JoJo, $24, May 2010

It has taken me a little while to come to terms with the fact that not all of Jean Georges' restaurants are good. He is a well respected and revered chef with impressive training  and great success with his many restaurants from here to Hong-Kong. I really enjoyed the Prix Fixe lunch at Nougatine and I hear from diners and Zagat that the restaurant of his name is fabulous. On the flip side, I ate at Vong a couple years ago and I remember that as a dreadful meal and, recently, I ate at the Spice Market and it was just so-so.  What a disappointment.  That can also be the phrase used to describe my prix fixe lunch at JoJo.  However, the disappointment encompasses not only the food, but the service.

Mee-Ryung was, again,  my faithful lunch partner.  We got our favorite type of seating, a corner banquette.  The restaurant is decorated lushly with lots of heavy, velvety fabrics, soft lines and dark corners.  The decor is described as a 1920's bordello, very kitschy.  It was very comfortable. 

The selection on the Prix Fixe menu was large and diverse.  The french bistro menu has a something for everyone and is not overly french.  Some reviewers label it French-American, but I don't think there are enough sandwiches on the menu to be considered American.  M and I easily selected our three courses from the diverse menu.  I chose the spring pea soup with crouton and shrimp with lemon spaetzle, basil butter and spring vegetables.  M chose the tuna tartare with gaufrettes and skate with lemon dressing and mushrooms.  The desserts we chose were a cheesecake biscuit and warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.  It took a little while to get our order in, however.  Our waiter was extremely cordial and charming allowing us to forgive his inconsistent, negligent service, at least for a little while.  Once we chose our wine from a compact, yet suitable wine list we kicked off our lunch.

The first course came and, at first blush, looked beautiful, but on closer inspection was actually haphazard.  The soup was a beautiful spring pea green with a nice brown crouton.  The tuna tartare was interesting with fanned gaufrettes and herbed oil.    Then I realized the soup was nearly overfilling the bowl and a there was a soup trail from a dripping ladle on the edge of the plate.  The crouton looked as if it was thrown on top of the soup and slid to the side.    The gaufrettes on the tuna tartare were unevenly cooked, to the point of nearly burnt and the herbed oil appeared to be put on by a 4 year-old. Plating 101 instructs food should be presented inside the plate or bowl being served, not over the lip.  These elementary errors should not show up at a Michelin Star restaurant.  As for the taste, the pea soup was nice, a little peppery and thick.  It hit the spot for my spring pea craving though.  The tuna tartare was bland , so were the gaufrettes.  It was a bland rendition of what we experienced at Nougatine.

The entrees were presented better.  For my dish, the shrimp and spaetzle were a beautiful, lemon yellow color with herbs and small green and orange vegetables dotting the dish.  The skate looked a bit of a mess, but the skate was in one piece which can be difficult to accomplish because if its texture and low fat content.  The flavors were better than the first course.  My lemon spaetzle, even though it resembled pasta, had a nice flavor.  I didn't really get the basil butter, but the spring vegetables were nice and gave a contrasting flavor to the spaetzle and shrimp.  The shrimp was not overdone, but not very tender.  It tasted good and were good quality.  The skate dish, M and I found to be bland, but done nicely. The skate was fresh and cooked satisfactorily.  The vegetables were a nice accompaniment.  All in all, the entrees were good, nothing beyond repair with a salt shaker.  We got our first top off on our wine and which drained the bottle even though we had both only had one pour each thus far.  Something was amiss.  Believe me, I know how much wine is in a bottle and how far it can go and we should have had one full glass of wine left in that bottle.  Our suspicion quickly turned to our waiter, who we once thought was charming, we now think has liquid charisma coursing through his veins.  This indiscretion was a first for me, but what can you do? You really can't complain or point the finger then you become the offender.  This was quite unexpected funny business from a high caliber restaurant.

The desserts came nicely presented and looked like a real treat.  My cheesecake biscuit came with fresh strawberries and rhubarb.  It was fantastic: sweet, creamy, crunchy  and tart.  It made me glad that the pastry department is separate from the rest of the kitchen.  M's warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream was as you would expect: warm and wonderful.  There was a velvety, chocolate middle to that cake and as it mixed with the vanilla ice cream they melted together into deliciousness. It also had a caramelized sugar tuille for crunch. What a wonderful ending to our questionable meal.

I was glad the meal was only $24 for three-courses. It really was a steal, even with the many faux pas. I don't recommend this restaurant for its Prix Fixe lunch.  It seems like this restaurant's popularity is riding on its location, the glamorous part of the Upper East Side, and the Jean Georges name which can carry a lot of weight with "mover and shaker" types who don't know much about food, but can name drop.  I think that Jean George really needs to work on the management in his kitchens.  Success can be fleeting and the public fickle and if you have people working for you in your kitchens who don't pay attention to detail a lot can go wrong and can devastate a reputation.