Last night, rtb and I finally got to celebrate violaleeblue’s mid-August birthday with a dinner at Le Pavillon, Daniel Boulud’s Michelin-star restaurant across from Grand Central Terminal. It was one of the most delicious and beautiful meals I have ever had.

The restaurant is on 42nd Street on the second floor of One Vanderbilt Plaza. A hostess greets you on the ground floor and checks you in. You can then take the stairs up, which if you look on their IG, you have a great view of GCT and the Chrysler Building. I opted for the elevator. The bar at the front has floor to ceiling windows which look out onto GCT and across 42nd Street. They have plenty of cocktails and mocktails to choose from but I decided to start with the Clos Floridène – Graves Blanc, Bordeaux and later switched to the Domaine Joseph Drouhin “Mouin de Vaudon” Chablis, Burgundy with dinner. violaleeblue was drinking the Chablis and rtb had the Sunspine mocktail.

The restaurant decor wasn’t special except for lots of plants and trees. On one aisle behind a lot of plants was a hidden table for two. While I was sitting at the bar, a young Japanese couple came in without a reservation. The man was dressed nicely and the woman had on a black cashmere sweater and denim cut-off short shorts with her ass hanging out. I am not a prude but there are situations where you don’t wear that.

During dinner, we not only had a waiter but runners for each individual dish, a runner who explained the dishes to us, bus people ready to fill a glass of water or take away a finished dish, and other waiters dedicated to serving certain dishes. When we were finished and I asked a passing wine steward for the ladies’ room, he graciously led us through the restaurant to the bathroom.

You have your choice of two types of prix fixe – three courses or six courses. We decided on the three courses, which was plenty of food. The restaurant calls itself seafood and vegetable forward but there are also a few meat dishes. Before we started, they brought out three types of bread. My favorite was the olive bread. They also brought out bread for violaleeblue, who has a gluten allergy.

We each were given a crab tartlet for an amuse bouche (violaleeblue’s came without the crust).

One of the things that worried me was that the dishes I wanted had ingredients that I don’t like very much like Swiss chard and ramps. But somehow, they not only made those ingredients palatable to me but complementary and integral to the dish in a way that I can’t image it without them.

Appetizers: Unsurprisingly, I chose the escargot. The Escargot | Rampe (petit gris snail, wild ramp, heirloom grits, coco de paimpol, sauce diable) comes covered with a tuile that has a couple of flower petals and leaves on top. The tuile was fun and tasted good and the grits was an inspired way to serve the escargot. I did not miss the garlicky escargot that one normally gets. The coco de paimpol added needed texture and the sauce diable did not overwhelm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

violaleeblue had the Saumon | Oseille (trio of Atlantic salmon, wasabi, sorrel bavarois, cucumber) and rtb had the Langoustine | Celtuce (celtuce vichyssoise, seared langoustine, young coconut, lemon verbena).

Mains: I got the Coquille | Figue (seared New England scallops, kataifi crusted fig, Swiss chard, sauce XO). My mother loved scallops and could not get them in Puerto Rico, so on the few trips she made back to NYC after moving back to PR, she always ordered scallops and I like to order them when I see them on a menu. The presentation is out of this world. They roll out a cart and open an oval cast iron dish to reveal the scallops sitting on their shells. Next to them are lemon slices with an herb on top. All sitting on a bed of (lavender?) rice. Under the pot are whole figs and lemon slices with other herbs and greenery. The plate next to it contains the kataifi crusted fig, fig jam, and Swiss chard. As the waiter moved the scallop from the shell to the plate, he asked how much of the XO sauce I would like and I said a little since I am not a fan of spicy. I have lavender as a question mark because there was a scent that I could not quite place. The scallop was perfectly seared and I never would have thought of pairing them with figs but I loved the additional sweetness to the scallop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

violaleeblue had the Homard | Pêche (charcoal grilled Maine lobster, poached peach, wild rice, pickled fennel, anise hyssop nage) and rtb had the Lotte | Tomate (herb roasted New England monkfish, grilled legume “provençal”, smoked sungold tomato coulis, sauce Riviera)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert: They brought out an additional dessert for violaleeblue’s birthday and she refused to allow me to sing to her (the waiters do not sing to the guest). They also brought out two tiny cream-filled donuts – one chocolate and one (I think) cinnamon. I ordered the Maïs | Huckleberry (corn crème caramel, huckleberry compote, vanilla cornflake chantilly). The compote and crème caramel each had a piece of popcorn on top for a fun surprise. The dish was very corn-forward in a delightful way that was unusual and delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

violaleeblue ordered the Noisette | Jivara (milk chocolate mousse, praline croustillant, hazelnut nougatine) and I had some of it – the hazelnut nougatine was big with the milk chocolate only a small layer surrounding it. (The photo is from their IG since I forgot to take a photo.) rtb had the Café | Chocolat (flourless chocolate biscuit, caramel cremeux, cardamom, coffee ice cream).

violaleeblue and I each had a César Florido sherry with dessert. It was probably the only not outstanding part of the meal. I ordered in part because it was the least expensive of the sweet wines and the others, I felt, were more over-priced than is normal.

But it was an incredible night out with friends and such an outstanding dinner. I think this is the third Boulud restaurant I have eaten at and he never disappoints.