Public

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this! This dinner was a big success. The place was very pretty. We had I think only round table there, which was perfect.
And there was no tradeoff on the food. Everybody ordered different dishes and each one seemed really pleased. I shared two appetizers -- the kangaroo and the scallops -- and then two mains -- the duck, and the snail and oxtail ravioli....+READ Thanks to everyone who helped me with this! This dinner was a big success. The place was very pretty. We had I think only round table there, which was perfect.
And there was no tradeoff on the food. Everybody ordered different dishes and each one seemed really pleased. I shared two appetizers -- the kangaroo and the scallops -- and then two mains -- the duck, and the snail and oxtail ravioli. All were really good and I agree with the opinions I had been given in advance.
We all shared a few desserts for the table. I thought they were less memorable than the other courses, but okay.
Although everyone was full before that, we ordered desserts to have things to put candles in for our birthday guest. When I called that afternoon to point out that we had one, the gentleman who answered, who turned out to be the manager, told me that it was already notated on the reservation. I told him it wasn't possible, and it turned out that the holder of another reservation, whose name was uncannily like mine, who also had a group of 6 coming at the same time, had phoned in a birthday. They were seated right behind us. The manager found our phone call as funny as I did, and when our check arrived, he had comped one dessert, calling the credit "Public Love" -- very sweet.
Again, thanks to all helping hounds -- it was a lot of fun.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (11 Replies) (by twochesters, created December 27, 2011)

We love Public and I think it's a really good choice for the group you described.

Menu favs:

Snail and Oxtail ravioli (I really loved this dish), grilled kangaroo, the fried Hama Hama oysters, beet gnudi REPLY (11 Replies) (by Spiritchaser, created December 14, 2011)

»Brunch at Public

On the recommendation of sgordon, we had a very nice brunch at Public this morning. We hadn't been back in a while and always enjoy both the neighborhood and decor there, so it seemed like a good choice for a sunny fall day.

We walked in around 11:30am but for a party of 2 there was about a 30 minute wait, although there were plenty of larger tables open. However, there were a ton of bar seats...+READ On the recommendation of sgordon, we had a very nice brunch at Public this morning. We hadn't been back in a while and always enjoy both the neighborhood and decor there, so it seemed like a good choice for a sunny fall day.

We walked in around 11:30am but for a party of 2 there was about a 30 minute wait, although there were plenty of larger tables open. However, there were a ton of bar seats available. We decided to sit at the bright and cheery bar, and soak in the sun coming in through their beautiful skylight.

My husband had a Bloody Maria, which was good, but not amazing. I really enjoyed my not too sweet fig and vanilla bellini. The bartender was pretty good for a non-cocktailian bar, and very engaging.

We split two dishes. Turkish eggs were very good. It's two poached eggs on Greek yogurt with kirmizi biber butter, that come in a small bowl, served with two slices of thick toast on the side. I really enjoy dipping the toast into the egg and yogurt mixture. It was really good bread with a nice yeasty flavor, and excellent crumb. Big, airy, and rustic.

The other dish, I could hardly get my husband to share this equally! Black pudding waffles with red wine poached pears and whipped foie gras butter. That's right. Whipped foie gras butter. There was also some sort of red wine reduction that acted in place of maple syrup that really tied everything together. Fluffy meaty waffles that were a little sweet. The blood pudding flavor was subtle but there -- and the waffles were delicious on their own. But the foie butter was delicious, and almost too much by the end. Really wonderful dish.

