Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare

Overview

Like a wild mushroom after spring rain, Chef César Ramirez's new home for his incomparable Chef’s Table has sprung up in Hell’s Kitchen, seemingly overnight. As with the original, the interior is furnished with a long dining counter positioned before the stainless steel and polished copper kitchen to keep the mood celebratory and everyone’s eyes on the cooking. Several tables with banquette seating expand on the former location’s comfort and capacity, thereby adding a bit of formality to the otherwise cutting-edge space. Chef Ramirez may be a visionary, but he refrains from being showy by keeping simplicity and astounding precision at the heart of each dish. The result is a cuisine that is visually arresting, a mosaic of both flavors and textures that coaxes only the best from each morsel of fish. This begins with a tartlet generously filled with sour cream and a precariously balanced mountain of glistening trout roe. Scottish langoustines appear raw, but are in fact warmed just enough to retain their tenderness, finished with translucent radish and a bright blossom. Koshihikari rice gently stirred with foie gras and abalone is enriched by a sea urchin emulsion for a luscious denouement.