PrintBar Boulud: Charcuterie Magnifique (Are We Ready for It?)
Bar Boulud's opening has been delayed (for a week or so according to Eater), but I taped a television piece there last week and got to taste charcutier Sylvain Gasdon's (a disciple of famed Parisian charcutier Gilles Verot) wares. Simply put, Gasdon is making the best charcuterie Americans have ever seen and tasted on these shores. The Compote de Joue de Bœuf shredded slow-braised beef cheek, with onion confit and pistachio, is an earthy slice of perfection. The Tagine D’agneau, a terrine of slow cooked spiced leg of lamb, with eggplant and sweet potato, is even more complex and delicious. The housemade jambon de Paris is the French ham I never thought I would be able to taste in New York. To me, the piece de resistance here is the boudin blanc, a pork and cream-filled link that is rich and so smooth it's practically warm pork ice cream. Or maybe it's pork pudding in link form.
But are Americans ready for this kind of food?
Now whether New Yorkers and Americans will embrace terrines and pates, inch-high slabs of pressed, chunked, and shredded meat and organ meat mixed with herbs, spices, vegetables, and potatoes, is indeed a question waiting to be answered. For Boulud, who grew up eating and learning to make charcuterie in Lyons, this is his soul food. But even he realizes he has to hedge his bets. So Bar Boulud will also have a bistro and brasserie-derived full menu and a fine selection of cheeses to go along with the charcuterie and wine that form the heart of the restaurant's offerings.
Bar Boulud is Boulud's gutsiest endeavor to date (forgive the obvious double entendre), and also his most heartfelt.
An incomplete Bar Boulud menu via NYM
Bar Boulud (opening soon: call first)
1900 Broadway (63rd Street)
New York, NY 10023
Ph: 212-595-0303
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
5 Comments:
Ohhhh that all sounds so delicious! I can't wait.
Cathy at 12:43PM on 01/03/08
A new year's challenge, with the intention of having some fun doing what we like best: http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2008/01/kill-ed-levine.html
Kevin at 9:53PM on 01/03/08
After the crime committed in the name of boudin blanc at Belcourt, can't wait to try BB!
The Gurgling Cod at 10:35AM on 01/04/08
Very exciting indeed!!!
By the way Lyon does not take an S nor does Marseille for that matter...
sebzskp at 11:04AM on 01/30/08
I recently dined at Bar Boulud and I have to agree that the boudin blanc is incredible: it's the ephemeral sausage, dissolving blissfully on one's tounge. I also had the tasting of charcuterie and I liked the house gran pate the best. The other stand out from the meal was the pork belly, which was just done perfectly and encompassed every bit of why-fat-means-flavor that pork belly is supposed to convey. Also had the steak frites, very good, and a tarte of some kind for dessert with cherries that was nice.
elizabethmd at 4:28PM on 02/13/08