Went to Grey Gardens, one of our favourites, a couple of weeks ago. The patio has some big umbrellas, so you will be relatively sheltered if it rains. You will have to be comfortable with the folks congregating in the park across Augusta, who are often quite loud and billowing out clouds of weed. Service remains friendly and informed, with some regular staff from last year. And the food remains excellent:
- delicate striped bass crudo, with oyster mayo, jalapeño, preserved lemon, and fennel fronds - fresh and light, if a little salty
- raw side stripe shrimp, cooked mussels, green tomato water, honeydew, charred cucumber - sweet and delicious, with a light acid from the tomato water
- Wagyu beef tartare with white turnip, wasabi peas - a fun and tasty variation
- they thoughtfully comped us some incredible bread - “red tail” with butter - crisp outside and chewy inside
- asparagus, with homemade kimchi, soft boiled egg, salad greens - kimchi was unnecessary, but the yolk made a great sauce for the asparagus
- tomatoes, with roasted eggplant puree, crumbled black olives, and parmesan oil - fresh, sweet, with just the right amount of saltiness
- tortelloni with shrimp and black pepper and watercress in lobster broth - one of the best pastas they have done and very different than their usual, which are often butter-based sauces
- al dente spaghetti, with fermented peppers, chopped herbs - delicious
- campanelle made with chanterelle powder, plus peas and goat butter - a fun different kind of mushroom pasta
- lamb belly with morels and fava beans - fatty and very lamby belly, with crisped edges, scant morels, and fresh mild fava beans
- mascarpone, tangy rhubarb and crisp waffle pieces - light and just the right amount of sweet to balance the sour from the rhubarb
- fresh sweet strawberries, light meringue dusted with sumac powder, and a delicious sunflower ice cream
For wine, we had another bottle of the Chateau Musar white (a blend of indigenous Lebanese grapes) 2008, which is one of my wife’s favourites. I feel we are responsible for depleting much of their supply over the past few years.
