I'm a food opportunist. I'm always looking for ways to eat well. Usually that means looking for good deals at grocery stores, delicious recipes that use cheaper ingredients, or hole-in-the-wall restaurants with great food. But the other important category of food opportunism is finding the best possible restaurant that might be outside my budget and making reservations there for the weekend my dad is in town. (Don't worry--this is no secret. My father enjoys the meals as well, and I enjoy the time I spend with him even more than the meals.)
My dad visited me in St. Louis for the first time this past weekend, and I selected Niche as the above-my-budget-and-very-delicious-looking restaurant at which to make a reservation for us. For those of you unfamiliar with St. Louis' dining scene, Gerard Craft, named a Best New Chef by Food and Wine Magazine in 2008, is the executive chef at Niche. I know his work from his other two ventures, both of which are in my neighborhood--Brasserie and Taste (look forward to reviews of Taste sometime soon--I'm a huge fan of the cocktail list). So I had high expectations for Niche, and I was not let down. Niche impressed us all with excellent and innovative food, superb service, and a nice atmosphere.
Once inside, Niche is reminiscent of a New York City restaurant both because of its gracefully decorated interior and its small size. We sat down at our table, which featured a view of the kitchen. I loved being able to see the hustle and bustle in the kitchen throughout the evening.
Before we ordered food, my dad got a glass of white wine and Mitch and I each had a cocktail. Niche makes one of my favorite drinks, the
"Last Word," as well as another good one with grapefruit juice, lemon, and elderflower liqueur. The drinks were good, though nothing to rival Taste. Niche is more of a wine place, so once we finished our first drinks, my dad selected a
2006 Falcon Napa Valley Sangiovese. It was delicious, but for me no wine can outshine outstanding food, and that is what we had coming.
I looked at the list of six appetizers and decided I wanted them all. But my dad and Mitch (my boyfriend) did not think I could actually have all six, so I decided on the
Day Boat Scallops. The scallops were seared and then sliced and placed on a bed of morels and poached snap peas. Two tabs of rhubarb puree surrounded the scallops, and the dish was topped with micro greens and brown-buttered ground hazelnuts. Every element of the dish was perfectly constructed, from the perfectly poached snap peas and the delightfully tart rhubarb puree, to the just-browned tender scallops and the buttery morels. Textural contrast really makes this dish, which combines crunchy, powdery, soft, and crisp. The flavors were also beautifully balanced--it was an unexpected combination that worked wonderfully. I'll be trying an at-home variation on this dish sometime soon I'm sure.
Mitch ordered the
Tuna Crudo, which came with
yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit similar to a lime), black rice, baby artichokes, and basil
. To my taste, the tuna was a little too thinly sliced, since I like to get more of tuna texture, but that would be my only complaint. The flavors worked quite well and everything tasted wonderfully fresh.
My dad got the
English Pea Soup. The waiter poured the sage-scented creamy hot pea soup over lavender, chive blossoms, and goat cheese. I only got one bite, but that one bite was delicious. The cream didn't overwhelm the light springiness of the soup. The texture was perfectly smooth. The predominant flavor was the peas, which is as it should be. Though not the most exciting dish of the night, it was nonetheless delicious.
Then it was time for the main course. I ordered the
lasagna--an exquisite combination of
fresh pasta, ramp bechamel, spring onions, wild mushrooms, and a farm-fresh egg. Instead of one slice from a full-size rectangular lasagna, this version was round and individual-sized. The wonderful thing about this is it allows for a combination of typical lasagna-noodle texture and the texture of the crisp pasta edges after they bake in the oven. The fontina and ramp bechamel were layered between thin sheets of pasta, and all was topped with a perfectly cooked, flavorful, sunny-side up egg. The yolk was runny but not liquidy, and there was none of that slimy raw egg white I so hate. Surrounding the lasagna were wild mushrooms--buttery with perhaps a hint of lemon. For those of you who don't know me, I adore mushrooms. To me, butter and mushrooms are impossible to do wrong. But Niche did it even more right than usual. And then, to top everything off, there was an vibrant combination of fresh spring herbs, most notably fennel and shiso. Although everything we ate was delicious, this lasagna took the prize for me.
My dad did what my mom usually does and ordered two appetizers as his entree. The first was paparadelle with smoked pork shank, mascarpone, apples, and olive oil. This was the only dish I didn't care for. To me, the combination of smoked meat with the sweetness of the apples tasted like barbeque sauce, and barbeque sauce on pasta didn't do it for me. That said, my dad enjoyed it so it can't have been too bad.
His next entree-appetizer was
lobster with brown butter hollandaise (they seem to really like brown butter at Niche, and who can blame them?), apple, togarashi (Japanese 7-spice) candy, tarragon, and celery. Since I only had a bite I can't tell you too much more about it than that it was very very good. It played up the subtle flavor of lobster and did a good job providing complementary flavors and textures.
Mitch ordered the
chicken, and that is the dish I remember the least about (only because I had very little of it). The chicken itself was deliciously browned, flavorful, and juicy--what chicken should be but so rarely is. I never order chicken at restaurants because it tends to be boring, but from what I recall of this dish it was far from dull. It was served with a balsamic reduction and a combination of quinoa and polenta.
And then, as if we had not already had enough outstanding food, we ordered dessert. My dad and Mitch got the
cheese plate, which featured
Prairie Breeze aged cheddar, Humbolt Fog, and a Petit Basque. All were very good, though I have had better cheeses of the Humbolt Fog type, for instance the
Baetje Farms "Bloomsdale," available at farmers' markets in St. Louis. With the cheeses were spiced nuts, thinly sliced toasted baguette, and some fig preserves.
I followed our waitress's suggestion and tried the l
emongrass semifreddo. In reality it is about 4 desserts rolled into one. The semifreddo is topped with hibiscus sorbet. Around it is rhubarb sauce with tapioca pearls. Next comes balls of (I think I am remembering this right) lemongrass cheescake. On the side is mint syrup. The tapioca pearls were a perfect vehicle for the tart rhubarb, and the lemongrass semifreddo was exquisite in texture. Every element was delicious, but I think I could have used a little more simplicity in this dish.
Overall I was very impressed by Niche. In this economy, a restaurant this fancy and also pricey needs to work hard to deserve its place, and Niche certainly does. The menu was innovative, and the food was both beautiful and delicious. Niche is not just good for being in St. Louis or something--I believe it is a great restaurant in the context of the whole country. I'm looking forward to seeing what Gerard Craft does next, since he mentioned an Italian place with a focus on pasta. Given my love of pasta and the time I have spent in Italy, I am truly looking forward to it.
*As a tip for anyone trying to dine at Niche, make sure to book well ahead. They are (justly) very popular and fill up quickly.
