Gabriel Kreuther

Summary

This post is going to be a big one. For our first anniversary, we treated ourselves to a nice French place that I think is generally underrated and under the radar. Gabriel Kreuthers has been something that I’ve always wanted to try, and it’s rated 2 Michelin Stars in 2019. We went bold with the Chef’s Carte Blanche Tasting Menu. There are a total of at least 28 dishes spread through of what they say is 9 courses.

The pretzel grissini was the first snack. It’s not really a course, but it was interesting how it was presented.

The next 3 dishes were presented together.

The mango, gewürztraminer, and lime pâte de fruit was pretty good. Imagine a spoon of jello with some recognizable flavors with some flavors of alcohol in it.

The alsatian tarte flambée was like a little mini pizza with pieces of cured bacon on it and cheese. It was quite delicious, especially the cheese.

The piña colada snow cone was the last. It’s like a slush with alcohol, and it was pretty good.

The next 3 dishes were also presented together. The waiter told us that the chefs go to the Union Square farmer’s market to purchase organic vegetables for this course.

The tomato consommé en gelée was delicious. The small tomatoes were slightly tart with also a sweetness to it. It was very “tomato”-ish.

The citrus cured yellowfin tuna was pretty good. I do admit that the tuna was not as much the star as the green citrus sauce it was sitting in.

The goldbar squash gazpacho was really good. There are drizzles of tomato oil on top of the gazpacho. Remember that the citrus and tomato in all 3 of these dishes were very tomato-potent and flavorful.

The royal kaluga caviar came with scallion creme and nori cornbread. The caviar was simply sublime. It wasn’t as salty as I was expecting, but those little bubble pops with everything mixed together was unforgettable.

Next, came the 2 foie gras dishes.

The foie gras terrine and sesame praline came with poached green strawbrries, peach jam, and a spiced waffle. The terrine was really good, and they give you a lot of it. It was super rich, but it tasted really good.

The spiced waffle didn’t have anything special, but it worked well with the terrine.

The hamachi, black truffle, and foie gras mille-feuille came with celery, grapes, and truffle vinaigrette. This was really good. I preferred this over the terrine. The truffle was very subtle.

The whole grain ficelle came with bobolink farm’s cultured butter and house cured park lardo. Of the two butters, I preferred the cultured butter over the pork lardo. But the lardo was still pretty good if you’re into the distinct flavors.

Next comes the 2 fish courses.

The Pennsylvania trout on cedar plank came with local purple potatoes, tarragon, and green bean nage. The trout as expected was super tender. There were fish eggs on it, which were delicious too.

The sturgeon and sauerkraut tart came with siberian caviar mousseline and applewood smoke. This sturgeon was served in a glass with smoke in it. The tart pastry was super flaky like what you find in egg tarts. Combined, it was all really good. I like both these dishes as they were different, so I don’t quite have a favorite.

The dock to dish charcoal grilled line-caught swordfish came with fairytale eggplant, melted leeks, and red pepper coulis. The swordfish was amazing. I never expected swordfish to be as moist and tender as this, as typically it comes out dry. The fairytale eggplants basically tasted like mini eggplants but with a much more prominent sweetness to it.

The summer corn tortellini came with chanterelle mushrooms, pancetta, and roquefort. This was probably my least favorite as there were some mushrooms in it. However, the summer corn tortellini was delicious. The pasta itself was thick, but the corn was super sweet and delectable. I could’ve eaten that alone without the mushrooms though.

The savory kougelhopf came with a chive fromage blanc. I was pretty full at this time, so I took a few nibbles of the bread. It was really good, but I needed to save room for the rest of the meal.

The meat entree came next. The waiter asks at the beginning of your meal if you would prefer duck or wagyu, and we opted for the duck.

The aged Long Island duck bread smoked in hay came with a cherry glaze, soubise, and marinated zucchini. The duck was so tender, and the skin was really crispy. You didn’t really need the rest, but man, this duck was really good.

The duck came with mushroom tortillas that you could wrap it and dash some lime on it.

This was also served with the duck. I don’t remember what it was exactly, but if I recall, this was some cream that had shreds of duck on the bottom. I was STUFFED at this time, so I could barely enjoy this. The duck breast though was so good.

After and not pictured, they served a little cup of hoja santa kombucha to try to get you to not fall asleep. It definitely helped me a lot.

Next came a selection of 4 artisinal cheeses with wildflower honey, fig jam, candied walnuts, and seasonal fruit marmalade. I don’t remember what cheeses these were, but I’ll try my best to describe. The left cheese was similar to a brie like texture and was subtle compared ot the rest. The second to the left was I think made from sheep but had some bleu cheese in it. It definitely was more of a punch in the face, but it wasn’t gamey at all. The third was like a shaved cheese, but it was really interesting. It tasted like very thin layers of cheese stacked on top of each other. And the last cheese was a hard cheese that had fairly pungent flavors as well. I think all 4 cheeses were pretty good. I thought I would’ve liked the left cheese more than the others, but I think the other 3 cheese were bolder, and I appreciated those more.

This was a little dessert that was served shortly after. The fig and tarragon was served with fig marmalade, tahitian vanilla granita, and tarragon panna cotta. There was nothing super special about this, but it was almost like a palette cleanser.

Now the real desserts have arrived!

The decadent chocolate and passion fruit came with dark chocolate crème, passion fruit caramel, and frozen truffle sorbet. This was great. They had these little passion fruit caramels inside of the dark chocolate cake, so every so often you’d get a bite of expolosive chocolate and passion fruit flavors.

The ambrosial peach and pistachio came with peach sorbet, ginger jalebi, and pistachio panna cotts. I loved the pistachio panna cotta, but I wasn’t a fan of the jalebi.

They also served us a chocolate cake bar as part of our anniversary. The cake was really good. I think it came from Kreuther’s chocolates next door.

The frappé brulée came with market berries and a lemon madeline biscuit. The lemon citrus flavors were definitely up front, but the creme was quite interesting. There was some bread in this that soaked some of the grenadine at the bottom, so that was pretty good.

I don’t quite remember what exactly this was, but it had some crackers and some lemon flavors in it. It was a good snack at the end.

Gabriel Kreuther’s main restaurant here is right next door to his chocolate store. I’ve been to his chocolate store a number of times, and it’s really quite good. So they give you some of that chocolate at the end served in these giant cocoa shells.

Service was stellar as expected, so no complaints there. The wine pairing, if your stomach can eat that much, was quite good. At the end of the night, they do give you a take-home gift of more Kreuther chocolates. The ambiance didn’t feel pretentious as I thought it would be, and all the waiters were very friendly. Reservations were easy to get, and so you don’t have to contend against some of the other more popular French restaurants. For our anniversary, Gabriel Kreuther signed a card welcoming us to his restaurant. Whether or not it’s his real signature, it’s still a delightful and thoughtful gesture.

Final Verdict

I thought this meal was quite a journey and very delicious. The whole meal lasted a little over 4.5 hours, so make sure you allow plenty of time to enjoy.

Yelp Jabs

I suppose this is one of those restaurants that you need to go to the main restaurant and get the full course to enjoy. I don’t believe I’ll be back to the bar after this experience.

I think it’s generally erroneous to try and compare the bar experience to the main restaurant experience. The bar menus are definitely catered to a different crowd.

We have sat down for an hour and still no food. I’m terribly hungry. The bar area did not allow for us to have their real menu. It’s been a disaster so far. I’m very upset.

It’s unfortunate that the negative reviews are on the bar experience. But again, I recommend people don’t judge based on improper experiences. If you’re going to go to a nice restaurant, make the most of it and not half ass it.