Alex Eats World

Le Cirque, one of the most prominent and famous NY restaurants located at the southeast corner of Central Park in the prestigious One Beacon Court, is a cornerstone of fine dining. Inside, its 27 foot high semi-circle tent-like ceiling is the defining characteristic of its namesake, The Circus. You’ll also find pictures of monkeys on its plates and circus animals and pictures tiled amongst its mirrors. I love how they manage to do this playfully what otherwise is a jacket required semi-pretentious atmosphere. I wish I could keep coming back here, but my now light wallet tells me otherwise.

Onto the food; I started off with the lobster consommé with ricotta cheese dumplings. Consommé is a very tough and expensive soup to create and is defined by its rich flavors, clear color and lack of any oil because of the extensive clarification process. To make it you essentially have to let the soup cool, scoop up all the fat that solidified, re-boil, and repeat until it is clean and oil free. While this one skimped on the lobster, the broth was perfectly delicate and rich and the ricotta dumplings were light and fluffy clouds of cheese. Sorry, no picture, wasn’t worth taking.

Onto my veal entrée which was thinly topped with mustard seeds, veggies, a roasted pear and some cheese (forget which). I was a bit confused about not getting a steak knife but once I dug in, I understood. This was SO tender that if you tried lifting a large piece, it would just break apart and fall from the fork; probably the BEST veal I’ve ever had. And I’m not sure what the sauce/soup was but it was like condensed consommé. Rich, chock full of flavor, and look at the picture, no oil of any kind and pretty translucent.

Pork and chicken are two dishes that are tough to do well.  Their pork here was disappointing. The meat was dry and lacking of flavor. I didn’t like the tart sauce that it came plated with either. This is like the clown that scares you from ever going to the circus again.

We ended with their famous crème brulee and let’s just say it’s famous for a good reason. Still not on par with my homemade crème brulee but very very close! The candied ginger panna cotta was probably my favorite panna cotta ever, refreshing, smooth and silky.

This is one circus I’ll be visiting again. I need to try their tasting menu with their famous foie gras ravioli and a menu that includes caviar, duck, rabbit, scallops, black sea bass, oysters and truffles, escargot and more.

Le Cirque
151 E 58th St
New York, NY 10022