L'ECOLE - culinary city surprises

L'ECOLE and me

a mouth watering match made in heaven

Today Jackie treated me to a Christmas gift dinner at L'Ecole in Manhattan. I feel that I should relay my meal here because it was very tasty. I'm pretty sure the name means "the school" (if you speak French, help me out) and it is the restaurant run by The French Culinary Institute. Our meal was cooked by graduates of the school and the waiter, a current student, gave me the lowdown about FCI--I want in.

Basically, L'Ecole has a few alternating prix fixe menus. Students cook some, graduates cook others. If you dine there, everyone you speak with is a student. While this may sound alarming--especially if you think of the asshole who sits/sat in the back of your lecture hall, obnoxiously talking to his bro about the sorority girl he slept with last night--it is actually great. The servers are basically getting a grade on how happy the customers are with service...they need your satisfaction! That being said, everyone was exceptionally nice and the food...oh, how delicious it was!

*Be warned, I am no critic. I like to eat and usually try to chomp at recommended places so I'll rarely complain about food. Also, chances are I'll clean the plate, so if the food isn't fantastic, you probably won't believe me.*

We started off with a bottle of a Spanish style of white I've never tasted before (Verdejo) and seared beef carpaccio. It was stick to the fork thin, spread out over the plate and garnished with sea salt and a tasty, cheddar like cheese called Tête De Moine. Our second appetizer was a smoked salmon, bunched up like a little pink tube of goodness, filled with a pear salad and sitting atop one beauty of a potato pancake.

Entrees consisted of several more delicious animals: Sea Bass with Shrimp in a Saffron Mussel Broth (oh goodness!) and Roasted Duck with Potato terrine, Bok Choy and a sweet and sour black pepper sauce (sweet Jesus!). Needless to say, both were delicious. The dishes were unfussy and really let the flavor shine through. The presentations were simple but rather lovely to look at--so lovely, in fact, that I took pictures so I could look at it over and over again. (Sorry about the contrast, I didn't want to use the flash and disturbed people...fortunately, by the time desserts came out I had more to drink and didn't care anymore)


Since L'Ecole is French, and the French love to cleanse their palates, we received a sorbet of pear and champagne...From this point on I will no longer eat meals without a palate cleanser


We killed the wine just before dessert so I had to get a glass of port. To accompany this lovely glass of liquid sweetness, we ordered pear and cranberry cobbler served with honey vanilla ice cream and a Date and pine nut pudding served with caramel ice cream. What more of a description is needed than that?


At the end of dinner I realized we'd been sitting at the table for over two hours but couldn't care less. Everything was timed fantastically and I was full, tipsy and very, very happy. The entire experience was great and I'd love to go back for some more samplings of my future life. I'll be sure to let everyone know when it's me slaving away in the kitchen of L'Ecole, but until just stare at the above cobbler picture..

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...mmm