Nougatine with Becky

Becky George was the Assistant Winemaker at Schramsberg Vineyards when I worked the harvest with them. Since then she has moved on to work with the likes of Helen Turley at Marcassin, Wendell and Juan at Realm, and Aaron Pott of Pott wines, as well as previous work in Australia and Meo Camuzet in Burgundy. As an up and coming winemaker, she is currently working at Kelly Fleming wines. She came in NYC for a quick trip, and I was able to meet her for a quick bite at Nougatine.

Having been to Nougatine previously, I was anxious to avoid the pitfalls (read overly olive oil soaked watermelon and goat cheese salad) of my last meal there. Not that the meal was bad, it’s just that this is Jean-Georges, so everything should be awesome. I must say two hugely positive things about Nougatine prior to getting to the food. First, we arrived with no reservations for lunch and still were seated at an excellent table in the front by the window. Second, the three course prix fixe menu for $29 is a great bargain…if you can stick to that. To put this in perspective, my glass of Champagne (notes below) was $22, and I had two…there goes that bargain.

In any case, looking over the food menu I decided to go the route of one thing that I knew and two things that I didn’t. The previous time there with Susan & Rich, Rich had ordered the fried calamari, and it was terrific. Thus, I decided to try that myself so I could get a better understanding of the dish (read more bites!). It didn’t disappoint. The Fried Calamari with Basil Salt and Citrus Chili dip had nice juicy pieces of squid, lightly coated and served with some chili peppers and the dipping mousse…excellent. For the entrée I went with the Red Snapper which had a thin slice of fingerling potato and some spinach, which was also very good. Lastly, instead of getting the molten chocolate cake, which is a must have and I insisted Becky get it, I got the fresh berries with marscapone ice cream. Good, but not great, as it seemed to be very soupy. All in all, the restaurant provides a good meal and is a hard place not to recommend to others.