Blanca

In my first visit to Blanca back in September 2018, I was a solo diner and had just moved to New York City pretty recently. I wrote down, “Really good. Definitely get the drink pairing. Michelin 2 star. $300 per person including drinks.” The vibe and space was absolutely fantastic. I then met my partner, and the pandemic arrived. Blanca shutdown and just simply never reopened until a few weeks ago. Knowing how high in demand this restaurant was in the past, I decided to take my partner to this restaurant to re-live the experience again.

Ambiance & Service

Blanca is situated in the backside of Roberta’s, past the outdoor seating area. It’s still located in the same backhouse. When you enter into the room, you can see a counter-top that fits 12 people and faces the open kitchen. All the chefs are literally right there, including the new Blanca head chef Victoria Blamey. There is a slight difference in the decor in that we were sitting in this little nook in the far left. The chef was very busy using the sink and washing things. Everything was treated with high attentiveness.

The music that was playing throughout the night was excellent, and I really dig the tunes. However, it was just a tad loud. If the server was not projecting their voice decently, you wouldn’t be able to hear much of what they’re saying.

I asked, who I perceived to be the owner, what were the current challenges today with opening this restaurant again. She brought up that the pacing and synchronization of the service was still being worked on, and it had some rough edges. Throughout our dinner, I did observe some of this. There were some noticeable mishaps such as rushed timing of the wine pairing, pacing of the food was up and down, and service was not perfection.

However for me, that organic imperfection and character is what made me enjoy the experience.

The price of our dinner was $275 per guest for the meal plus $195 for the beverage pairing. The nice part of the reservation unlike other restaurants is that you can cancel your reservation before a certain time. And if you’d like, you can leave gratuity pre-tax ahead of the meal on Tock for just the meal, so you don’t have to figure it out after you go to the restaurant if you weren’t planning on drinking.

Food

This was the starter drink, which reminded me of a fruity beer. They were so fast in serving this that I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the bottle.

The first course was Winter Citrus, which came with brussel sprout. This had little bits of pieces of some orange and skin in it. It was pleasant.

With the “Winter Citrus” course, they gave the Chëpika, which came from Catawba, Finger Lakes, NY 2018. This rosé was sublime. It had some bubbles and lots of fruit forward flavors. It was really easy to drink and delicious.

The next course was Monkfish Liver which came with pomegranate. The monkfish liver was cooked nicely. If you haven’t had this before, it’s like a foie gras steak, but with more flavors of the ocean with some of that liver minerality after taste.

With the “Monkfish Liver”, they gave the Lightwell Survey, ‘Hintermen’, which came from Petit Manseng, Shenandoah Valley, VA 2021. This has 70% Petit Manseng, 15% Riesling, and 15% Vidal Blanc. I recall this white blend being very good and matched well with the monkfish liver.

The next course was Belon Oyster from Maine which came with calamansi sauce. This was already cut in half, and it was pretty good. It has a creamy and sweet flavor, and it was pretty meaty too.

With the “Belon Oyster”, came the Moreau-Naudet, which is a Chardonnay from Chablis, France 2021. This was a simply fantastic, crispy, and delicious Chablis. Unlike others I’ve had, it had very aromatic and bright, citrus notes to it that made it very nice to drink.

The next course was the Surf Clam that came with sweet potato and yuzu sauerkraut. The surf clam was crispy, but it doesn’t have much flavor. The yuzu sauerkraut definitely added the salt that it needed. What was cool about this was that the Chef actually shucked the clams fresh just minutes before preparing and serving.

With the “Surf Clam” course, the Alessandra Divella came from Dosaggio Zero Blanc de Blancs, Lombardy, Italy NV. She makes the wine with a non-champagne method with no added sugar. This was super crispy, straight forward, and very clean.

Before the next course, they brought a live king crab to show off. I was salivating just looking at this thing. One thing on my bucket list is to take my partner and some friends to have a multi-course king crab dinner.

As a condiment for the next course, they brought the Cochayuyo Salsa. This has Chilean seaweed with something pickled in it. I love the pickling in this and the seaweed texture.

Finally the next course was the Crab Empanada came with dungeness crab meat, minted black beans, and some type of chili. The inside was red, but the crab meat and flavors were roaring with flavor after the first bite. It was so flavorful and delicious. They give you a small spoon to scoop the Cochayuyo Salsa, which offers a nice balance to the heat of the chili and the sea flavors of the crab meat. This was one of our favorite dishes of the night.

With this course came the Blaugies, ‘La Vermontolse’ from Saison, Belgium 2020. This was light, dry, and a good balance to the empanada.

The next course was the Uni Ceviche from Maine, which was freshly caught yesterday and came with squash leche de tigre. The uni was small but creamy and tasty. The squash leche had a subtle different flavor than I was expecting. It had a lot of citrus, but it also had some beans and corn in it. The beans and corn were on the harder side which is common in some Latin American cuisines.

With this course, came Terada Honke, ‘Daigo No Shizuku’, which came from Junmai Sake, Chiba, Japan NV. This was an unfiltered style. The sake had a strange yellow color, but it definitely had that subtle unfiltered taste to it along with interesting citrus notes.

The next course was the Sorpresine pasta with snails and lavender. The sauce in this had noticeable salt to it, and in general, the flavor of this was a bit timid. I didn’t taste much of the lavender, and the snails provided a texture thing that my partner didn’t quite enjoy. Nonetheless, I thought the combination was interesting to try.

With the “Sorpresine”, came the Grape Republic, ‘Anfora Bianco’, which came from Field Blend, Yamagata, Japan 2021. It has a blend of 6 different grapes. It’s fruity with a lot of refreshing green apple and pear tastes.

