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Morrell Wine Bar & Café
1 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, New York 10020
Telephone: 212-262-7700 ext. 2246
www.morrellwinebar.com
by Debra C. Argen
It isn’t often that Manos, Ed and I get to enjoy having lunch together, but on Friday, April 2, 2004, we made an exception and had a fabulous lunch in New York, at the Morrell Wine Bar & Café, 1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York www.morrellwinebar.com, and were joined by James Turney, Wine Consultant at Morrell & Company, Wine & Spirit Merchants.
This small, upscale restaurant, is conveniently located at Rockefeller Center, and attracts a lively lunch crowd, with every table full. The restaurant is located next door to their parent company, Morrell & Company, Wine & Spirit Merchants, so the restaurant has an excellent wine list.
For lunch, Manos selected the Duo of Tartar: Yellow Fin Tuna, Wasabi Dressing, Atlantic Salmon and Champagne Gelee and the Morrell Cheeses which consisted of a selection of imported and domestic artesanal cheeses. Ed selected the Duck Confit with Porcini Risotto, Melted Leeks, Parmesan and Porcini Oil, and Jim and I had the Coriander Crusted Monkfish, Shaved Fennel, Broccoli Rabe, Pink Grapefruit, and Yellow Bell Pepper Sauce.
After we had made our lunch selections, Manos had the task of selecting a wine from the restaurant’s extensive wine list. He chose a Summus 1999 Castello Banfi Montalcino, which was deep and rich in color, showed long legs, with a great nose and long finish.
Manos said that the Tartar duo was excellent. The wasabi mixed in with the tuna gave it a nice kick (it tasted like real wasabi root, not American horseradish masquerading as wasabi) and the flying fish roe mixed in gave it a nice crunch. The salmon was also very nice, not too oily, as some salmon has been lately.
He also thought that the cheese selection was interesting. The cheeses ranged from a sharp cheddar to a buttery creamy goat with what tasted like horseradish. Resins on the vine, that was part of the dry fruit on the plate, reminded Manos of his childhood autumn visits of the vineyards in his grandfather's village in Crete, where they dry the ripe, sweet grapes in the hot sun on the flat roofs of the houses.
Ed said that he really enjoyed his duck, which was crisp on the outside, yet moist and tender on the inside, which is exactly how he likes it, and that the risotto was rich, creamy and full of flavor from the mushrooms, Parmesan and leeks.
James, a former chef himself, wasn’t too sure whether or not he would like the grapefruit with the monkfish, but decided that the citrus worked well with the fish, and I really liked the combination of the sweet-tartness of the grapefruit with the bitter broccoli rabe. All in all, we both enjoyed the monkfish dish.
Although Chef de Cuisine, Donal Crosbie, has created a large dessert menu, we decided that an espresso would be the best ending to a very satisfying lunch. Manos, who is an espresso aficionado, deemed the espresso to be very good, which is high praise indeed. We also loved the chocolate almond biscotti that they served with the espresso.
After lunch, I took a stroll in Morrell & Company, Wine & Spirit Merchants, where they were getting ready for 2 different wine tastings. Although I did not stay for the tastings, I did notice that their other restaurant, Morrells Restaurant, 900 Broadway at 20th Street, was holding an historic All-Pisoni Pinot Noir tasting dinner on April 19, of all 12 Pinot Noirs made by Gary Pisoni at his Pinot Noir Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. To learn more about that event, or other upcoming tastings or wine dinners contact them at kellif@morrellwine.com
P.S. by Manos Angelakis
It is said that bad news come in threes.
As we were preparing this issue, it was announced that one of the last bastions of fine dining in Manhattan, La Caravelle, will be closing after 43 years.
First Lutèce closed after Valentine’s day, then La Côte Basque in March, now La Caravelle. It will be the end of an era. The end of dining with French classics in a formal environment. Recently, the New York Times had awarded La Caravelle three stars, down from the four Craig Claiborne gave it in the past. As far as this writer is concerned, La Caravelle never lost it’s culinary quality and it’s kitchen still created the finest haute cuisine available in the US.
Farewell. We will miss the quality, the pampering, the romance...
©MayJune 2004, All rights reserved.
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