Sunday, July 16, 2006

Café D’Alsace - East 88th St. and 2nd Ave. (Upper East Side)

Café D’Alcase has quickly become one of my favorite New York restaurants is a relatively short period of time. On two visits, I’ve had and sampled about a half dozen of their Alsacian influenced dishes and have loves every single on of them. If you go, think about having the warm potato salad and a couple of their perfectly cooked sausages. All the entrees are fantastic with my favorites being their Baeckeoffe (lamb shoulder, oxtails, bacon, potatoes, and onion braised in Brooklyn Lager) and the classic choucroute garni (pork prepared as chops, sausages, and bacon serves with sauerkraut).

Topping all of this and making a must destination for beer lovers is their list of 120 beers from all over the world with a heavy emphasis on the classic regions of Germany and Belgium. Not to be overlooked is a very good wine list. Although I have yet to order wine here, I’ve noticed several good Rieslings on the list that I plan to try in future visits.

Desserts are very good with the best of the bunch being an excellent crème brulee.

Digestives are good too with some nicely prices ports and dessert wines. On my last trip I found a 1944 Royal Oporto Colheita for $23. Not cheap but when faced with an opportunity to try anything from 1944, I couldn’t pass it up. The port was light rudy red in color with notes of nutmeg, cherry, chocolate and cedar. Spices also abound with an emphasis on cinnamon and possibly clove. It had a lovely sleek mouthfeel with a long lasting finish. Amazing. The best port I’ve ever had.

This place is worth a trip.

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