[Some sort of countdown clock counts on at Adour's official site]
Adour, the new restaurant from an obscure French chef by the name Alain Ducasse, officially opened last night at the St. Regis Hotel on 55th Street. With an opening like this, it's little surprise that The People were champing at the bit to get in and have their say. And so, another installment of Good News/Bad News:
1) Good News: Taking pride of place at the front of the line was this eGulleteer: "I had a very enjoyable experience at Adour last night. I was the first dinner: First, I was given a tour of the restaurant. It has a main room and two or three smaller rooms. Large wine fridges line the walls, showcasing the best from the restaurants wine collection. My dinner started with a small comte in pastry. Very nice. My first course was the hamachi sashimi with geoduck and a green apple mustard. My second course was complimentary: a slow cooked halibut with vegetables. My main course was colorado rack of lamb which was one of the few holdovers from ADNY. A cheese course followed, No cheese trolley as at ADNY. A selection of four pieces which included a vermont cheddar, an italian goat cheese and an italian sheeps milk cheese, and a tommoe de savoie. My desert was the chocolate sorbet. My wines were a rose champagne nv, a half bottle of 95 Cos, and a 1985 Graham's Port. A note on the wine list. THey present two different lists. One is more of a seasonal list. The second is the reserve list. Adour has much less pomp and circumstance as compared to ADNY. More americanized in service. The food is also not nearly as complex as at ADNY." [eGullet]
2) Good News: Way back at sixth in line came Marc Shepard, the blogger behind NYJournal. His report: " I stopped in for a drink at the bar, where another patron informed me I was the sixth customer. The electronic menus have received most of the press. You find your wine by navigating a touch screen that displays on the surface of the bar, projected from above... It sounds good in theory, but the mechanism is finicky. If your touch is off by even a little, the mechanism misbehaves. After a while, I just gave up, and I noticed that others were frustrated too. I don’t think bar patrons—even at a high-class bar like this one—want to learn a new technology just to order a glass of wine... Selections by the glass were ample, and I enjoyed a wonderful Southern Rhone blend for $13, along with a cup of Yuzu Sorbet for just $4. If you’re thinking that those don’t sound like Ducasse prices, you’d be right. There are about a dozen bar snacks, ranging from $9–16. It’s a remarkable selection at a bar that seats only four, and the guys next to me loved everything they tried. One of them was so taken with the Yuzu Sorbet that he asked the manager if the restaurant could supply a quantity for his Super Bowl party. (The manager replied that he was not sure the pastry chef could have quite enough of it made by Sunday.)" [NYJournal]
3) Bad News: Augieland, back on the beat(down): "if you'd have told me one of the line cooks at Bouley got sick of waiting to be made sous-chef and went out on his own after 6 months, i would have expected the tasting menu i was served at Ducasse last night." [Augieland]
· Adour St. Regis [Official Site]
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