Upon
entering Rotisserie Georgette, you might think you've come upon one of
those classic, old school New York holdovers, one of the few that have
stood the test of time. And while Georgette very well may endure,
advancing its tenure, it is actually much newer on the scene than its
looks would imply. Georgette Farkas opened up her long-awaited solo
venture in 2014, but the grand dining room exudes a dusty luxury of an
earlier era. Graced with high ceilings and generous square footage, the
decor doesn't really take the best advantage of the bones of the room.
Drab, musty colored valances and glowy sconces are hung too low,
truncating the room. The eclectic mix of mirrors are a nice touch, but
you're better off facing the back wall, covered in a showy blue and
white tile and a glimpse into the kitchen, than towards the
front,
which looks a little dated and, frankly, morose. The room might
appeal to the moneyed Upper East siders which it mostly attracts, but
actually the restaurant needn't necessarily be a splurge: an excellent
meal could be made of a variety of of options using a little
penny-conscious savvy. Or, one can go all out, truffles and fois, to
make up a repast quite fit for a very special occasion.... or even have
the repast be a special occasion.The staff and waiters were certainly comptent, Ms. Farkas herself gliding through the dining room, seating patrons and keeping her expert eye to assure all the cogs were operating seamlessly. But there lacked much affection between server and servee, beyond just the inquiry of having finished a dish or not, and consistently refilling glasses of water. This didn't seem to affect much the temperament of guests, however, who all seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, in fact so much so that the noise level was surprisingly boisterous. One would think the high ceilings and carpeted floors, as well as the proportionately mature clientele, might provide a more placid noise level, but I actually found myself leaning in on more than one occasion to hear my dining companion. But most of the time, our mouths were too full to talk, happily full, as soon our food arrived.
The
menu follows a steakhouse format: everything is quite strictly a la
carte, so know that your roast half chicken with choice of sauces (I
recommend the Grand Mere) is simply that. All sides need to be
commanded independently, which can make that $26 bird a little less
economical as just a part of a meal, instead of comprising it. Sizing
is a bit inconsistent, too: salads are easily large enough to share, but
a portion of roasted leeks was better off for an individual, although
the chewy, meaty slice of rich slab bacon underneath the vertically
proppedalliums made the dish all the more hefty, along with a creamy crushed egg vinaigrette. The black truffles, which were the justification of its $18 price tag, weren't particularly flavorful, as slices of
cold
truffles tend not to be. It might be better to restrain your truffle
budget to where it is employed with warm food stuffs, as that is where
is really performs most gloriously. For luxury, opt for the terrine of
fois gras, its highlight a warming zesty apple chutney. The fois itself
plays its typical suave role, but with plain white toast as the
co-star, the chutney definitely steals the show.
As
for that chicken, its a plush and luxuriant bird, regardless of the
chosen sauce. Really, the chicken is so juicy and luscious it needs no
augmentation, although I wholeheartedly recommend the sauce grand-mere with its mushrooms, red wine and bacon. But all sauces sound like valiant counterparts, from the Provencal flecked with the classic herbs, Marocaine kicked with cumin and coriander, or a bright, verdant chimichurri. That said, even the grand-mere has
but a couple of errant floating mushrooms, so side dishes are pretty
much a must, unless you consider the fat bulb of creamy, pungent garlic
adequate roughage. I cannot resistroasted Brussels sprouts, a solid preparation with roasted apple and bacon so smoky it infiltrates the entire dish. Even so, crispy
sunchoked or orange roasted
along with the other "Pour Deux", it
is certainly sufficient for that many. It's gleaming silvery skin can
barely contain the flavorful tender flesh literally bursting through: I
think this is the best simple whole roast fish I have ever had. An
herby tomato-fennel concasse atop was vibrant and flavorful, but I was
afraid to use too much even to mask at all the wonderfully fresh fish.
But it was light enough just to enhance the flavors, and the whole dish
was certainly the highlight of the menu.
Or
was the Pavlova? I loved this crispy meringue cocoon of syrupy
port-roasted plums bedecked with plump blackberries and a sprinkling of
crunchy pistachio bits. Supposedly there was a ginger granita lurking
about somewhere in this little delight, but I'm not sure where it was
hiding. And while I'm not a chocolate person, the Souffle au Chocolat Amer was a marvelous chocolate option, the "amer" not
to be mistaken for "American", it is unmistakably French for bitter,
and an alluring subterfuge of fluffy cloud-like souffle relinquishing
itself into a lusciously creamy bittersweet pudding beneath. The extra
three dark chocolate truffles aside may have been extraneous, but it
would be silly to turn down extra truffles.
The coffee their using at Georgette is equally as lush and rich- even
the decaf was wonderfully smooth and strong, an excellent counterpart to
both desserts. Its actually a good illustration of everything chez Rotisserie G.
She is using exemplary ingredients to their finest advantage. There is
little reinvention or modernism going on here, but sometimes if it
ain't broke, don't fix it.
14 East 60th Street
tel. 1.212.390.8060
