I have a fun tradition with my son in New York – whenever I visit, I treat him and a couple of friends to dinner someplace nice (read: expensive) that he might not otherwise get to. It’s my way of ensuring that I get to dine at a new place on my VERY long list of New York restaurants I’m dying to try. David Chang, king of the Momofuku empire, is well known, for both his wild personality and his incredible food. So on this visit, (from left to right) my son and his girlfriend, another NY friend currently living in Chicago, my daughter (who I was helping deliver to NY to begin her externship at The Modern in MOMA), and I made our way to Ma Peche. The decor, as you can see in the picture, is very spartan, but the food is anything but.
(we almost thought we were served dessert first)scallop (barnegat light, nj) – plantain, yuzu, sesamebeef carpaccio – can’t remember what all was on this one!sweet breads (provitello farms, ny) – almond, egg yolk, anchovy –
I made all the kids try them and we liked them so much we ordered a
second serving as part of our dessert lineup!monkfish (barnegat light, nj) – mole, spaghetti squash, turnip duck (jurgielewicz farm, pa) – orange, pistachio, rutabaga – that doesn’t do it justice,
as the combo of the duck breast and the duck sausage was spectacularveal (provitello farms, ny) – sunchoke, mustard, coffeecauliflower – gruyere, curry, hazelnut – how vegetables should be served!
but I couldn’t get everyone’s hands out of the bowl to take a picture!pound cake – citrus, brown butter, marshmallow – there might have also been another dessert but I was too busy eating the next round of sweetbreads to notice!
And perhaps most interesting to me, they serve a selection of cheeses for dessert
(standard fare) but also a butter selection.
You haven’t lived until you’ve had the goat butter (distinct twang of goat’s milk taste to it) with a freshly baked small loaf of brown bread. Now that’s what I call dessert!
Check out my daughter Jenny’s post about this dinner – since she “stole” a copy of the menu, her descriptions of all of the ingredients is a bit more accurate than mine!
Do you have any must visit restaurants in NYC?
Please share so I can add them to my list!