If you’ve listened somewhat regularly to The Howard Stern Show in recent years, you may have heard Howard mention the swanky Jean Georges restaurant of Trump Tower in New York City, often calling it “the best restaurant in the world.” I’ve heard of a few very upscale restaurants in my time, but this is one I’ve only heard of on Stern’s show. I had to find out what it was all about.
The first thing you’ll notice when you read the restaurant’s dinner menu is that it’s primarily made up of seafood dishes, some of which I’d never seen before. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course, but if you’re not in the seafood mood, your choices seem limited, at least for the first two courses.
The main dinner menu, as listed on the website, mentions a choice of three dish choices for $98 (yowch!) There are three courses, with some items that require an additional supplementary fee of $10 to $25. For example, there’s egg caviar for a first course ($25 supplement) and pan seared sweetbreads, glazed chestnuts and black truffle vinaigrette ($20 supplement).
For non-seafood items, there’s a few third course items listed. Including the already-mentioned sweetbreads, there’s loin of lamb, dusted with black trumpet mushrooms and baby leeks, and roasted beef tenderloin, crispy potato blintz and apple-jalepeno puree ($10 supplement for that one), and a few others.
My ideal three-course selection would be:
1) Fois gras brulee, dried sour cherries, candied pistachios and white port gelee
2) Black cod steamed with Honshimeji mushrooms and lemongrass consomme
3) Crunchy rabbit, citrus-chili paste and soybean puree
There’s also the dinner tasting menu for $148 (double yowch!), which looks worthy of consideration. If you’re stepping foot into Jean Georges, you’re already aware that you’ll be spending at least a few Franklins. Why not go all the way and go with the tasting menu and get smaller samplings of six dishes and a dessert?
You can get a look at the Jean Georges menus on their website.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Mar 07, 2009 @ 16:35 EST5EDT