We'll be back!-COLLAPSE / REPLY (2 Replies) (by kathryn, created October 22, 2011)

I'm normally not a fan of sweet brunches but Chef Farmerie was making the blood pudding waffles (with foie gras butter!) at Meatopia this past summer. I wound up having three helpings. Awesome - I wish he offered them for dessert on his regular dinner menu, I'd totally get them. For brunch I'm usually down with the venison burger or the tea-smoked salmon benedict with yuzu hollandaise. Also the...+READ I'm normally not a fan of sweet brunches but Chef Farmerie was making the blood pudding waffles (with foie gras butter!) at Meatopia this past summer. I wound up having three helpings. Awesome - I wish he offered them for dessert on his regular dinner menu, I'd totally get them. For brunch I'm usually down with the venison burger or the tea-smoked salmon benedict with yuzu hollandaise. Also the quinoa hash browns are my regular side dish. Herby lentil salad if I'm feeling like going light is great, too.-COLLAPSE / REPLY (19 Replies) (by sgordon, created October 21, 2011)

»Dinner at Public - a review

Hit up Public a few days ago as the third stop on my parents’ culinary tour of NYC (first stop was Tocqueville, 2nd was Eleven Madison Park, followed by Degustation and finally Del Posto). I chose Public for this trip because I hope it would offer something interesting and different, while still being an upscale, Michelin-star-worthy experience.

We enjoyed a cocktail at the bar first - parents...+READ Hit up Public a few days ago as the third stop on my parents’ culinary tour of NYC (first stop was Tocqueville, 2nd was Eleven Madison Park, followed by Degustation and finally Del Posto). I chose Public for this trip because I hope it would offer something interesting and different, while still being an upscale, Michelin-star-worthy experience.

We enjoyed a cocktail at the bar first - parents and DH stuck to wine and beer while I had a guava-red chili margarita. Not terribly spicy but there was enough going on to add a little interest to the standard margarita formula. While we waited, we noted both the noise level (high, lots of loud music) and the ambient temperature (also high, as the walls are open to the street and there was no air conditioning). It was far too warm and humid that night for them to have cut the AC, and the millions of oil lamps in the room didn’t help matters. This grew worse and worse as the night wore on.

They delivered an assortment of lovely breads with our second round of drinks - sour cherry saffron rolls (a bit spongy in texture but a nice flavor with the cherries), sun-dried tomato focaccia (excellent if you like sun-dried tomatoes, as the flavor was quite strong) and sourdough (good, but the crust was chewy, not crisp). Unfortunately, the wine I ordered came at room temperature, which was a good 15 degrees warmer than it should have been. Ditto the water, which was served European-style, aka without ice. This is a huge pet peeve of mine - I get enough dirty looks when I ask for ice in Europe (where they are apparently allergic to it), I shouldn’t have to deal with it here too. I asked for (and was given) a glass of ice, but it was gone in seconds given the heat (and never refilled). Service was okay, if disinterested.

We started with the boar, beef tongue, oysters, lentil salad and kangaroo. The boar was a rather pedestrian presentation of prosciutto with a wedge of Spanish cheese - fine but nothing special. The beef tongue was quite nice, very tender and flavorful. Oysters aren’t my thing but I did sample one - it was fine, for a deep-fried oyster, and the honey wasabi sauce that came with it did an admirable job of covering up the oyster flavor. The lentil salad was a very nice idea that just didn’t quite come together - it needed more salt, more brightness (maybe some additional balsamic) and the lentils were just a bit underdone. The kangaroo, which we really ordered just as a lark, was actually everyone’s favorite - rich, tender (though lean) meat atop a nice crispy falafel. I didn’t love the seasoning of the falafel (not enough salt, too much coriander), but everyone else seemed pleased.

Anyway, for our mains we selected the beet gnudi, pork tenderloin, venison loin and oxtail ravioli. I ordered the venison against my own better judgment - I really like venison, but every time I have it in a restaurant I’m disappointed. I think it’s because it’s always a loin served rare, and venison is just so lean that no matter how perfectly it’s cooked, it ends up a little tough. I prefer a fattier cut in a braise. My bad. As I said, the venison was cooked to perfection, but the cabrales dumplings underneath were just wrong. They were heavy, dense potato cakes with a gummy consistency and nary a hint of cabrales flavor.

