First Crush

April 4, 2007

Last night, I joined some folks from one of my teams at work for a social work dinner at First Crush Restaurant . First Crush is located on a small street called Cyril Magnin close to Union Square. Yes, I've always wanted to try this place, and yes, I've heard good things.

To start, I had a Crush Kir Royale as an aperatif, and the Pan-Seared Scallops (seared fresh dayboat sea scallops on organic arugula with a saffron sauce). The saffron sauce jazzed up the perfectly seared scallops. I couldn't get enough of the saffron sauce.

One of the team members, Lauryn, wanted to capture her Asparagus and Prawn Spring Rolls (crispy spring rolls filled with fresh prawns, asparagus, red Fresno chiles and scallions with an orange-ginger reduction). Apparently, they were very tasty.

For wine, we all shared a bottle of the 2004 Hunter "Chasseur" Pinot Noir, which was lovely. It seems these days that I have yet to meet a pinot that I haven't liked.

In keeping with my rule of "order something that I don't make at home", I went for the Peppercorn-Crusted Sonoma Duck (pan-seared Sonoma County duck breast crusted in black peppercorns on parsnip puree and braised collard greens with a huckleberry reduction). The duck was very good. It was a little more cooked that I prefer, but still very tender. The peppercorns were also a little overwhelming on the crust, but the rest of the duck breast had wonderful flavor because of the peppercorns, so the dish had that going for it. The huckleberry reduction was really nice, balancing the bitterness of the collard greens and adding a little something extra to the parsnip puree.

I couldn't deal with solid dessert as I was perfectly full, so I opted for a glass of the Bonny Doon Vin de Glacier. John and Lauryn both had the Trio of Sorbets (blackberry-cabernet, raspberry-zinfandel & mango, with madagascar vanilla bean shortbread). Sophia had the fruit crisp of the day, a beautifully scrumptious poached pear crisp with vanilla bean ice cream. That crisp was the winner for sure.

In the end, we had a very nice meal at First Crush and I would definitely recommend it or try it again. One more restaurant off my list...

I'm off to NYC tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning, so the weekend re-cap coming up should be a good one!

Happy Easter everyone! Don't eat too many chocolate eggs!