Loving Gabriel Kruether’s food at The Modern, we made a date to lunch at his new eponymous restaurant in the Grace building. What marred the experience a bit were the not-yet-in-sync service staff, who served both our 
amuse bouche and first course before the wine … and at the same time.
Service aside, the food was mostly exquisite. The amuse of a honeydew gel came in a tiny rambutan-looking spikey cup with flavored goat cheese sandwiched between two veggie ash crackers dotted with edible flowers petals sitting a top plate filled with small rocks. Spectacular!
We ordered the burnt heirloom tomatoes as an extra course ($24). It arrived in three parts. One was the tomato seared only on one side along with pickled garlic and orange-flavored arugula juice, topped with crispy Comte tuile pieces. That would have been more than enough. But the dish also came with marinated white anchovies on tomato bread and an espresso-sized cup of gazpacho.
The sommelier finally poured the Domaine Isabelle & Denis Pommier, Chablis 1er Cru Côte de Léchet 2013 ($86) into our unusually shaped Lehman glasses. These Oenomust gobblets are smaller on the top then at the bowl, designed to keep the aromatic oils in. Delicate too.
Although the smoked sturgeon & sauerkraut phyllo tart was something Gabriel Kreuther was known for at The Modern, it was my least favorite. The sauteed sweetbreads served with two black truffle dumplings with red currants sitting atop a drizzle of corn puree, and the black trumpet-like pasta made using seaweed powder with Alaskan king crab, smoked parsnip purée and lobster butter each had more unique flavors and textures.
We had almost forgotten about the out-of-sync servers, until our main course was placed on the table and uncovered with one of our group in the powder 
room!
The poached Maine lobster with squid ink gnocchi, cockle ragoût, a baby artichoke had elements of both ham and chorizo; the moist buckwheat-breaded monchong came with a barley-mushroom broth with nettle foam; and the seared diver scallops sat on a French salsa made with tomato confit, black garlic, preserved lemon, eggplant and crispy yucca. All worth trying.
Dessert are with the calories. Chocoholics shouldn’t miss the black forest cake with Amaretto-marinated cherries and kirsch sorbet, all drizzled with warm milk chocolate sauce. The chef sent out what he calls “comfort,”two shortbread cookies with apricot gelee and pistachio mousseline in the middle, a caramelized vanilla bean, a passion fruit sauce and ten-flavor sorbet involving tropical fruits and spices.
– bonnie
Gabriel Kreuther
41 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
(212) 257-5826
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