NYC Black Friday dinner at ESCA

Day two of the Bart Family New York City trip had its highs and lows. It started out on a high note, visiting Ground Zero, the New York Stock Exchange, and Federal Hall. I was particularly impressed with the reflecting pools - the largest man-made waterfalls in North America - as the water seemingly cascaded down into oblivion. Such is the hope that we can rise from our abyss of despair and move forward towards a brighter tomorrow.

The low came when we made it to B&H, looking to purchase a used camera, only to find the place closed at 1:30 PM. At least I can take solace knowing I didn't drop hundreds of dollars on a camera and the requisite accessories. This trip to NYC is already over budget slightly, so every pinched penny counts.

And with that - a day wandering from midtown to downtown and back - the Madre and I find ourselves at an up and coming gem specializing in Italian seafood: ESCA. Born from the likes of Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and James Beard award-winning chef Dave Pasternack; the New York Times' Frank Bruni coined Dave “an honest-to-God fisherman, in love with the ocean, and ESCA is his ongoing ode to it.” As one who loves both seafood and Italian cuisine, this place immediately garnered my attention.

Crudo stampler #1
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

Tonight's six course meal, complete with wine parings, truly ran the gamut from delectable crudo, to seared monkfish liver. The first course was split into two servings of three pieces of outstanding crudo. The first serving was Scottish scampi with olive oil and roe, porgy with Spanish seaweed salt, and opakapaka with meyer lemon oil. The scampi presented itself with buttery notes, contrasted nicely by the flavors of the roe. The porgy offered its firm flesh with the random chew of a grain of salt and olive oil notes, while the opakapaka's paired nicely with the meyer lemon olive oil.

Crudo sampler #2
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

The second round consisted of hidden fjord salmon with extra virgin mustard seed oil, Spanish mackerel with gaeta olive aioli, and sea urchin with Capezzana olive oil. The mustard seed oil paired nicely with the rich fish notes of the salmon. Likewise, the olive aioli lent its flavors to the neutral tone of the mackerel. Finally, the delicate and buttery flavors of the sea urchin were enhanced with the flavors of the olive oil.

Monkfish liver
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

The next course was seared monkfish liver served on a mixture of dates, hazelnuts and farro. The date  mixture was very sweet, yet had both varied flavor notes owning to the hazelnuts, and great texture from the farro. This mouth feel and flavor palette contrasted very nicely with the firm flesh and solid fish notes of the monkfish.

Crispy blowfish tails
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

Coming up third was crispy blowfish tails with lemon jam. Honestly, this was the first dish I have had in a while that I wasn't a big fan of. The blowfish tails were breaded in a cornmeal breading, then fried and served with both lemon jam and squeezed lemon juice over top. The problem was the breading lacked any sort of flavor profile that would pair it with either the lemon notes, or the flesh of the fish. Compounding issues was the fact that the lemon jam and lemon juice brought a lot of lemon notes, without anything really to contrast it with.

Ravioli
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

The next course broke the monopoly of seafood items with a tasty dish of ravioli with cherry tomato sauce. The ravioli was prepared with fresh buffalo milk ricotta, and thus offered a creamy and semi-sweet palette of flavors. This contrasted nicely with the tomato sauce, which was made with roasted tomatoes that lent their oven-infused flavors to the dish. A nice compliment was pieces of guanciale - pork jowl - to the sauce to add savory flavors.

Grilled swordfish
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

Our final entree course then arrived, which was grilled Sicilian-type swordfish with romanesco cauliflower roasted with capers, raisins, and pine nuts. Unfortunately, what plagued the blowfish tails ended up being a detraction to this dish as well. The swordfish was coated in a cornmeal crust before being grilled, yet the crust offered minimal if any flavor to contrast with the other parts of the dish. Quite frankly, the best part was the romanesco, which offered complex earthy vegetable notes that were fantastic.

Ricotta and honey
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

A pleasant surprise was a post-entree palette cleansing course of fresh ricotta cheese and honey. The cheese was rich, while the honey added the requisite sweet of a sorbet. It was a refreshing break from the previous fish dish, and prepped me for the upcoming desert.

Desert #1: yellow cake with lemon flavors
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

Desert was a bit of ying and yang, where an excellent desert with served with a rather mundane one. On the positive side, a yellow cake bar was served with a lemon cream, lemon sorbet, and bits of meringue. This desert had nice balance: the sweet of the lemon cream paired nicely with the yellow cake and bits of meringue, yet was cut by the tart of the sorbet.

Desert #2: chocolate cake with chocolate flavors
2016 ESCA. New York City, NY

Contrast this with the second desert, which was a chocolate dish comprising of a layer of chocolate cake, and layer of rich chocolate mousse, and topped with various bits of chocolate and crunch. My biggest detraction from this dish was the lack of flavor complexity. The chocolate notes came out strong, yet were not cut, offset, contrasted, or paired with much else.

Overall, there was a lot of this meal that I liked. The crudo was fantastic, with the fresh flavors of the sea enhanced by the chef's use of oils, salts, and other flavors. The monkfish liver was a nice take on a seafood delicacy that is not found on many menus. I found the ravioli outstanding, with the flavor profiles of the sauce marrying nicely with those of the ravioli filling. And yet sadly, there were a couple dishes that lacked contrasting or complimentary flavors. It all resulted in a good meal, but sadly not a great one that I was expecting given the restaurant's pedigree.