On Sunday night, Shawn’s friend Henry took Bob and me to a restaurant in Manhattan called davidburke & donatella. Let me say that this was one of the best meals I’ve had in a very long time. For appetizers, Henry started with the “Grains of Paradise” crusted beef carpaccio with crispy rock shrimp, pickled honshimeji mushrooms and kabayaki, which was my favorite. I had the lobster-lemongrass bisque with a thai style lobster stick (it looked like a stick of dynamite) and curried apple essence, which didn’t resemble lobster bisque at all, but still tasted wonderful. Bob had the parfait of yellowfin tuna & salmon tartares with American Sturgeon caviar, which Henry really liked. The entrees were all spectacular. Henry had an amazing “Bronx style” filet mignon of veal with a butternut squash-vanilla purée, cipollini onions and baby carrots. Bob had a delicious and subtle handmade cavatelli and braised short ribs with wild mushrooms, mushroom chips and truffle mousse which was Henry’s favorite. I had the bacon wrapped
Muscovy duck with roasted mission figs, celery root purée and pomegranate jus, which Bob loved. For dessert, we shared the butterscotch panna cotta with curried cocoa gelée, the patented David Burke’s Cheesecake Lollipop Tree with bubblegum whipped cream and raspberries, and a three part chocolate/banana confection, all of which were spectacular.
Another great thing about this restaurant was the artwork. The prints on the walls were all taken from Tony Meeuwissen’s collection of transformation playing cards known as The Key of the Kingdom.