Pete Wells Loves Le Bernardin, and the Yankees

revamped dining room at le bernardinLast year, towards the end of summer, Le Bernardin shut down for a month to get an overhaul from a team of architects and designers from Bentel & Bentel.  The restaurant reopened in mid September, and today, Pete Wells files a four-star review on his recent experience at the restaurant Eric Ripert has been the executive chef at for 18 years.

"People sometimes ask him (Ripert) if he gets tired of cooking fish. Clearly these people have never eaten at Le Bernardin. No other restaurant in the city makes the simple cooking of fish (and the fish at Le Bernardin is cooked simply, when it is cooked at all) seem so ripe with opportunities for excitement."

"Like nearly all the savory dishes, this one depends upon the kitchen’s expert sauciers, especially Vincent Robinson, who has been on the job since 1985. Standing over his stockpots, Mr. Robinson has the control of Mariano Rivera on the mound. (Get well soon, Mr. Rivera.)" 

You can almost taste the dishes as Wells points out combinations of flavors put together by Mr. Robinson, "When he blends bergamot with grapefruit and other citrus for lobster, or jalapeño with lime for fluke sashimi, the nip of acidity will touch down precisely on this spot of your tongue, and nowhere else."

Wells is happy to join the ranks of Times critics that have placed Le Bernardin at its most acclaimed, four stars.  "Why wait to say it: today I fall in line, happily, with my predecessors."