Nougatine at Jean Georges

Tomorrow is the big day...my first day of interning at the Jean Georges bakeshop. I'm so excited (but also a little nervous), especially after eating at Nougatine at Jean Georges on Sunday after unpacking. This is the more casual of the two, but both are at Trump International Plaza and work out of the same kitchen/bakeshops. I had no idea my mom was going to see if we could get into eat when we made the trek up there. I though they just wanted to see the location! It was definitely a pleasant surprise.

The owner and executive chef, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, trained under three Michelin star chefs before traveling to Asia to work. His time in Asia, per the website, resulted in him abandoning the traditional meat stocks and instead working with vegetable juices, fruit essences, light broths and herbal vinaigrettes which "results in intense flavors and satisfying textures." I must agree wholeheartedly to this description.

I started with a signature appetizer, the tuna tartare with avocado, spicy radishes, and a ginger marinade. I could have just eaten this all day and been a happy camper. The tuna seemed to melt in my mouth and the ginger was perfect.



Of course I shared bites of my parent's appetizers. Mom had a Coach Farm's goat cheese and honeydew salad with lardons and endive. I want to say it had a passion fruit vinaigrette...It was definitely a combination I would never think of, sounds a bit odd, but was fantastic.


Dad went traditional with a caesar salad, but in all honesty, if a place can't pull off a decent caesar, you don't want to eat there imo. It was definitely a good caesar.


For my main course, I went with another signature type dish per the waiter: the red snapper with lily bulb radish salad, lavender and white sesame. The skin of the fish was perfectly crisp and the sesame sauce underneath just went right with it. I normally leave sauce behind...not in this case...The little touches of flavors like ginger and sesame really brought out the Asian influence.



I think the bites I managed to get of my dad's poached maine lobster were my favorite of all though, perfectly done, not chewy at all.


And how could I not love mom's meal? Anything with chili I like and she got the grilled porkchop with smoked chili glaze.


As if picking my meal wasn't hard enough...then the dessert menu came...Everything sounded great but I was in a fruity and fresh mood since it was a hot summer day and we were outside. But you have to try the signature Jean Georges warm chocolate cake, right? Basically, with this being "your future career" the final decisions were left up to me...the incredibly indecisive one!


In the end I selected:

The local strawberry vacherin, anise meringue, lemon verbena ice cream, and lavender almonds. This one was placed in front of me and I happily ate most of it. I loved each dessert but I think due to the weather, this one truly hit the spot!



Mango tart, coconut, guava, and vanilla lime sorbet...but I definitely stole many bites of the sweet mango custard filling!


The warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream...gooey and melted in the middle...decadent and awesome...it was just too warm for me to eat much of it...which I think made my mom happy!


Its a bit crazy to think I might play some small part in these masterpieces in days to come. I really have no idea what they are going to have me doing but obviously I am starting at the bottom. No matter what, this is such a great opportunity for my future!