Ken and Cook

When I heard Ken and Cook was the brain child from two Jean-George alums I was intrigued.  When I saw the gorgeous brasserie space with an open front, leather banquettes and full raw bar I was excited.  We started out dinner with a house made white Sangria at the bar and then settled in with some East Coast Oysters to begin the meal.



These Blue Points were incredibly fresh and came accompanied by a traditional cocktail sauce and zippy vinegar mignonette. They were so delicious we almost ordered another round but thank goodness we saved plenty of room for our first appetizer Steak Tartare.



As you all know I absolutely love steak tartare and this one was awesome.  As you can see they used an entire poached egg instead of raw yolk and chopped the meat much thicker than usual.  The result was fantastic.  The meat had such a satisfying texture from the moist, marbled Wagyu beef and the poached egg gave it more flavor than just a binding yolk.  We had been splitting each dish as we went along but I pretty much zoned out and gobbled most of this down without a care for Christine. Luckily she fell in love with our other appetizer Squid, yogurt, chili and mint.




The description read yogurt but this was more akin to a rich creme fraiche which had a fantastic way of cutting the heat and mint, melding all the fantastic flavors together. Onto our entree the Black Bass with Broccoli Rabe, Clams and Tomato.



I really liked how the fish was sandwiched between veggies and more seafood.  I've never had a stack of calms on top of my Bass but it certainly worked here. Once again the textures and flavors in this dish were absolutely spot on.  The only slight disappointment was the side of french fries.



I say "slight" because these long, skinny fries were almost perfect in every way had they been cooked just a touch longer. But I was by no means upset.  In fact we were so happy about our dinner we decided to fit in dessert.  



These Beignets were a knockout end to the meal.  Fluffy, warm and perfectly bite sized for dipping in the sweet glaze.  We finished the entire basket in mere seconds.  It couldn't have ended on a more delicious note.  

Ken and Cook

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