An estimated 100,000 Irish people will do their Christmas shopping in New York this year, and, as well as bagging bargains, they want to eat well, too. Orla O'Sullivan picks four of the best-value gourmet spots in the Big Apple
Would I mind if Damien Brassel phoned me back? The Cork-born chef-owner of Knife + Fork has a TV crew in his hot new Manhattan restaurant when I call to arrange an interview. Within months of opening in the trendy East Village, the 31-year-old has a television show and book in the making, been nominated for an award and earned favourable reviews in Time Out, among other publications.
On a Wednesday night that is so wet we can barely make out the restaurant, we arrive to find it packed, mostly with regulars. Equally remarkably, you can enjoy a six-course tasting menu for $45 (€35). Although Brassel has worked alongside such names as Jean-Michel Poulot and Conrad Gallagher in Ireland, and in Michelin three-starred establishments in France, his is one of a number of New York restaurants offering haute cuisine at low prices - far lower than in Dublin.
Squid stuffed with duck confit, lobster mushrooms and vanilla tapioca is a particular hit from Brassel's ever-changing tasting menu. There is a startling but delicious contrast in texture and taste between the chewy squid and the almost caramelised duck. "The duck was marinated for three days in lavender, vanilla, cardamon and salt," Brassel says, adding that it could have been even longer.
The menu is Asian-accented, with more than half the dishes featuring fish, flavoured with wasabi, ginger and miso. "The Asians have a great palate, but then they don't drink," Brassel observes.
Ironically, my place is set with knife and fork in reverse order - the kind of detail to put purists off. But Brassel offers fine dining in casual surroundings. He interacts with patrons from behind the counter as he multitasks between cooker and phone.
By contrast, Capsouto Frères is very classical. Its lily-scented diningroom has soaring ceilings, waiters in tuxedos, stiff napkins and heavy cutlery. French doors and a wrap-around porch further evoke a Gone with the Wind grandeur. "People sometimes walk on because they assume it'll be very expensive," says Albert Capsouto. In fact, the ample fixed-price lunch, featuring classics such as coq au vin, only recently rose to $24 (€19) from $20. The Capsoutos consider their hideaway restaurant a bistro and "very much a New Yorkers' place". It's north of bargain-basement Century 21 and east of snobby SoHo.
They are renowned for their souffles, both savoury and sweet. In an almost religious ritual, the waiter pierces my airy praline dome and slowly pours hazelnut creme anglaise into its centre. All for $8.50. At home you might pay that and find plastic wrapping still stuck to your shop-bought dessert.
Capsouto Frères has won wine, food and design awards in its 26 years. Israeli wines are a speciality. Its three-course set wine menu ($15) includes a dessert wine, Yarden Galilee 2002 Muscat, promising a top note of "perfumed orange blossoms".
If you want to lord it, visit Fleur de Sel, in the old-money Gramercy area. The set lunch is $25, but the portions are nouvelle cuisine-sized. I'd favour indulging in the six-course evening menu ($87), which, with pairings of the smoothest wine I've ever tasted, costs $145 in total.
The centrepiece of the room - an upturned Chardonnay root initially mistaken for a big bonsai - reflects the importance of wine at Fleur de Sel. Patrons are encouraged to order their favourites in advance, and each Monday bottles from the month's featured region are half-price.
Delicate, translucent ravioli are high points of lunch and dinner at Fleur de Sel. At lunch they might be stuffed with shrimp, in succulent corn soup; at dinner they could be filled with cheese and artichoke, then topped with caviar. On one visit they served sweetbreads in a virulently green spinach coulis. Everything tastes as good as it looks - and so it is unsurprising to learn that the restaurant's artwork was all painted by Fleur de Sel's Breton chef-owner, Cyril Renaud.
We also visit a restaurant where the food is prepared by students of the French Culinary Institute, just before the major, Michael Bloomberg opens its sister schools for Italian and Spanish cuisine. Big names in catering, such as the pastry chef Jacques Torres, teach students here - the fee for the six-month course is $35,000 (€27,000). Diners pay just $26.50 for a three-course lunch or $40 for a five-course dinner.
They say you can judge a restaurant by its bread. L'Ecole's baguettes certainly make the grade. Not that it lacks more sophisticated touches, such as dramatically pouring a beetroot-coloured consomme from a pot into my soup bowl at the table, to surround a white island of chicken dumpling.
Torres's famously said that "life is short; eat dessert first". It offers an insight into L'Ecole's priorities. Menu options include top-notch creme brulee, warm hazelnut cake with pistachio ice cream, and brioche French toast with an apple compote and Calvados ice cream. u
SOME OF NEW YORK'S TOP TABLES FORVALUE AND STYLE
KNIFE + FORK
108 East 4th Street (at 1st-2nd Avenues), East Village, 00-1-212-2284885, www.knife-fork-nyc.com. Nearest subway: 8th and Broadway. The Deal $45 (€35) six-course tasting menu. The Emphasis Experimental and convivial
CAPSOUTO FRÈRES
451 Washington Street (on junction with Watts Street), Tribeca, 00-1-212-966-4900, www.capsoutofreres.com. Nearest subway: Canal Street, on 1 and 9 lines. The Deal $24 (€19) lunchtime three-course menu. Wine menu to accompany each course: $15 (€12) The Emphasis Classically French
FLEUR DE SEL
5 East 20th Street (just off 5th Avenue), Gramercy, 00-1-212-460-9100, www.fleurdeselnyc.com. Nearest subway: 23rd Street on N or R. The Deal Many, from $25 three-course lunch to $145 (€114) six-course food-and-wine tasting menu at dinner. The Emphasis Elegant and exquisite
L'ECOLE AT THE FRENCH CULINARY INSTITUTE
426 Broadway (at the junction with Grand Street), SoHo, 00-1-212-219-3300, www.frenchculinary.com. Nearest subway: Canal Street, N & R, or 6 line. The Deal $40 (€31) four- and five-course dinners. The Emphasis Consistent and copious