Because I Have Got a Crush on You

Actually, we have a crush on Crush. How could you not fall for someone who made you the most magnificent microscopic-diced rhubarb compote, a bright pink rhubarb sorbet on a crunchy almond cookie with a creamy ricotta cheesecake, a tiny, crisp lavender meringue, light as air, covered with a sweet-and-sour rhubarb jam and an ethereal anise hyssop foam, and served it to you all on one plate?

A Saturday night reservation at Crush is still one of the most difficult to get…and worth the wait. We had to make ours more than a month ago in order to not have to eat the Early Bird or Midnight Specials. And then we worried a bit about being the least cool people in the place since the last time we were there it really was no contest. But word has gotten out, and the crowd was much more diverse this time – some people looked even less cool than we did. (There was, however, the requisite beautiful brunette at the bar in a white halter top. Even if we had one, we are not cool enough to know you can wear a white halter top when it’s cold, windy, and wet.)

Dessert was literally the icing on the cake. We started with a grilled asparagus salad with tiny, perfectly tender duck sausages, topped with the most stunningly beautiful poached duck egg we’ve ever seen. It managed to be light and rich at the same time, and every element perfectly cooked: the yolk was just creamy, the sausages bursting with juiciness, and the asparagus still crisp. The refreshing beet salad looked like a painting on the plate. Main courses we tried included meltingly tender braised beef short ribs, the meat falling apart at the touch of a fork, decadently rich and loaded with flavor; and a sweet onion risotto with seared sea scallops, lightly caramelized on the outside, just opaque inside, citrus-dressed greens, and shavings of foie gras – an inspired combination. We sent our plates back clean.

Service was excellent: very professional, well-versed, attentive, but not too much so. The only complaint we had is that although the china is lovely (all white, just like the dining rooms, the tables, and the strangely comfortable form-fitted chairs), the interesting shapes, hills, and valleys in the plates made it more than a little difficult to manage our cutlery, which kept sliding into the butter or off the side of our plate. Small price to pay for a truly excellent meal.