I'm so sad that Restaurant Week (which lasts nearly a month, and they should make it a month, because that would be AWESOME) is almost over. Today I had my final delicious lunch at a beautiful spot I would never be able to afford otherwise. I went with a co-worker and we had a really nice time. As I sit here and wait for approvals to move forward on some work tasks, I'll just jot down a few thoughts about Aureole.
Charlie Palmer is quite a famous chef and when they opened one of his restaurants in Times Square, I was very excited to go. Aureole is very pretty from the outside, with lots of glass and shiny silver. They always have their menus posted outside and they always look so good, but, as I said earlier, it is a bit out of my price range on a normal day. They have a Michelin star, for pete's sake! Thank heavens for RW, when I can try excellent American food at an affordable price.
The Liberty Room (the dining room where we were seated) is just as lovely from the inside as it is from the outside. The tables are walnut and the main dining room is attractively lighted by a beautiful light fixture. The menus and placemats are made of a fun, tweedy material. There's a pleasant buzz in the room, but it was never too loud or overpowering. According to the website, the cuisine is progressive American. OK. All I know is: the food was yummy. The menu is very elegant, with a lot of locally sourced meats and vegetables. Their RW menu was a tad different from the regular lunch menu, but not by much.
For my appetizer, I chose the garganelli pasta, with a veal ragout, parmesan cheese and a broccoli rabe pesto. This was a really hearty and warming dish, but not heavy, served in a relatively small portion due to its richness. It was delicious, with a tender meat sauce you can tell had been simmering all day, perfectly cooked pasta, and the hint of pesto was a nice bright touch that cut through the richness of the pasta. It was a really wonderful first course that could've made me feel full too early, but it didn't.
I went back and forth about which main course I wanted to try. The short ribs sounded amazing (that's what my co-worker ordered, and they looked incredible), but I thought if I had meat in my appetizer I shouldn't eat meat again in my main course. The butternut squash risotto sounded divine, but I thought if I had pasta in my appetizer I shouldn't eat pasta again in my main course. I really overthink this stuff. So I got the third option, the poached salmon. It was served with toasted couscous with pomegranate and an amazing citrus hollandaise. I also think there was a dollop of mayonnaise on the side of my plate, but I didn't bother to eat that. I'm not a huge mayonnaise lover and I figured I had enough egg yolks on my plate with the citrus hollandaise. The salmon was perfectly cooked, not too soft and not too firm, just really supple and delicious. The couscous was addictive - the toasted flavor paired well with the delicate salmon and the pomegranate seeds were a wonderful pop of tanginess. And that citrus hollandaise? Out of this world. I told my co-worker, if nearly every dish I eat for the rest of my life comes with citrus hollandaise, I will be a happy lady. As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed my dish.
My co-worker and I couldn't decide which of the desserts we wanted, they both sounded so good, so we ordered one of each of the choices and shared. I think the dessert we ordered is the one we wanted, oddly enough. I got the vanilla roasted pineapple with a coconut macaron and mango lime sorbet. My co-worker got the peanut butter crunch, which had a chocolate mousse and cream gelato with it. Both were incredible, so delicious, but I think I preferred the pineapple after tasting both, and I think my co-worker preferred the peanut butter crunch. Strange how the universe aligns itself. After my salmon, the pineapple was the perfect end to the meal, very light and sharp and tangy. There was a sugar tuile for crunch and the mango lime sorbet had just enough sweetness to make it a lovely complement to the pineapple. And coconut macarons make the world go 'round. Or something like that. I do love me a perfect little macaron. They have everything, and after watching them being made on the Kids Baking Championship on Food Network, I appreciate their complexity.
And so, Restaurant Week comes to an end for me. For the winter, anyway. I have a whole new list brewing in my head about which spots I want to dine at when RW comes around again in the summer. Maybe I'll try to branch out more, like to some sort of African place, or Turkish, or something like that. Places I wouldn't ordinarily try. Or a fancy Indian restaurant - I've only ever been to the smaller spots downtown. We'll see. It sure will be fun giving everything a try!
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