One of the things I learned while planning my trip to New York City is that many of the fine dining restaurants offer a special lunch prix fixe menu, allowing you to get a taste of a highly acclaimed or Michelin starred restaurant for a fraction of the usual price.
Jean-Georges is a 3 Michelin starred restaurant. For dinner, a 3 course prix fix menu will cost you $118 a person, and a full tasting menu costs $198 per person. But for lunch, they offer a seasonal prix fixe menu for just $38 per person.
Included in the $38 price, you get to choose two dishes (a starter and an entree), and you also get a trio of amuse bouche, their house-made marshmallows and petit fours.
Amuse Bouche
Raspberry gazpacho, tuna with pickled pineapple and shio leaf, corn fritter with jalapeno yogurt
Our meal started out with a trio of these complimentary bites with a wide range of flavors that awoke the taste buds.
Complimentary bread
Throughout the meal, we were provided with assorted fresh baked breads.
Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, Black Bread, Jalapeno and Yuzu
What immediately drew me to Jean-Georges’ lunch menu was that most of my favorite items did not have a supplemental charge, unlike most of the other prix fixe lunch deals I came across. This was my starter choice. The uni was creamy, fresh and sweet. This was a great way to start our meal.
Foie Gras and Strawberry Granola, Aged Balsamic and Sorre
This was Mr. K’s selection. Since the foie gras ban in California, whenever we are outside of California we try to eat as much as possible. We were pleasantly surprised to see there also was no supplemental charge for the foie gras here. Interestingly, they chose to serve the rich foie gras with sweet components. I didn’t really care for the sweet additions– I pretty much just wanted to enjoy the foie gras by itself.
Cod, Honshimeji Mushrooms, Lemongrass Consomme
The fish was tender, the lemongrass consomme light and refreshing.
Crispy Confit of Suckling Pig ($10 supplement)
This dish did have a supplemental charge but it was well worth it as it was the highlight of our meal. The thick layer of crispy skin was perfectly prepared, producing a satisfying crunch and then melting into your mouth. The meat itself was moist and flavorful. This was one of our best bites of this year.
Chocolate Dessert tasting ($10)
White Chocolate Ice Cream; Milk Chocolate Custard with Mango Gel, Smoked Salt Meringue, and Peanuts; Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
They offered three sets of dessert tastings for only $10 each. Even though we already knew there would be complimentary desserts, we couldn’t resist sharing a tasting at that price. In hindsight, while these were very reasonably priced, they ended up being sugar overkill when combined with the complimentary desserts that came with our meal. Next time, we probably won’t get the tasting again simply because it was too many sweets and nothing in particular stood out from the dessert tasting.
House-Made Marshmallows
The complimentary desserts started with some house-made vanilla bean marshmallows, which are carted over and cut in front of you. While these were good, I’m not quite sure why they are so famous.
Petit Fours
Our meal ended with some petit fours including mini macarons, chocolate, fruit gelee, and some sort of crunchy oat cookie.
We had a very nice lunch here. The service was exceptional and we enjoyed everything we tasted. We would definitely come back again on another visit.
Jean-Georges
1 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
https://www.jean-georgesrestaurant.com/
The petit-fours are darling! The confit pig sounds so good too. That’s a great idea/deal to try the prix fixe at lunch. I love the color of the raspberry gazpacho.
Yeah I was really surprised at what a nice deal it was. There’s quite a few restaurants in NYC that do it. Hope to try more next time.
we also tried the lunch prix fix at jean-georges the last time we went to nyc. i also got the foie gras – i actually LOVED the combination of savory and sweet.
i agree that overall it is an excellent deal.
I usually don’t like sweet and savory, so that’s probably why I didn’t love it–though I loved the Foie by itself. But yes, I thought it was a great deal and would definitely do it again on my next visit.