Corton NYC

Corton has been praised as one of the best new restaurants in New York City, but based off of the descriptions of its delicate and refined food, it didn’t strike me to be a potential favorite. While it may seem like I only dine at expensive, snooty places, I don’t. I’ve just had a lot of reasons to dine at special occasion restaurant recently (birthday, new job, etc.). In fact, going to Corton wasn’t even my choice – it was my manager Eileen’s choice, since she and my two other managers kindly offered to take me out to celebrate my birthday. And in retrospect, I am SO glad we followed her suggestion!

The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous – with a white, pristine, Japanese-zen feel, and background noise so low you could almost hear a pin drop, it felt more like a wellness center than a typical New York restaurant. But everything about the restaurant coincides. The food is clean, beautifully and perfectly presented and combines pure, fresh, simple ingredients to create intense and complex flavors. The service is subtle and impeccable as well – calm yet attentive, and not overzealous in the slightest. Quite an artful place.
The *only* complaint I would have about the restaurant is that they do not allow photos of their food. Out of snobbiness or respect for their guests (I was sitting a table away from Matt Lauer), Idon’t know; nonetheless it made me discouraged to write this blog. However, with constant flashbacks of the wonderful food I consumed at Corton, I couldn’t help but distribute a stellar review to my (3) avid fans.

I and the rest of my group opted for the three course meal – along with 2 amuse bouches, a delicious selection of bread rolls (with two types of butter and fleur de sel), the various accoutrements the come as surprises with each dish, and a chocolate truffle and macaron tasting, it was more than enough food. To start, I ordered the “From the Garden” salad. While it sounds dull, it was probably the best, most inventive and artful “salad” I’ve ever tasted. Bright and beautiful young vegetables with edible flowers doused the plate on top of hidden of root purrees and flavored oils. Really light and clean, but totally satisfying. We also decided to split an “in between” course that was incredible – “Early Spring,” which consisted of four separate plates: a scallop, sweat pea ravioli, a delicate crab salad, and a beautiful piece of rare quail. Of course I’m butchering the image of each course with poor descriptions, but you should know that each plated dish was as beautiful as food could be – a painting on a plate, with complimenting colors, textures, heights…it was almost surprising that it tasted as good as it looked!

For my main course, I had the halibut with morel mushrooms. Of course, it was perfectly cooked, light, comforting, and wholesome, but the best part about it was the heavy portion of freshly cooked green risotto served in a steel pot. I also managed to try the Angus beef, which was actually a hearty size. At that point in the meal, I was perfectly full (not only off of food, but off of probably close to a sweet bottle of Pouilley Montrachet burgundy), and felt so fortunate to have had one of the most intricate and spectacular meals of my life with three of the people I most admire.

Dessert followed the trend of the rest of the food – it was pure goodness. I ordered the “gold bar,” which is Corton’s version of a dense yet creamy, chocolate caramel layered cake. If I were to return, I would order a dessert with less intensity considering all of the wine and collectively-rich food I consumed, but no complaints in retrospect.

Grade: A+
Address: 239 West Broadway @ North Moore
Website: www.cortonnyc.com