davidburke & donatella

Friday evening found us on the upper east side after an orthodontist appointment. Wanting to eat someone close, we decided to head over to davidburke and donatella. We'd only been previously during Restaurant Week and we wanted to see whether they would impress us even more on a regular night.

Walking in on a Friday night at 6pm, we managed to secure a table quickly since the typical New York City dinner crowd had not yet begun to arrive. We were presented with two menus: the regular a la carte menu and the tasting menu with an additional list of the day's specials. The odd thing was that there were prices alongside each of the tasting menu items since you could also order them a la carte. Typically, I've seen crossover from the tasting menu to the a la carte menu where those are the only items you could order individually unless you made a special request. David Burke, it seems, gives us many more options.

I would have loved to have tried the tasting menu but, not being that hungry, we opted for individual selections. After ordering, the waiter came by with an amuse bouche of, I think, some sort of mushroom panna cotta. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention at the time. Oddly enough, they brought two on one plate and had the third on a separate plate. Either they only had one single server amuse bouche plates in the kitchen,they weren't used to serving three., or they planned it this way. Either way, it was strange. The panna cotta was slightly warm with very light, delicate flavors. My wife and daughter weren't thrilled with it so I enjoyed all three! The restaurant surprised me again by taking our used forks and putting them back on our place setting before removing the plates. I know it's a picky thing but I think any higher end restaurant would replacing utensils after every course including the amuse bouche. Bread service is visually impressive with each bun coming in it's own pan. However, the bread was a bit hard. The butter also came in these two "towers" and it was hard to scrape the butter without knocking over the tower. Small complaints.

Our appetizers came next. We had the tuna sashimi on Himalayan rock salt and the pb&j, a torchon of foie gras, macadamia nut butter, strawberry-vanilla jam on a toasted brioche. The tuna wasn't a big deal except for the 10 lb slab of salt that it sat on. It made for quite an impressive display. The tuna was fresh although not as fatty as I might have liked if we were in a sushi restaurant. The pb&j, on the other hand, was amazing. Although the preparation is similar to Sam Mason's peanut butter foie gras preparation at Tailor, the jam rather than pear and cocoa was the difference maker here. I could probably eat this dish every day to the detriment of my cholesterol level.

After a brief respite, our mains arrived. I had suggested to my daughter that she get the handmade cavatelli with braised short ribs but she opted for the Black Angus dry-aged prime rib eye. I ordered the cavatelli instead and my wife had the lobster steak. After a quick taste of my cavatelli which also had wild mushrooms and a truffle mousse, my daughter started eating off my plate to a point where we just switched. The cavatelli was truly rich and decadent, a great dish for a cold winter night. Her ribeye had no shortcomings either. Well marbled with the right amount of char, the steak was prepared exactly as ordered. I can see why David Burke's steakhouse in Chicago might be doing well.

The only disappointment of the night was the lobster steak. Buried underneath curried shoestring fries, you could see the two lobster claws poking out. The actual lobster steak, however, was in a sauce that was too rich and overwhelming. It really took away from the lobster itself. Many times, I believe expensive ingredients are killed by overly complex preparations. Unfortunately, this was one such dish.

We were pretty full at this point but you can't take a child to davidburke & donatella without ordering the cheesecake lollipop tree. Ten lollipops in an assortment of chocolate hazelnut, raspberry, and cocoa coverings shaped like a tree was presented with dramatic effect. The accompanying bubble gum whipped cream was probably unnecessary but the dessert was enjoyed by everyone.

As usual, an espresso concluded the evening's repast and we were off back into the cold. An interesting thing we noticed on our way out was the "smoking limo" parked outside. It was a huge Hummer limo with a sign stating that the limo was to be used for smoking. That's a pretty neat added benefit for those smokers who don't want to be standing in the cold when they need that puff every 15 minutes. I wonder how much that adds to the bottom line for the rest of us. Still, we enjoyed our meal and expect there are many other items on the menu that we'll need to come back to try.