an amazing red tomatoe

Monday was the day for our best lunch in Manhattan. The food, the wine, the service, the space and the company at Rouge Tomate contributed to this fine two hour winter experience.

The building itself was an impressive piece of architecture. One more time I started with oysters, in this case coming all the way from New Brunswick. The pomegranate mignonette, crispy ginger and cilantro sauce was brilliant.

Pascaline, our French sommelier, was kind enough to bring for us an unusual glass of 1989 Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Gris -kind of old champagne-, plus a glass of Arnot-Roberts Chardonnay, both of them far away from our radars.

Later on we moved onto an interesting Pinot Noir, the first one I ever had from Oregon, which turned out to be a very nice one: The Eyrie Vineyards, 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve from the Original Vines. Apparently this is the first Pinot Noir vineyard ever planted in the state of Oregon.

Lynne chose a delicious black winter truffle risotto with wild mushrooms, Carnaroli rice, parmesan and squid ink, while Long Island duck a la plancha was the other main on both ends of the table, Tony's and mine.

Our thirst was managed with a remarkably elegant bottle of sparkling water by Mayim.

An element that caught my attention was the beautifully designed wood stair case heading down to the rest rooms.

Dessert was coming and it didn't take us very long to make it disappear: a Meyer lemon bomb sorounded by pomegranate, chamomile mouse and pine nut brittle.