The next course was the Seaweed Tortelli pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and 2 types of seaweed, and showered with winter truffle. The truffle didn’t have the normal truffle flavors, but it definitely add more of that earthy, dirt flavors in a good way. My partner was not bothered by the truffle at all.

With the “Seaweed Tortelli” course, the Milan Nestarac, ‘TRBLMKR’ came from Neuberger, Moravia, Czech Republic 2019. This was an orange wine has a tannic flavor with nice aromatics. It was great!

The next course was the Sweet Potato with Belper Knolle goat cheese. The QuintaLuna olive oil drizzled on this was an amazing complement to it.

The next course was the Cold Spinach with ponzu sauce and chili. Despite its simplicity, the spinach was dense and pretty good.

For this course, the Lamoresca Rosato came from Frappatto/Nero d’Avola, Sicily, Italy 2022. This had an interesting vibrant and luscious red color. This had a 50/50 ratio of those grapes, and it has a nice distinct and aromatic flavor to it. It has notes of orange blossom and blood orange bitters.

The next intermediate course was the Tortilla al Rescoldo, which was based on Chilean bread. It had some pork belly chicharron baked into a wholegrain 19-hour sourdough bread, and it came with housemade cultured butter and lardon to finish. The lardon gave it some fat. This bread was more sour than the normal sourdough bread, but it was quite tasty and interesting. The pork belly in the middle of the bread tasted like pancetta bits.

And finally, the King Crab has returned with cabbage and pear. The crab meat was so fresh, sweet, and tender, that each bite was dreamy.

And with the “King Crab” course, the Vollenweider, ‘Wolfer Goldgrube’, came from Riesling Kabinett, Mosel, Germany 2022. This riesling as expected was a great compliment to the king crab. It had notes of a pear, citrus, apples, and a subtle smoke that made the taste very accentuated and complimentary to the crab.

This was a palette cleaner, where it was just shaved Asian pear ice with apple and molasses. It was an interesting transition, and I was wondering what were they serving next that would require a clean palette.

They gave a cup of Pheasant Broth, and it was very rich, smooth, warm, clean, and tasty. It was seasoned perfectly.

The Pheasant, shared between my partner and me, came with individual pheasant porridge. My goodness, this was so good. The pheasant skin, despite unhealthy and oily, was cooked to the crisp. I had to tell myself to not get too greedy and eat all the fat because I may regret later. The pheasant meat had a duck consistency but with far less fat. The porridge was really tasty, and I basically cleaned this plate entirely.

With the “Pheasant” course, they served the In Der Eben, which came from Roter Malvasier, Alto Adige, Italy 2019. This red wine had very bold tannins and some interesting smells. It did have some funk to it, which gave it a bit of that barn aroma. I was pretty full at this time, and this happened to be the only wine I couldn’t finish. I recall it being medium body, but with some very noticeable acidity. I might have preferred something a little more fuller body with the pheasant because the acidity didn’t cut through as much as I would’ve liked.

The next course was a Parsnip came with caviar. The parsnip was cold, and the caviar provided a brine taste to it. It was an interesting combination.

And the last pairing for the desserts was the Domaine de la Taille Aux Loups ‘Romulus’, which came from Chenin Blanc, Montlouis-sur-Loire, France 2017. This organic dessert wine was sublime. It has orchard fruit, citrus, and honey, and it was very clean to drink. I looked this up, and it appears a bottle of this would go for $110 in NYC.

They brought a trio savory and sweet course next. They are savory and sweet cookies with pumpkin seeds. The Cheese was a blend of cow milk and sheep milk aged for 18 months. They also serve it with some of the jam. The cookies reminded me a little of almond cookies. The cheese was a hard, and it was definitely good.

They brought Oolong Tea from Taiwan to just help wash all the fat and oils that we ate throughout the night.

And the very last course, they brought a Chocolate Truffle and a Black Olive Pistachio Nougat. I thought both were really good. The nougat was chewy and fun to eat.

As a gift, they gave us a bag with the menu for the evening, a small container of the Cochayuyo Salsa, and the Cookies with pumpkin seeds.

Final Verdict

I still have my menus from 2018 when I went, and ours menus today are different but still with plenty of bites. After today, I am convinced that Blanca is making its return. The food here is good even under the new Chef. The one call out is the service isn’t quite there to where they want it, but I have no doubt they will be able to tweak and adjust successfully. I strongly recommend that Blanca be considered for alternative tasting menus to other Michelin star restaurants in the city. The wine pairing was delightful.

Yelp Jabs

I went there 29 times in a year and never got tired of it. Loved the cilantro ice cream so much. But i dont know, something changed within the last year and a half and the foods were not as breathtaking as before.

This person had too much time and money to go there 29 times. If this was true, then yeah, going 29 times to a restaurant over a year will start to sap away the life out of anything. I went to Maude in Los Angeles about 6 times in a year, and I was over it by the end.

Very special dinner atmosphere, but tbh still left starving! Would recommend as a fun night out to celebrate, some truly incredible bites, but lost out on a rave review feeling as after 3 hours all we wanted was pizza or anything substantial. Not new to tasting menus and aware of the small size portions, but for $750 for 2 (dinner, wine pairing) I’d hope I wasn’t leaving and rushing home to get a frozen pizza in the oven.

Despite the portions being small and there being several small bites, I think this Yelper might be in the camp of gluttony. If you are in the same camp, this or any fine dining tasting restaurant would not fit this type of eater.

Revisions

1. Feb 2, 2024 - Second visit post-pandemic.
2. Sep 16, 2018 - Initial revision.