Boulud Sud — Restaurant in New York

We went during 2018 Winter (Jan.-Feb.) Restaurant week.

We tried:

Bread with olive oil, on the house, crispy bread slice and bread slice with garlic on top.

Sparkling water, bottled, light lemony taste.

Appetizer= Mediterranean mezze, the bread was crispy, the hummus have their usual mild tastes, the vegetarian falafels (2 black balls next to the bread) were crispy but not oily, with a dab of green babaghanoush on top of each falafels. The dish taste light and refreshing, stops your hunger and prepares you for the main dish. Gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp), peeled shrimp soaked in olive oil, garlic, and other seasonings. Has faint flavor of garlic, and light taste.

Main dishes= Moroccan chicken tagine, juicy chicken with slightly crispy skin on top, mixed in with turnip, cauliflower, olive, couscous, some greens and other spice, and olive oil. Mostly the light taste of chicken's natural juicy flavor. Egyptian lamb Cleopatra, diced lamb cooked to melt in your mouth, with very light gamey taste, seasoned with sweet potatoes, toasted almond, sesame, preserved apricot, turnip, and olive oil. It's boasted to be one of chef Daniel 's dish for his wife during their wedding, according to one of their waiters.

Desserts= Chocolate "Zappa inglese", a tiny but flavorful slice of cake with light sweet taste of chocolate cream and roasted hazelnut. Grapefruit givré, a complex construction of dessert, you should check out how it's made online! Stuffed with plenty of grapefruit flavored ice-cream inside. The cold lowered most but not all of the bitter taste of grapefruit, with added texture from pieces of grapefruit pulp chunks, tiny marshmallows(?), caramelized sealer that looks like a net covering the opening of the frozen grapefruit, and fluffy cotton-like halva(?). Many layer of texture and flavor, by far the best dish of the whole night, IMO.

Earl Grey (black tea) with milk and sugar chunks, also offer an assortment of packaged sugar selections.

Tiny chocolate halva chunks(?), on the house, sweet little treat to end the night.

Service= The waiters/waitresses don't limit their service to their own tables, so they are fast and friendly, even patiently answered all of my questions regarding how to say the food name, and what the food are. The busboys/busgirls always remember to ask if you are done with the food before they take it back to the kitchen, and they always sweep the crumbs away. Over all, they are friendly, polite, fast, and informative, never forget to smile!

Coming from regular consumer of flavorful Chinese food, the flavor of Mediterranean food is a little underwhelming, but everything was very well cooked, and if friends are willing, I'd still come back to explore other items...

I'm not a person who is easily impressed by gimmicks and tricks,* but the bartender at Boulud Sud got me with the Spiked Apple. First of all, it's a single malt cocktail that is subtle and delicious. That in itself is a feat.** But even more astonishing is that they go to the trouble of making an APPLE out of ICE, complete with a cinnamon stick stem, and using it as a glass within your glass for your cocktail. A more perfect fall cocktail, I don't think there is.

And if single malts scare you, try the From the Field (Honey Comb and Lavender Infused Plymouth Gin, Lemon).

I found the food to be a bit less consistent than the cocktails, but there are certainly high points. The charred squid stuffed with chorizo was a meager portion, but excellent; the lamb loin was beautifully cooked and as tender as can be; the Iberico ham predictably melts until your mouth is weeping with porky deliciousness; and the farrotto side was so rich and flavorful that our table ordered another, despite being full to bursting. Each item that emerges from the Boulud Sud kitchen is artfully plated, and there is clearly no lack of skill.

That said, there are certain Items that I probably wouldn't revisit on a return trip: the daurade (their spelling, not mine), the crispy artichokes and the rabbit porchetta (not at all what I was expecting/hoping for; it was a cold terrine, which is unlike any porchetta I've ever heard of), for instance.

Truly, nothing was bad. We cleaned every plate and enjoyed every bite. Do I think there are better options in NYC at this price point? Certainly. However, the service is impeccable, the cocktails impressive, the restaurant itself gorgeous, and if you have the means you should treat yourself to a truly fine...

This restaurant was best described to me as a cafeteria and after dining here I could not agree more.

Beyond the decor and ambiance, we had the special pleasure of being there on an evening when there was cleaning going on and a strong chemical smell overshadowed any taste our main course and desert may have had. We saw two other tables complain - but the restaurant denied there was any smell at all. Then they blamed the grocery store next door. Its laughable because we could see them cleaning in the kitchen. I guess the courtesy to clean after closing is to high a bar for Boulud. Finally I had to get up and look around, find myself a table in a better ventilated area and move our group. This was at around 9:30-10pm on Sunday. There were around a dozen occupied tables when the smell started to come out.

Beyond the smell, that left me with an awful headache - the service and the reaction was unacceptable. The first lady to complain was treated as though she were imagining something. They outright tried to deny it was happening, were less than apologetic about it and didn't suggest any solutions.

If it were just myself and my husband - I would have left, but given we were with company I was trying to be as polite as possible. Turns out the other couple were doing the same and although I just had a bad headache, someone else in our party ended up with a migraine.

Go here if you want to waste your money, receive arrogant and poor service and all this in a cafeteria setting (remember high school). You will find this level of food at many many many restaurants in NYC - and honestly at these prices there are several reputable chefs in the City that will serve much more creative and better...