David Bouley's new restaurant

David Bouley's got a new restauarant set to open soon, and I've been asked by the PR rep to keep things top secret until April 17, but there was a "friends and family" dinner on Friday night where my friend Kathleen and I were allowed to take photos, though we agreed not to publish any photos of the food yet. Just to continue with the secrecy game, I won't name the restaurant. Feel free to guess, though.

A pretty gorgeous space. This is the bar area. See the little diarama set into the wall?

Below are more pictures of the bar area.

The head mixologist's name is Gen (on the right); he makes a tomato cocktail that is nothing like a Bloody Mary. 

This is shozhu, the spirit in the tomato cocktail. Apart from that, Gen uses melon, and passionfruit seeds mixed with tomato seeds.

To the right, Executive Chef Isao Yamada. Below, the sushi chefs exercise cat-like focus.

But back in the kitchen, things are a little more relaxed.

So was it a great meal? We were presented with a 9 course tasting menu, and overall the food, ambience, and experience were all impressive. This is to be just the second kaiseki restaurant in the city, and if you're not familiar with Japanese kaiseki cusine, you might be interested in checking it out (for more information, check out this article: Demystifying Kaiseki). It's a traditional ceremonial Japanese form of cooking and presentation. Let's just say that when we were seated we were each presented with a blossoming cherry branch. And that my vegetable tempura contained a fried fern. 

The guests seemed to enjoy themselves.

So I would recommend it - though not in name, yet.