One of New York's most beloved restaurants, owned, orchestrated and presided over by Sirio Maccioni (who became the subject of a 2009
HBO Documentary can be found at One Beacon Court, better known as 151 East 58th Street. The
cirque extraordinaire, updated for dining in this new virtual millennium, has so much on offer that we confidently can declare: Le Cirque offers some of the finest
nouvelle vague haute cuisine in today's New York. Celebrating it's 35th anniversary, you will find that from the moment you enter the buoyant dining room—or perhaps divert to the opulent glass bar at right—you are transported into a parallel universe, where seemingly all the details have been refined, revised, and relaunched to what we dare say might just be the fabled utopian
Schlarraffenland, where no gastronomic fantasy goes unfulfilled, and no less than seven types of bread are on offer.
An undulating wall forms the backbone of the 95-seat dining room, replete with clever details that guarantee—as was much speculated—that no diners would be banished to Siberia in version 3.0 of Le Cirque. Consequently, for those without full view of the vaunted dining room, mirrors reflecting on the dramatic action as well as small windows offering framed vantages of the kitchen tantalize the diner. With a wine list that spans continents, vintages, vineyards and surely offers something for every palate, it immediately becomes clear: every sort of diner fits in. That is, everyone who can afford this
cirque. In assessing the disparate groups (elderly ladies who lunch; young couples celebrating; power suits desiring the quick business prix-fixe; gastronomes; culinary students; casual Californians; moneyed South Americans; European tourists; and everyday aficionados of fine dining), master impresario Sirio Maccioni
et fils now achieve their greatest success: to be all things to all people. To that extent, in late 2008 Craig Hopson was named executive chef.
As one's eyes greedily dart about the dining room, with its 16,000 square feet so designed as to maximize diagonal sight lines, yet refined enough to inhibit the voyeuristic tendencies we all aspire to in this new media paradise, neither the noise level nor the diverse array of waiters and service staff interfere with the ongoing circus. Patrons come and go in successive waves, and the finest Bordeaux may be found at a table adjacent to that beloved American summer drink, iced tea. In short order, southern California living has caught up with New York. And for those unable or unwilling to deal with making a reservation, the oceanographer and the forester can meet at the bar, where a menu of mythic proportions can be found: an excellent selection of meat dishes might include Baby Lamb Shoulder; Beef Short Ribs; T-Bone; Roasted Duck Breast; Pork Chop; as well as several options for two such as
Jarret de Veau, Côte de Boeuf, Chateaubriand. The fish dishes include Tuna; Halibut; Sardines Niçoise; Salmon, Snapper, Flounder, and Lobster. Did dining at a bar ever before include such choices, such opulence, such theater? Where enormous vases (resembling Ming Dynasty-sized glass vessels) groan with vibrant flowers, where dozens of gorgeous glass bottles feature prettily-colored liquids, where a flat screen TV as well as 27-foot steel-and-glass wine tower (perhaps along with your date) vie for your attention. For those distracted, bewitched, or bedazzled by today's myriad spectacles and diversions, this is your place; not even those inseparable from their BlackBerry devices can escape this dignified yet frenetic scene. And even a daily special of rotating classics (think Osso Buco, Bouillabaisse, Couscous Royale, even Rabbit) is designed to lure you back again and anon. Accordingly, just as the bar scene shrieks New Millennium, so too has the restaurant's
website been recharged in version 3.0: scan the menus in advance, yet still marvel at the grand concoctions revealed once the domes are lifted from your entrées. Voilà! Even in the Internet age, there are still many surprises in store.
Then there are the main courses: we hear much these days about ingredient sourcing, special preparations, reductions, and molecular gastronomy techniques developed by Fernán Adrià (more on him later). Accordingly, no such details have been overlooked, and dishes such as Steamed Mediterranean Branzino, a modest fish delicately stuffed with shrimp, octopus and calamari, along with star anise and saffron bouillabaisse jus, fennel and zucchini flowers hits all the right notes. A Mozambique Langoustine—did my shellfish really swim along the coast of southeastern Africa?—hits so many notes (exotic, triumphal, post-colonial, curry-and-citrus). The Long Island Muscovy Duck, orange honey glazed magret and leg confit, carrots, sugar snaps and baby turnips jus aigre-doux offers the finest examples of this bird, with meat that literally falls off the bone as well as medium-rare slices perfectly cooked. We do not exaggerate in saying that neither in France nor Switzerland have we had duck this well-prepared. Even on the most humid summer day—the majestic Colorado Rack of Lamb, its crispy flank redolent and surrounded by vegetables, or the Florida Red Snapper crusted with seven herbs and cashew nuts along with green tomato chutney—your voyage spans continents, culinary traditions and cultures. Which is exactly the point.
Indeed no diner—after imbibing the appropriate wine or enjoying such savory dishes—would want to miss the utterly brilliant desserts of pastry chef Regis Monges. For while you may have sampled the genius of Wylie Dufresne, or perhaps the great French desserts of Midtown's finest gastronomers, the downtown dessert bars, or even the work of escapees from the French Culinary Institute, absolutely nothing prepares you for Le Cirque's latest confections. With a dessert menu providing so many lavish offerings, we suggest you opt for several; there is no harm in doing so. And while you might initially feel some shock at lunch entrées in the mid-30s, dinner entrées in the mid-40s, and desserts around $15, you do understand that such level of perfection has its price.
At one lunch, we had the good fortune of peeping into the kitchen through one of the discretely-placed windows, certainly a far more astute adaptation of this current fad for open kitchens that protect the chef from diner with thick glass than at Vongerichten's 66 in Tribeca. We want to see the artisans at work, but some mystery must remain. Here we espied the ubiquitous blowtorch finishing the Crème Brûlée. We saw pastry cream being piped. Animated but muted discussions transpired. And then our Chocolate Soufflé arrived, prepared to perfection with a small boat of chocolate sauce to the left and an exquisite ovoid of chocolate ice cream in the middle. How refreshing not to be given directives as to how we should enjoy our dessert! We simply delved into the soufflé, then child-like poured the sauce in the middle. And with those heavenly Provençal Figs in red wine with mint, accompanied by a delightful almond cake and fig ice cream, did we detect some gold leaf? Were that not enough—somehow it is never enough even after it clearly was enough—the meal ends with the famous dish of petit fours that also have a fascinating riff: A tiny pâte de fruit; a miniature pâte à choux swan; a macaron; and a variety of others that suggest mini-patisserie is the wave of the future in this calorie-conscious age. For despite the
horreur wreaked in this age of Dr. Atkins' and the South Beach diets, the perceived twin evils of cream and butter seem banished to another realm. A pity, perhaps, yet the virtuosity of this triad—Maccioni, Bellanca, and Monges—is their uncanny ability to please and to delight. In that respect, we remain convinced this incarnation of Le Cirque will continue to please. A table in heaven indeed!
