lemaire: absolutely divine

i liked lemaire before it remodeled. while seemingly pretentious, i never had a problem with the food- the dressing-up, the collared shirt bs, and the reek of old money just made it so we went other places. the suggestion of “the jefferson hotel” was not one that ever came up when deciding where to go for dinner. this past weekend, it did. 

and, wow. WOW.

the bar (as i have said) is utterly beautiful. it makes the place seem warmer, somehow. the food (as usual) is stellar, yet now the most expensive thing on the lemaire menu is 30.00. (i want to write that statement again. it is so damn surprising.) 

when  we were patrons this past weekend: we called just to make sure that our jeans would not preclude us from saddling up to this rock masterpiece and having a drink.  cordially, the female on the phone used the word casual for the dress. (she said “casual, like jeans” actually.) so in our jeans and flops, we rolled in. 

 banking on the jefferson to rock a nice wine listing, i swiped the first menu i could. um, yeah..and nice pricing as well. i ordered an  ”quartino” of gruner vetliner. 6plus had a quartino of syrah.

a “quartino” is a quarter of a liter of wine, hence the name (or a third of a regular bottle). said to be originally conceived by joe bastianich (owner and wine director of babbo ny), it is an excellent way to allow for more wine choices by the glass, less wine spoilage,  and drive down wine prices. our quartinos were 10.00/each. 

as for food, we started with pimento cheese and billy bread. absolutely stunning and i am talking about pimento cheese, people. served with olives and garlic, it was a real delight. if i were to brass tacks this,  the olives and garlic really should take a hike -they were not in quality nor did they taste up to par with the rest of the offerings we tried. the cheese itself however was sharp and spicy. 

our next dish was a small plate soft shell crab. i always have thought the dale reitzer really knows his soft shells (and he does) but last night the hampden-sydney and st. chris graduate blew my mind with his ssc styling, truly off the chain. fried delicately with no breading, the crab was all taste. while our entire meal was superb, this dish was definitely the highlight. (and we had foie gras.)

the foie was nummy – don’t let me steer you away (at 12.00 for the large chunk – in all seriousness, get two). served deconstructed on toast with peaches, it was seared sensationally with a light crust on the outside. just barely ripe peaches paired with lavender cream cut through the saltiness to bring a nice sweet and sour aspect to the small plate. 

lastly, we had wild mushroom risotto, dave and dee’s wild mushroom risotto actually. if you haven’t heard of these two mushroom growin’ kids, check out their website, real cool insight on some fungi. bundy’s risotto is less creamy than i expected it to be BUT packed with an overwhelming kick of tastebud genius. (i am thinking that mushroom broth added most of the flava.) it was served with tiny pieces of asparagus- extremely comforting and much lighter than i anticipated. 

finale..a couple to things to note about the new lemaire: it has a new farm to table philosophy. surry county sausage, loch duart sustainably raised salmon and organic and free range bison all on the menu to show this new directive.

it is perfect for happy hour. the wine list is spectacular and if this quartino rage catches on it could be a fantastic stop-in for that wine you have been dying to try but is out of your price range. (hopefully there will be some posh “get these wines for this low, low price” in the near future.)

it is not just small plates.  but i don’t blame you one bit if you sample all they have to offer in this manner. 

i have nothing else to say other than go!, go now and go often.

 

*just learned i was there letweet night. ha! all ya’ll could have had a bite of my tasty arse dinner.