63 Clinton
Sixty Three (63) Clinton was a restaurant that I had my eyes on for a few months now. They change the menu monthly, so it was previously difficult to time the menu preferences to our food preferences. I finally found a menu (July) worth going for, however, little did I know the day of my reservation was the day the menu changed. We had 2 items on the menu with “mushroom”-like ingredients in it. I was honestly nervous about the experience, but usually I will just go with the chefs’ visions.
Some background of 63 Clinton is that it’s co-owned by Samuel Clonts and Raymond Trinh, who had both worked together for many years, starting at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, and then onto Bar Uchu. They started this restaurant together out of their desire to open their first restaurant as owners and partners. We saw both chefs there, and they are really cool people.
Ambiance & Service
The restaurant is located in the first floor of a brick building. It’s rather discreet in that you would only know it’s the restaurant because you carefully looked at the door or you looked for the street number 63 on Clinton.
We made reservations for the bar area, and we noticed they had areas facing the kitchen and a separate dining area in another room. Unfortunately for whatever reason, the A/C was not working well for us, and my partner started to sweat. The temperature in Manhattan now is not only high, but it also comes with high humidity as well. It was a little uncomfortable, but we got by.
This restaurant only offers a tasting menu of 7 courses at $112 per person. The menu offers a few addon choices, which we only splurged on the caviar. The service and pacing of courses were all evenly spread out, and came at the right interval for us. The meal took a little less than 2 hours in total.
Food
The glass of Ultreia Godello ($28) came from Raul Perez, Bierzo, Spain 2022. I asked the bartender for a recommendation for just 1 glass of wine for the entire night, and they recommended this one. The price for this is quite expensive, and looking online, literally the cost of this glass is the same cost as the bottle. Good to know because this wine was really good. It was dry and had nice minerality with some pear notes on the tip. It wasn’t overly sweet and worked well with all the savory courses tonight.
My partner ordered a modified Cactus Wren ($20) which was supposed to come with mezcal, falernum, grapefruit, tarragon, and chili. In lieu of the mezcal which has a little smoke to it, the bartender substituted clear tequila branco due to my partner’s preference. The drink itself was good and very flavorful down to the last drop. It had a nice blend of all the sweetness and liquor.
The Breakfast Taco came with ajitama, a hash brown, salsa verde, and trout roe. Ajitama is an egg boiled in a sauce. This breakfast taco was pretty good and interesting. You can tell each of these ingredients adds a flavor and texture to the overall course. The ajitama offers sweetness, the hash brown gives it a crunch, the salsa verde gives it a creamy subtle spice kick, and the trout roe is basically salt bubbles. Everything together was great.
We both added the Caviar Handroll (+$55 each). In this hand roll, they bring a cart with the eggs, seaweed, rice, and some wasabi. The rice appeared to have some soy sauce seasoning in it, and it was warm. The caviar was generously laid on top of the rice, and when they rolled the hand roll, they put a nice dollop of caviar on top as well. The caviar was definitely not your super high end variant, but it was still good. The eggs were smaller, and they added a nice creamy, mild salty flavor to it. If it’s your first time to this restaurant, it’s highly recommended to add this on for glutton and indulgent purposes.
The Grilled Sungolds came with smoked eel, tuna, some cherry tomatoes, and buttermilk. This was a nice, light course where it really highlights the “freshness” of the farmer’s market materials. The sauce was light, and the eel and tuna was a nice protein to complement the cherry tomatoes.
The Red Crab Rice came with corn, chanterelles, and lemongrass. Surprisingly, the chanterelles were mild in mushroom-y flavors, so it didn’t bother me at all. The crab in the rice was quite flavorful, and the corn added nice sweetness to it.
The Tarte Flambee came with comte, onions, and bacon. This reminded me a little of a flatbread pizza with an onion-like compote on top of it. This probably one of the least memorable for me because it felt more like a snack albeit it was good.
The Milk-Fed Veal Striploin came with Jimmy Nardello, tomato, and sherry. The Jimmy Nardello peppers are Italian peppers that were brought over to the United States from Italy. At the top of the plate lies these peppers, and they aren’t spicy much. The sauce that the veal is sitting in was made from a mushroom base stock, and it didn’t really have much mushroom-y flavors. On the right was grilled tomatoes. The veal itself was perfectly and delicately cooked. It was extremely tender, and it paired well with everything on this dish.
The Fruit Salad came with sugar kiss melon sorbet and sour cream. The fruit salad was the palette cleanser of the course, and everything here tasted pleasant and definitely reset our palettes.
The Cruller came with peach, ginger, and cardamom. This final dessert course was basically a crispy donut with a peach mixture filling in the middle. The little black balls are actually chocolate. This course was not the best dessert we had, but it was quite tasty and caps the evening well.
Final Verdict
63 Clinton reminded us a lot of Contra but better in our opinion. The menu was accessible, and most, if not all, courses were very balanced and delectable. It’s highly recommended to check out this restaurant if you are looking for a very casual and good food at affordable prices.
Yelp Jabs
The first two course were great but only if you opt in for the supplements which will bring your pre-fix menu close to $200 per person.
I do not think you need to opt into the supplements to enjoy. The price point for this pre-fixe menu is accessible. I don’t think paying $22 for uni is generally worth it.
I actually don’t know how they get one star Michelin. Food is ok but the taco breakfast is pretty salty to my taste
The Michelin stars are usually pretty random, and most restaurants can see signs when there’s an inspector. The Michelin is based on food alone, so it’s quite possible that the inspector palette may not match this Yelper’s preferences. There are times where I wonder the same of how a restaurant got their star. However based on the current experience, I can definitely see how it did. The restaurant is good enough by NYC standards to have earned it.
Revisions
- Aug 2, 2024 - Initial revision.