London, but I also had my doubts, since it had decidedly mixed reviews when it opened, and I hadn't seen all that many reviews under the new chef, Ed Carew. I also noticed that the appetizer choices and one of the entree choices were not part of the regular menu, which is a bit of a red flag. So I warned my husband to keep his expectations modest.
Ultimately, though, I had the best Restaurant Week lunch experience here, though my husband's was a bit more mixed.
Le Caprice is in the Pierre Hotel, at Fifth Avenue and 61st. It has a nondescript entrance, but once inside it's a lovely space done up in black and white, with comfortable semi-circle black booths. Our reservation was for 12:30pm, and I was surprised to see so few diners–there were perhaps 3 or 4 tables with seated guests. Then again, it's a bit far uptown for most midtown dining, and Le Caprice, at least in NYC, doesn't have the buzz associated with a known restauranteur, the way Danny Meyer does in the case of Maialino.
In any case, we were greeted by a pleasant server, menus were brought, and water was poured as we perused the menu. I stuck by my original Restaurant Week recommendations, apart from the dessert, where I decided I was more in the mood for a Bakewell tart. My husband chose different dishes for each of the three courses, so we had a quite good sampling of the Restaurant Week menu.
The bread basket consisted of standard rolls and breadsticks–good enough, but of course not comparable to the warm, buttery rolls at Eleven Madison Park, which have definitely spoiled me as far as bread goes.
Appetizers were strong. My husband enjoyed his marinated mackerel, served with potato salad, pickled shallots and salsa verde. Good, fresh, clean, tangy flavor:
Meanwhile, the only thing I could find to criticize about my white bean soup with duck confit was that I wanted more duck confit, given how flavorful it was. I was even wishing that Duck Confit had been a choice for the main dishes, although given its cost, I can understand why it wasn't.
When our main courses arrived, I almost thought they had messed up my husband's order, since at first glance it looked like an enormous fried latke. I've never ordered or prepared Chicken Milanese, and as it turned out, it's pounded flat before being fried. While its appearance led my husband to refer to it as “steamrolled chicken” that didn't stop him from finishing it all–it tasted like a “really good chicken mcnugget” which wouldn't really be high praise in my book, given how I avoid McDonald's at all costs, but he seemed to enjoy it. It came with an arugula salad and gremolata sauce, not pictured.
Meanwhile, I was more than happy with my Roasted Scottish Salmon with Smoked Lentils and Sauce Gribiche. The salmon was perfectly cooked–crisp skin, and still a bit transluscent inside, complemented well by the nutty flavor of the lentils, some arugula, and creamy sauce. Ironically, this salmon dish is not on the regular menu, while Chicken Milanese, aka “steamrolled chicken,” is. So if you want to try the salmon, get there by this Friday Feb. 10, the last day of Winter Restaurant Week!
Dessert was where my husband felt let down–he had ordered the Smoked Chocolate Dome, and sure enough, it had a very smoky flavor–unfortunately not one that my husband liked. I think it's the only time I've seen him not finish a dark chocolate dessert. He did enjoy the chocolate ice cream though.
For my part, I thought the Raspberry Bakewell with Cardamom Ice Cream was hands down the best version of this homey British dessert I'd ever tasted–and believe me, I tried quite a few versions of Bakewell Tart during my year living in the UK. I especially liked that they seemed to have used fresh raspberries in the raspberry jam layer, lending a brighter taste that contrasted well with the buttery almond goodness of the rich filling. And pairing it with cardamom ice cream was inspired–would never have though of that combination, but it worked.
Bottom line: Given the prices on its regular menu, I won't pretend that we'll become regulars of Le Caprice; but I would certainly go back for a leisurely, relaxed nice lunch or dinner out, or even see if we could stop by for dessert and coffee. So many places in New York are cramped and/or noisy, and you often have to reserve weeks in advance for the most popular places. Le Caprice offers an antidote to all that, with some excellent, albeit pricey, food. Restaurant Week is a good deal, and the perfect time to try it.
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