[omnivorette]

After a morning wandering the "new" MOMA, my mother and I had lunch at The Modern. It's open only for lunch at the moment, and only to museum visitors. No reservations are being taken. They said that in January some time (though no date has been set yet), they will open to the public, and for dinner, and begin taking reservations.

I liked the room. It's modern, of course. There is a huge mural on one end of the room, which turns out to be a photograph of a collage, which was backlit before being photographed. It's really quite incredible. The tables are too small and a bit too close together, and I thought the sound was too "live" - but then again, it was lunch time, and there was a line near the front throughout our meal.

Service was excellent. Fast, attentive, plentiful, knowledgeable. Wearing Mao-like black outfits. I liked all the modern touches on the table, from the metal bread "basket" to the flatware to the odd shaped not-quite-standing carafes of wine (reminded me of "weebles wobble but they don't fall down").

I started with a peekytoe crab salad, which was a bit fishy for my taste, though the endive with chive oil was very nice. My mother had a fines herbes salad, with roasted bacon-wrapped goat cheese - very nice. I then had sweetbread ravioli, which also had some little round pieces of fried sweetbreads, and fried sage leaves. The ravioli were okay, not particularly sweetbread-y, but the little fried bits were crunchy and good. My mother had the butternut squash soup with chestnuts, which was rich and satisfying. I then had the "foie de veau" dumplings, with spaghetti squash and beet sauce, with tiny shoestring fried potatoes (potatoes not mentioned on the menu). The dumplings were a bit gamey and too dense for my taste. The spaghetti squash was excellent, and the beet sauce was too. The server asked how I was enjoying my "liver quenelles." My mother's pistachio-crusted black bass was dull, served with wilted spinach, which was just that. We were told that there was a bit of sauce, but there was not.

We shared a good hazelnut dacquoise, with a excellent milk chocolate chantilly. Good espresso. We had a quartino of a California Sauvignon Blanc, which was refreshing.

Total bill was $120 including tax and tip.

I think this place will become a nice destination for lunch. I'm not sure how it will fare as a dinner spot. We shall see - too soon to tell as far as the food is concerned, and it's a bit cafeteria-ish in feel, but then again, I didn't see it in the evening.

Oh, the MoMA was magnificent.

[Cathy]

I love those tippy carafes, and the matching glasses - think they'll be for sale in the museum gift shop?

[Wilfrid1]

Muscovy duck with its gizzards on the lunch menu: looks tempting. My MOMA calendar implies that it is open every night for dinner now.

[Steven Dilley]

Wilfrid, on Jan 28 2005, 04:19 PM, said:

Muscovy duck with its gizzards on the lunch menu: looks tempting. My MOMA calendar implies that it is open every night for dinner now.

Is the menu online, Wilf?

[Wilfrid1]

Yep, menupages.com. The Bar Room at the Modern, although a search for Modern brings it up. Er, not the dinner menu, just the bar lunch menu.

[cabrales]

Per Zagat's Feb newsletter: "The main dining room of Danny Meyer’s MoMA restaurant opens on February 7th, and is à la carte at lunch and prix fixe only ($74 for three courses) at dinner."

For the first Saturday dinner of Kreuther's restaurant, only late reservations are now available. The restaurant is not yet open on Sundays for dinner.

[Caseophile]

Quote

The main dining room of Danny Meyer’s MoMA restaurant opens on February 7th...

Ugh. I like it more Cabrales' way:

Quote

For the first Saturday dinner of Kreuther's restaurant,

(emphasis mine in both cases)

[Wilfrid1]

Warning: reserve for lunch in the bar room.

Thought I'd drop by today, early, to sample the duck with gizzards. The host desk is besieged. Lines in two directions. Staff looking nervous. People with reservations were struggling to check in. Without reservations, a two and a half hour wait.



As an aside, I have found that most of the museum's functions are being swamped by the current volume of traffic.

[Lippy]

Wilfrid, on Feb 3 2005, 03:51 PM, said:

As an aside, I have found that most of the museum's functions are being swamped by the current volume of traffic.

I guess they will be announcing an expansion soon.

[Wilfrid1]

Ironic, isn't it? Probably for the Annoyances thread, but it took me two months to get my membership pack after I rejoined. "Oh, we have been overwhelmed by enquiries." You don't say; who could possibly have predicted?

[Nancy S.]

Nevertheless, as a member, it's so great not to have to wait in line to enter, even though once you're in, it crowded beyond belief. (Last time, there was even a queue for the escalator).

[Wilfrid1]

The separate coat check for members is also a good idea. But right now you have to wait in line to get seated in the bar room, reservation/member or not.

[jinmyo]

The booze guy at The Modern is the same somm that Frankie B had a tiff with at ADNY.

I wonder what will happen...

[Cathy]

jinmyo, on Feb 4 2005, 10:29 AM, said:

The booze guy at The Modern is the same somm that Frankie B had a tiff with at ADNY.

Is that who replaced Karen King? She was there for about 10 minutes.

[Wilfrid1]

I can't keep up. The ADNY review is two days old, right? But we assume Frankie had been dining there for a few weeks. So the sommelier presumably (and I am just shooting the breeze) didn't leave ADNY as a result of Wednesday morning's review and get re-hired already. So, at the point he and Frankie miscommunicated, who knows if he was all set to leave ADNY already. Not that this explains anything, but it does surely emphasize the point made here (not to mention on eGullet) that it is unwise to focus a review on a particular service incident. Everyone will remember the sommelier from that review, and he's already no longer working there???.

Maybe this should be on the Bruni thread.