Dinner for two at Annisa.
Quiet, elegant and understated. One of my favorite restaurants in the city. The seven-course tasting begins with chicken liver mousse with cranberries and mustard.
Course 1: Fluke crudo with radishes and black lime.
Course 2: Soup dumpling filled with foie gras mousse and jicama, then topped with seared foie gras. The balsamic reduction replaces the black vinegar usually paired with traditional soup dumplings.
Course 3: Miso-marinated sable with crisp silken tofu. Served in bonito broth…with a generous hand of tobiko.
Course 4: Frog legs and lobster with white speckled grits and seared okra
Course 5: Long Island Duck, three ways:
- Duck confit layered with potatoes and topped with a quail egg
- Duck breast, seared and served over foie gras hollandaise
- Duck gizzards tossed with frisée in a tangy vinaigrette
Course 6: Seven cheeses with walnut bread and grapes “dried on the vine.”
Clockwise from top:
- Toma Walser (Cow, Italy)
- River’s Edge Siltcoos (Goat, Oregon)
- Pecorino Ginepro (Sheep, Italy)
- Quadrello di Bufula (Buffalo, Italy)
- Tetilla (Cow, Spain)
- Ewe’s Blue (Sheep, NYC)
- Roquefort (Sheep, France)
Course 7: Poppyseed bread and butter pudding. One of the best bread puddings around. It comes to the table hot, plated on housemade meyer lemon curd, and with a crunchy, sugar-dusted crust. Sink your fork deep and inside is all custard soft, sweet with vanilla and poppy seeds in each bite.
Pear posset (think panna cotta minus the gelatin) with elderflower and shiso. This was a second dessert, but I can never get over the warm bread pudding ^_^
Mignardises: frozen mint truffles, candied ginger, and pineapple popsicles.
Annisa, 13 Barrow Street, New York, NY 10014, (212) 741-6699