I’ll definitely return to Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (now in Manhattan) and I consider it worth it for me. “Worth it” is always subjective, but I liked it a lot, and compared to many other fine dining menus around that price, it compares very favorably in my book. To a certain extent, the flavor combinations may be a bit more tried and true (but not stolid at all like Le Bernardin). However, the dishes are very well executed, and they spoil you with luxury ingredients - we had fluke, bafun uni, a big dayboat scallop, nodoguro, a generous serving of caviar, madai, king crab, uni/foie/abalone risotto, duck, a5 wagyu, and dessert, and the price was all-inclusive. Wine was reasonable. The last time I had a tasting menu with those kind of ingredients was Vintage Cave’s Kazuma, which was just about twice the price. CTBF is a fun, relaxed meal (David Bowie and 'The Stones playing while I’m eating some grilled madai with chanterelles), a relative “value” compared to some others which have a menu at ~the same price, and a true 3-star, IMO.
Saison and Chef’s Table have their own individual DNA, of course; their respective menus are quite different - even the uni toast dish has a very different take and emphasis. What Saison really has going for them is the live hearth, their own garden, and some brilliant flavor combinations.
It’s almost Summer - excited to see what they do again with Sungolds…and the smoked caviar with corn custard and tomato water gelee was one of my top dishes in years.
Nodding off with some Talisker now, but I could go for some of these:
(biscuits made in the hearth)
and a bowl of this:
(antelope broth with blue sage)