Japonais

It was so good to finally catch up with my friend D from Stern - haven't seen her since we graduated. I love this woman. S he is so smart, fun and fabulous. Her career has been unbelievable and I love hearing about her global adventures. She has hung out with the giant tortoises of the Galapagos and roamed New Zealand, Ecuador, Egypt, Argentina, etc.

Since it was restaurant week, I booked us a table at Japonais. To start, the restaurants for restaurant week haven't been that great. Where was Per Se? Oceana? Obviously, those restaurants do not feel the need to participate nor want to offer a 3 course dinner for $35.

I heard about Japonais about a year ago from my co-workers and passed by a couple of times. I've been curious about it and glad there was a table available. There were a lot of Asian people eating there. It is large, fancy, modern and dark. We were seated in the upstairs lounge area (normal dining area below) and given an entire section for like 10 people - to this day, I don't understand how restaurants manage seating. I just love eating on a couch. The music was loud but we chatted above it and the waitress was a doll baby and checked everything I ordered with the chef to make sure it was non-dairy. Very sweet.

Like a shoe sales person trying to help my mother, Japonais was at a disadvantage from the start. I'm very particular about Asian food (I eat a lot of it, my mom is an amazing cook and I've had the best food in hole in the wall dives) and am not a fan of chains. I'm not all that impressed with eating in a club-like atmosphere. My food allergy precluded me from enjoying the French part of the Japanese-French offerings (despite our server's diligence and a Lactaid, I did get sick). The shining stars of the menu were likely to not be on the restaurant week menu and they can't be blamed for me ordering a lobster spring roll (bit on the salty side) and 4 oz filet mignon (our server switched out the mashed potatoes and gave me plain white rice). These were very boring foods that did not let them utilize their high tech food wizardry aka molecular gastronomy. We didn't have anything that had "caviar" - this method of encasing tiny balls of liquid in alginate. That being said, everything was perfectly prepared and presented. The fried prawn head as garnish was clever and good use of something that would've been thrown out. The watermelon juice poured over in the sorbet at the table was a nice touch.

In the end, this is a great place for a fancy night out with friends. It's also a terrific place to bring people who are afraid of Japanese food. You can eat what you want and they can have a nice French item.

http://www.japonaisnewyork.com/index2.html