Batard (New York, NY)

Duck. Duck. Duck. Goose.  Remember that game?  Can you imagine the thought of someone telling you that you’re going to eat duck for dinner when you were younger?  How disgusting did that sound?  I don’t know about you, but I grew up on chicken, beef, and fish as my desired meats in my household.  If someone told me I’d love lamb, duck, or elk when I got older, I’d laugh in their face.  Funny thing is, they’re laughing in mine because I love all of the above mentioned.

Batard, a one Michelin-Star restaurant, is located off of Broadway in the Tribeca area of New York.  The restaurant sits in between row houses and may not look like the “nicest” place to go into when you’re looking on the outside.  The menu is extensive offering different dishes as courses set for different prices.  The restaurant looks as though it holds up to 80 people at one time.  I decided to dine there as soon as the doors opened on a Friday evening.  Good thing for me people were still at work or stuck in traffic.  The restaurant is definitely a date night kind of place with its dimly lit setting and extensive cocktail and wine list.

During my visit to Batard I decided to get the four course option.  I started off with the Octopus Pastrami and ended the night with the Smoked Duck Breast.  I’ll start off with the Octopus.  It consisted of Octopus, braised ham hock, pommery mustard, and new potatoes.  Talk about an exciting dish!  The presentation was amazing on this dish and the flavors were even better.  The smokiness of the hamhock to go with the sea flavor of the Octopus worked hand in hand.  The potatoes added the starch the overall dish needed, and the mustard greens gave it the acidity it needed to help balance the dish.  The overall flavors of this dish were like no other.

The second dish that was ordered was the Beef TarTar.  This was my least favorite dish.  It was good, but every visit you always have a least favorite.  The beef was fresh and the presentation looked good.  The egg yolk although was put on  different ends of the plate instead on top of the beef tartar so I’m not sure whose idea that was.  Although the Pumpkin tuile was added to the dish, there wasn’t enough to realize give an idea of how great this dish was.  It was raw beef and egg yolk, not much excitement as I thought it would be.

The third dish that was ordered was the Striped Bass.  It consisted of pomme puree, wild mushrooms, and a civet sauce.  This dish was absolutely stunning and perfect, except there was a slight fish smell.  Just to give you all a heads up or some insight rather, fish isn’t supposed to smell like fish.  I ignored the smell because it wasn’t over powering and the smell came from the skin of the fish.  The fish had either been frozen too long, or sat out too long, either way, I couldn’t ignore the smell.  The fish was flaky and the mushrooms were cooked perfectly.  The presentation of this dish was perfect, and the flavors worked well.  Despite the smell, I would probably order the dish again, but I would send the dish back if I do smell a fishy smell again.

Last but not least we have the Duck.  The Smoked Duck Breast consisted of roasted sunchoke, foie gras, pesimmon, and a five spice jus.  I can honestly say this was one of the best dishes I’ve had in my life that didn’t include seafood.  The duck was cooked perfectly, medium, and the foie gras was fresh.  It was salty, smooth, and flavorful.  The roasted sunchoke added more flavor to the dish, but the highlight of this plate was the duck.  Two pieces of duck crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.  If you’ve never had duck, now is the perfect time to order it.

Overall, this restaurant is a go-to.  I would rate is as a Michelin-Star although the service was mediocre, and the fish was smelly, wait.. HELL NO. This aint no Michelin-Star restaurant, but the Duck was fabulous so I’m kind of torn.

OVERALL RATING : BUSINESS CLASS