Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Aureole is a full of (pleasant) surprises

The other day, Mom was in town for business, and so the two of us met up for an early dinner. The destination? The bar room at Aureole, a place I've been for drinks but never for a full meal. So here we were. Having a full meal. How did it go? Stay tuned!

The space itself is lovely-- high ceilings, fancy but not uptight. We had a table at the picture windows overlooking 42nd Street, a great place for people-watching if ever there were one.

To start, I asked if they did half-glasses of wine-- and to my surprise, they agreed to accommodate me! Hooray! So another addition to the Wine Century Club was tallied: a half-glass of Rousanne from California. It was tangy and actually surprisingly tasty and really with the food to come.

It went really well with the bread, which was another fantastic surprise. It looked like nothing special, but it was lightly toasted and just a bit better than normal (high-quality) white bread, especially with the rich butter. Yum, yum, yum.

Jaunty slices

For her entree, Mom went with the Herb Crusted Scottish Salmon, with Green Asparagus, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, and Warm White Gazpacho Sauce. The portion here was on the smaller side (especially for $32), but the fish earned a rave from my mom.

Prettily plated

My choice was the Farmed Baby Greens Salad, with Buffalo Mozzarella, Summer Vegetables, and White Balsamic Vinaigrette. Paradoxically, this was a huge portion and a great value at $9. The lettuce was fresh and tasty, coated with a really flavorful dressing. The other vegetables were a bit fewer and farther between than the lettuce-- a green pea here, a piece of corn there, a cherry tomato half in between. The stars of the show were the tiny little buttered croutons, which added crunch and a bit of richness. Disappointingly, the buffalo mozzarella was in very short supply and wasn't the best mozz I've ever had, but it allowed me to save room for dessert.

Veritable mountain of lettuce

And at dessert, we really splurged. Mom got the Dark Chocolate Torte with Ricotta Sorbet, Scotch Butterscotch, and Malt. Two small but powerful squares of incredibly rich chocolate cake paired beautifully with the light and creamy ricotta sorbet, an incredible flavor I could eat by the gallon. The caramel was both tasty and pretty. Overall, it was the perfect dessert for a chocoholic.

Concentric circles of awesomeness

I requested the Profiterole off the pre-theater menu. Inside the large puff pastry were scoops of Malted Milk Chocolate ice cream and a bit of whipped cream; the whole shebang was anchored to the plate with orange marmalade, candied orange peel included. The chocolate glaze on top of the pastry was almost the best part, kind of like the frosting on a donut. The whole thing was messy and decadent and perfect.

Unassuming... but lots of goodies inside

Oh, but of course, there were also complimentary churros for the table. These tiny sticks were deep fried and coated in cinnamon sugar, perfect foils for the little dish of chocolate sauce that I had to resist downing like a shot. A delicious, delicious shot.

BONUS!!

Aureole, you surprised me. Your food was good-- really good-- particularly the desserts. And your service was friendly; your bar room comfortable. And I ended up getting a big salad, a huge dessert, some churros, and a half-glass of wine that was more like a full glass for only about $23. So for me at least, Aureole was an unexpectedly good value. For that, it earns a solid high four Offset Spatula rating. I'd like to come back and eat in the dining room; I suspect it would earn the upgrade to the coveted five OS level.

Aureole
135 W. 42nd Street, between 6th Avenue and Broadway
212-319-1660

4 comments:

Atiyah said...

I like the changes made on the site.

Janine said...

Thanks, @Atiyah! Glad you like them... it was fun to shake things up a bit.

Thanks for reading, as always!

Janine

Anonymous said...

Everything looks pretty, love it. Thanks for sharing! I wanna share this to my friends as well in Foodista. Keep on posting! Cheers, Amy from Australia

Janine said...

Thanks, @Smoochkins! Glad you're reading... I'll keep posting!

~Janine