It has probably been a good two years since I have been to animal, mostly because I experienced quite a decline in innovation and in quality, with more misses than hits on the menu, as the years went by and the Jon/Vinny empire grew. Also the foie gras ban was in effect, possibly stifling their creativity.
So I was really excited to go back and had a mostly stunning meal. Only 1 or 4 dishes missed the mark for me. And, strangely, we did not get any foie gras, after all, 'cause everything else was calling our name. Maybe a mistake…
sirloin carpaccio, savoy cabbage, sesame, kochkaru (some kind of fancy pants soy sauce I was told)
Loved it!
cauliflower, tahini, egyptian spice, white anchovy, puffed rice
Loved this too, I am a sucker for tahini on almost anything - very unique dish - sorry, we ate it too phast to photo properly
This court-jester of a dish (that looked a lot like the hat Jughead from the Archie comics wears) was
veal tongue, pickle, salmon roe, black mustard
YUMMY! That is some sweet-ass horseradish butter under the salmon roe.
The only miss was the dish I was most looking forward to
fried rabbit legs, charleston gold rice, lemon pepper, sour cream gravy
Of the two legs, one was fine, the other was way over cooked - very, very dried out. And the sour cream gravy did not work for us. It was a gloppy mess, studded with nice radish and carrots, but just too thick to be a gravy. Rice was quite good though.
Some nice glasses of wine and beer. Service at the bar was great.
Maybe the best partsof the evening for me…Victor the busboy (such a silly name for a grown man), is still there and as delightful as always.
He has stayed, just like so many great people I have met who are associated with Jon and Vinny’s operation[s]. They must be really great to work for.