Charlie Palmer's Aureole Restaurant

Charlie Palmer's Aureole Restaurant

Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 By Barry Kay Monday, 08 February 2010 20:05

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Charlie Palmer’s newly opened Aureole Restaurant in the heart of Broadway in midtown Manhattan is exciting, perplexing and sometimes confusing. But rest assured that it is a visual and gastronomical treat that will not be forgotten!

Aureole has been relocated from its original uptown townhouse to the ultra modern One Bryant Park Tower. The excitement of the Broadway crowds mingling around the theater district add to the dining experience. The restaurant shares an alleyway with Broadway’s newest revival of Bye Bye Birdie. On show nights, a large crowd gathers at the stage door to see the cast depart the theater, a thrill you can experience from Aureole. The restaurant is fascinating on many levels and has been created to serve two different groups of diners. As you enter the restaurant, you enter an area designed specifically for casual dining and for theatergoers looking for fast comfort food. This area has a large bar area and offers burgers, chicken, fish, and pork dishes with a distinctive Aureole interpretation. The serious gourmet diners are brought through this room into a visually stunning inner sanctum with glass walls and a large, highly visual wine storage room, with each bottle nested in its own space. It is here that Executive Chef Christopher Lee, of Top Chef fame, brings his full culinary artistry to fruition. The inner room provides fabulous people-watching opportunities as well as gourmet food. Aureole offers a special well-priced, three-course, prix fixe menu, as well as a full à la carte menu.

We chose the tasting menu. Our culinary journey began with sun trout caviar-peekytoe crab, cucumber, lemon powder, dill creme fraiche ice cream. We also sampled American hackleback caviar with sweet corn ravioli, asparagus, horseradish caviar cream fraiche sauce. These delicious and diminutive appetizers were accompanied by a delightful Krug, Grand Cuvee Champagne, France MV.

Our entrees consisted of Atlantic grey sole with oven-dried tomato, Meyer lemon, fennel, black olive aioli. The counterpart selection was a plate of veal tenderloin and sweetbreads, charred onion, Georgia peaches, pickled ramps, lovage veal jus. Our wine selection was a soothing sweet Reisling, Domaine Weinback, Cuvee Theo, Alsace France 2007.

When we were sure that we could eat no more, a spectacular third course was presented: cranberry beans with duck breast, duck sausage, summer savory, paprika oil and lima beans with aged beef, cipollini onion tart, cabbage, and NBSP sauce Bordelaise. Our accompanying wine was a sensational Chateauneuf-du-pape, Domaine Rogger Perrin, Rhone Valley, France, 2007.

We anxiously awaited Pastry Chef Jennifer Yee’s unique dessert presentation. We were served two very different cheesecakes, one a blue cheesecake with port poached figs and walnut candy, which in truth, I found less than wonderful. I am a big fan of blue cheese, but as a creamy dessert I found the taste unappealing. The other cheesecake was a more conventional, delicious, Philadelphia cheesecake with Bing cherries and tarragon. The dessert wine was a Sauterne, Chateau Girard, IER Cru, Bordeau, France 1998, which proved a perfect complement.

Aureole is an iconic restaurant with a long history of serving fine food. Chef Christopher Lee has continued this tradition in a beautiful and exciting new setting on Broadway. Our dining experience was enhanced by the exquisite presentation of each dish on fine white dishes and elegant crystal stemware. In truth, our tasting menu was one of the best I have ever experienced. The wait staff and maitre d’ at Aureole were charming, knowledgeable, and very helpful in recommending dishes and discussing the wines.