Brushstroke: NYC

Date:  mardi 5 juillet 2011
Location:  30 Hudson Street
New York, NY  10013
Telephone:  +1 212 791 3771

Every so often, a new dining experience reminds you how fortunate you are to experience what most cannot even fathom.  Last night I visited my dear friend Seju Yang, the Wine and Sake Director at Brushstroke, Chef David Bouley's newest creation.  I was anxiuos to experience the wine and sake list that Seju developed himself.  I was awaited impatiently the savory, fine, delicate and dainty Japanese Kaiseki style dinner, a well orchestrated event from start to finish - similar to the first brushstroke on a blank canvas to the very last.  Brushstroke is David Bouley's answer to Japanese style haute cuisine in New York City. 

Sommelier Seju Yang has designed a custom wine and sake list which complements the dishes just perfectly.  Nope, you won't find any Bordeaux on this wine list.  "That's correct, because we do not serve hamburger here," Seju quips.  When Seju brought out our burgundy wine glasses and set them on the table, suddenly my already energetic and passionate energy further heightened.  Being passionate about my wines and accompanying mis en place is an understatement. 

I was captivated by the 2005 Domain Caillot Merusault La Barre Dessus Clos Marguerite.  This absolutely tasted like a Grand Cru to me.  The unmistakable minerals and stones became heavier as the wine opened throughout the evening.  I love these wines passionately.  One word on the nose and palate.  Flint.  Flint.  Flint.  This beauty opened up with increasing structure, precision, complexity, and charactered weightiness which lingered on my palate through all the evening.  You just don't get this kind of minerality out of a red wine.  Love affair with classic white Chardonnay.  So few understand it and rightly so.  Perhaps few deserve it. 

We savored the Meursault slowly throughout the four hours... and almost ordered another bottle.  However, we instead chose the 2000 Domaine Raymond Ussegleo Chateneuf de Pape - another bottle of soft velvety perfection from our friends in the Rhone.  As I write this, I grin to myself just as Seju chuckled to himself when we asked his opinion between the different wines we wavered between choosing.  You know a wine or sake is amazing when you ask Seju's opinion and he starts chuckling to himself in a sarcastic way in disbelief at the impressive quality of that wine.   

Our sophisticated kaiseki style dishes paired ridiculously well with our wines - oh, and just three other different bottles of very fine sake.  Fun, fun, fun. 

Four hours later, we closed the restaurant past 1am EST on a Tuesday night.   Well done, Soledad and company.  Bon appetit.