The last eatery we tried while vising the “other CIA,” Culinary Institute of America was the Bocuse Restaurant. (You can read about the other eateries here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/apple-pie-bakery-cafe/ and here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/american-bounty-restaurant/ ) This one is an upscale eatery, offering contemporary French cuisine. It is named after one of the most famous chef in France, Paul Bocuse. Just as the American Bounty, they had a nice semi-private area for a meeting or private party.
The inside was large, sleek and modern. We went there for early dinner, we were the first one to arrive after they opened for dinner. They had windows all around, bringing in lots of natural lights. With the warm, earthy-tone with bright red and yellow colors, it was welcoming and cozy. To the right of the entrance, they have their kitchen with a large window, so the patrons can take a peek at where all the magic happens.
They had a wall filled with wine bottles, and yes, they do offer French wines and also cocktails as well. They had a bright rooster near the entrance, welcoming everyone who comes in, excited for their culinary experience. And just as all the other eateries at the CIA, the staffs including chefs and servers are students at CIA, supervised by their professors.
So, when you have an extended wine and cocktail list, which might get updated often with the inventory, what would you? You get them in a tablet menu format! It was easy to navigate and see what their offerings are, the only thing is that you can’t all see the menu at the same time, since you only have one tablet per table. So, make sure you give that to someone who can me a decision quickly first.
On the table, table had rose salt next to a really fun, ice-breaker game! It had lots of conversation openers that were very interesting, fun and/or funny. What a cool thing to have at your dinner table! We actually went though and picked a few intriguing questions to ask each other.
The decor in the rest of the space had some fun aspect too. They had an enormous pepper grinder guarded by rooster chefs, which I thought was quite cute. And most of all the light fixture on the wall was in the shape of the tall white chef hat! And each one had an actual little chef standing over it, with a nice soft smile, watching over the creator of the food, servers and the receivers of the dishes.
Once we got settled, the server brought us some complimentary bread. They offer fresh bread baked that day, and the breads of the day was French roll and sourdough bread.
I chose Chose French bread. It was fresh and super crunchy exterior with soft and moist inside. We all enjoyed the bread, and the server came back to ask if we wanted more once we were done with our first bread.
We decided to get some drinks to go with our dinner. However, since I as the designated driver, I ordered from their Non-Alcoholic Specialties. Thank goodness they had a pretty enticing drink menus in here… I ordered Coconut Lychee ($8), made with coconut water, lychee purée, and lime. It was elegantly sweet and refreshing. Nice size and very tasty. The others ordered from their wine list. First one was Juliénas, “Cuvée Tradition,” Michel Tête, Beaujolais ($11/glass). The red wine was rich, velvety with supple tannin. It had wonderful sweet aroma and blackberry notes. Nice wine!
The other one was Rosè, Côtes-du-Rhône, “Parallèle 45,” Paul Jaboulet Aîné, Rhône ($8). This one came in a little decanter, somehow made it extra special and fancy! It was fruity with good acidic flavor, and spice and herbs. It had wonderful floral notes, clean and light.
So here we are, with all our beautiful drinks, awaiting a great French cuisine adventure.
For dinner, we all ordered three-course prix-fixe menu. ($45/person). It comes with a choice of appetizers, a choice of entrées, and a choice of a dessert. For appetizers, two of us ordered Black Truffle Soup VGE, made with Beef Broth, Vegetables, Black Truffles, and Puff Pastry.
The puff pastry was so awesomely crispy that made perfect crunchy noise as we broke it. Soup is like a consommé to me, clear soup with lots of ingredients. It came super hot with deep earthy flavor. It had a good amount of black truffle as well, and even though it had beef chunks, it was nice and light. A really good soup!
The other appetizer of choice was Crab Cake ($2 supplemental charge), made with Cucumber Roll, Turnips, Pickled Radish, and Wasabi Sauce. It was very different from the typical crab cake that we were used to, it was more like a small, round croquette.
Crab cake was filled with real crab meat, and also had some corn mixed in it, which was great addition. They were accompanied by shiny jewel, Lychee pearls. They popped in my mouth which was fun. Wasabi mayo and mango gel was really nice, they had some sweetness to it, even the wasabi. The white crumbles on the side was “Turnip Snow.” They turn the turnip oil into powder, how cool is that! They just melts in your mouth in a strange way…kind of milky and sweet.
For the entrée, we each ordered something different. The first one was Poached Turbot, which comes with Potato Heirloom Tomato, Caviar, and Dashi Beurre Blanc. Turbot is a white fish, similar to halibut. The fish was cooked perfectly, with almost crispy exterior, but still flaky and juicy. Sauce had mild flavor that enhanced the flavor of the fish. Potatoes were really nice, even though they are just the sidekick to the fish, but they were tasty! It dad a few yellow tomatoes, so the color palate was mainly golden-yellow with few pops of colors. It was quite awesome!
