Spring Fever
Fauchon’s Florian Bellanger must be spending time frolicking in the garden these days, chasing butterflies and gulping fresh spring air. How else to explain the batch of kooky-sounding ice creams and sorbets we recently received in the mail? Toulouse-violet, peach-lavender, rose-petal—we were skeptical at first, but with the exception of that last one, which left us thinking of French bath soap, we found a delectable harmony, especially in the sorbets. Both the intensely tart lemon-basil and the raspberry-chili-pepper, with its subtle, irresistible heat, work equally well as an intermezzo palate-cleanser and as a summer dessert.
Fauchon
1000 Madison Avenue, near 77th Street
212-570-2211

Ask Gael
Well, are we amused by Amuse?
That name—it makes me gag. But I’ll overlook that for chef-co-owner Gerry Hayden’s luscious little porcini-stuffed arancini and the fat sardine heaped with sweet and tart balsamic-roasted onions in parsley pesto. My Village pal mourns the loss of the mellowed old Tonic taproom, lost in the spiffed-up cool of Amuse, but we’re both seduced by the chef’s vibrant ways—as in grapefruit-marinated fluke with ginger crisps and the lush asparagus-and-sweet-pea risotto. The menu of “tastes for sampling and sharing” divided by price is eccentric but not as annoying as Craft’s. Even les nouveaux pauvres can eat well, with enough savory options at $5 and $10. We happily divvy up rustic orecchiette in spicy duck ragù and lacquered squab on curried couscous (only $15) and rare peppered duck breast as meaty as sirloin. As a sworn enemy of herb-zonked dessert, I’m relieved I can barely taste cilantro in the lime granita on pineapple tartare.
Amuse
108 West 18th Street
212-929-9755