The beet gnudi were also a little on the heavy side but the dish was much more successful overall - the lemon ricotta was lovely and the almond and celery leaf pesto was fresh and delicious. I don’t care for beets but their flavor was quite subdued in the gnudi. The pork dish came with the requisite fatty chunk of pork belly, which was good (not the most tender or best I’ve had, but fine), and the tenderloin itself was fine as well. The braised daikon was sort of a mock-sauerkraut preparation that was actually the best part of the dish. Overall, though, it was just a little bland - it sounded a lot more interesting on the menu than it actually was.

The runaway winner was definitely the oxtail ravioli. The filling was rich and meaty and mouthwatering, everything you want from oxtail. I couldn’t taste the snail at all, but the deliciousness of the filling in general made up for that. This is a dish I’d order again and again. My father, who actually ordered it, enjoyed it as well but felt the oven-dried tomatoes were a bit overwhelming.

For dessert we split the yuzu-lime tart and plum upside down cake. I also inquired about their chocolate dessert, and found out that they use Guittard chocolate in their preparations (which pleased me as most upper end restaurants seem to favor Valrhona, which I HATE with a passion). I should have gone with the chocolate - the plum cake was totally unbalanced. WAY too much butter (this is coming from someone who has been known to eat butter with a spoon) and not enough of any other flavor in the cake, which was also not sweet enough to offset the very tart plum on top. The garam masala ice cream was EXCELLENT, though - I think there may have been some tamarind in there as well. Delicious. The yuzu-lime tart was also superb, although I could have done without the meringue aspect in the coconut ice cream (which was otherwise good).

All in all, I enjoyed Public, but I certainly wouldn’t hurry back, especially not while the weather is still warm. Also, having eaten at a couple of other 1-Michelin-Star restaurants this week, I cannot fathom how Public has a star. While the food was mostly good, it wasn’t anything particularly special, and the service was competent at best. I will post more on this topic later, but for now, thanks for reading!-COLLAPSE / REPLY (by biondanonima, created September 26, 2011)

»I loved Public!

I just wanted to post because although I have seen good reviews for Public here, it had been largely off my radar. I honestly only found it because a friend and I were joking around about eating kangaroo and I was googling kangaroo to be funny and I stumbled on their website and demanded someone go there with me to settle my curiosity. It turned out to be such a great meal I wanted to post here!
...+READ I just wanted to post because although I have seen good reviews for Public here, it had been largely off my radar. I honestly only found it because a friend and I were joking around about eating kangaroo and I was googling kangaroo to be funny and I stumbled on their website and demanded someone go there with me to settle my curiosity. It turned out to be such a great meal I wanted to post here!

I started with a cocktail recommended by the waitress - a not at all overly sweet watermelon herb martini which was lovely, and then my friend and I agreed to share the whole meal because there were so many things we wanted to try. We did order the kangaroo (how could we not) which came in fairly thin, seared slices, over a felafel ball and with some tiny chopped pickles. It had the flavor of a game meat, with a slight smokiness to it, but the texture was softer than beef. Very unusual and tasty. The pickles were fabulous. The felafel was fine (could have been crunchier). Our other app was a kobe tongue, which came as two medallions, grilled I think, over a sauce that had crunchy chickpeas in it and carmelized onions. The tongue was the softest, most melting tongue I've experienced. For entrees we shared a lovely, light cod encrusted in polenta over a fresh corn and basil risotto which was also quite yummy and I think had huitlacoche in it, and a venison over "dumplings" which were more like pancakes but had a great chewy texture and a toastiness to them. Everything was delish - including a second cocktail I somehow ordered with a lemon or cucumber flavor to it, and we did something I've never done before: on the way out, we made a reservation to go back, next time for the Sunday dinner where they surprise you. I've certainly eaten at places I knew I wanted to return to immediately, but this is the first time that me and a dining companion both felt it so strongly for the same meal - but of course also we were both curious about how much more adventurous their Sunday menus could be!-COLLAPSE / REPLY (11 Replies) (by Adrienne, created July 31, 2011)