I went with Market Fish, which was Salmon on this day, with Vadoucan Cauliflower, Bok Choy, Shishito Peppers, Pine Nuts, and Tangerine-Brown Butter Emulsion. I must say, when I heard “salmon” as today’s fish, I thought it would be kind of boring. I mean, you can get salmon dish anywhere, anytime, right? But then I asked the student server which one is his favorite, and he said the market fish, so I went with that. It was beautifully plated with a leaf on top and colorful veggies and sauce. Very vivid, aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
The salmon was very fluffy, juicy and perfectly prepared. Not over-cooked, not too raw. They added some colors to the cauliflowers to add more colors to the plate. No difference in flavor but just for the “culinary” show to make your dining experience a bit more fun. They were cooled just right, soft yet firm enough to have nice texture. . Shishito pepper was grilled nicely, giving sweet flavor. I really enjoyed this dish!
My hubby ordered Trilogy of Lamb with Bulgur, Eggplant, Mushrooms, Baked Tomatoes, Fig, and Sumac Yogurt. Since the most of the ingredients are brown, they added bright colors with other ingredients. Having vivid and fun colors do increase your appetite, doesn’t it? Well, it certainty works with me!
Lamb was very good, perfectly cooked and meaty, sweet and flavorful. Meatball had Mediterranean flavor to it. Sausage was packed with flavor with lots of spice, had nice kick to it. Eggplant and tomato were grilled to the point where they almost melt in your mouth…! All of this on top of a bed of quinoa, nice fluffy texture, fitting as their fluffy bed. Yum!
Then it was time to choose our desserts… Now, we heard about some kind of super awesome “table-side ice cream” that they offer, which is a quite unique experience to patrons. When we saw that on the dessert menu, it had additional $7 supplement fee… We were thinking, do we want to pay extra $7 just to get some ice cream? But wait, it also comes with several different desserts! So, we decided we all get the Table-Side Ice Cream & Paris Treasure’s Treats. It also indicated that this item must be ordered for two or more people. Once we put in our dessert order, the whole production started. Our server brought out hand-crank Kitchen-Aid. Then he pulled out a lavender-colored milk.
He poured the lavender milk, and then the liquid nitrogen went in. Now, I knew this was going to be some kind of super entertaining show!
And once the cold smoke started to rush out, all the other patrons around us got excited as well, they were taking photos, wondering what was happening at our table. This was quite the show! The server hand cranked while he poured the liquid nitrogen, and then the ice cream was born out of the freezing mist.
He scooped up the ice cream into the pre-made waffle cone, and we were all so excited to receive it. He has kept us at the edges of our seat during this production!
He served it with a fun, wooden paddle with a hole that holds the ice cream come perfectly. This way, he can stay at his ice cream station and keep putting ice cream into the cones without losing time.
Lavender flavor and aroma was wonderful without being too herb-y. It was creamy and melt in your mouth… When I was getting to the last bit of the waffle cone, I noticed they coated the bottom with chocolate. What a brilliant idea to prevent any leakage of melting ice cream from the bottom! Also, at the end, our server poured the reminder of liquid nitrogen on the table which was super fun! You get to see how quickly it evaporates into air, it took like a second! He also gave us the excess ice cream left in the Kitchen Aid mixer too. I now understand why this had to be ordered by more than two customers, you can’t make this for one person portion. I also asked where they acquire liquid nitrogen, and he told me that they actually make them on campus! How cool is that!
Then, the rest of the desserts came out on a wooden lazy Susan. They were all pretty small, yes, but then again, you are getting total of five desserts, including pretty amazing ice cream, made right on the spot! On the tray, it had Café Latte Macaron, Grand Marnier Choux Puff, Vanilla Pot de Crème, and Waffle with Lemon Icing.
Café Latte Macaron was not small, it was actually a good size. It was super rich and moist, with really solid coffee flavor. The coffee beans on the macaron was made of chocolate. I really liked this one!
Grand Marnier Choux Puff had a great grand marnier flavor, filled with super milky cream. The shape of this choux reminded me of melon pan from Japan. So cute!
Vanilla Pot de Crème had velvety custard cream under the fluffy whipped cream. Lots of vanilla beans in the custard which was great! milky, decadent and smooth. Even thought it was mainly cream, but not overly sweet and it still felt light.
Waffle with Lemon Icing was warm, super soft and moist. The lemon flavor was strong but not overwhelming, just the right amount of acidic flavor against the sweet waffle. Crushed pistachio on top was a nice addition, giving extra flavor and texture.
Once we received the bill, it had a nice little surprise in there. It had an adorable thank you note from them! I thought it was so thoughtful, it made us smile from inside and out!
Then, we received another surprise, complimentary desserts!!! What!!! It had four small desserts for us. Hazelnut Pound Cake, which was very moist and fluffy with strong hazelnut flavor. Shortbread Cookies were soft, moist and simply perfect. Passion Fruit Marshmallow was like a puffy cloud, and I could really taste the passion fruit flavor. Nice balance of sweet and sour. And then soft Caramel Taffy that just melt in your mouth…
Our server, an CIA student, and other staffs who are also students provided great service. The dishes were elegant and sophisticated, with modern twist with culinary technique. The atmosphere was relaxing and welcoming. Just as the other eateries here at the CIA, you should have a reservation, as they are super popular no matter what day of week it is. Also, they automatically added 20% service charge on the bill, which we were ok with, since we received a great service. We had a really great dinner here, delicious food and warm service, definitely a wonderful culinary experience for us!
The Bocuse Restaurant – 1946 Campus Dr, Hyde Park, NY 12538