BILL TELEPAN
Chef Bill Telepan knows what diners want, especially discerning New York diners for Restaurant Week. They want to experience the expertise of a chef’s cuisine for a fraction of the cost, and not a careless assembly of leftovers - and they know the difference. Telepan’s Restaurant Week menu was the former, and Todd English’s Ca Va Brasserie menu tasted like the latter. Let me preface by saying that I had never dined at either restaurant prior to this sampling, so I cannot compare it to what is regularly on the menu. This disclaimer provides Chef English the benefit of the doubt; perhaps his regular menu is much more thoughtful and flavorful than the one I sampled (one could only pray).
While the service was meticulously attentive and overtly formal at Ca Va (with the pristine smell of “corporate” permeating the air, as an appendage to a Midtown hotel), unfortunately the food followed in that sense of the generic. Every dish ordered lacked the character it seemed to promise in print. With the custom Restaurant Week choice of appetizer, entree and dessert, each category provided a selection of three. Both appetizers ordered were utterly flavorless, which will take you by surprise, as they are sublimely plated.
The tarte provencal was a beautiful puff pastry mounded with crisp artichokes, a tomato marmalade, and goat cheese. The tarte was cold and the pastry stale, tasting as if it had been sitting on a cafeteria buffet table. Similarly, the courbine cru diced fish deceives the eyes presented in a jar on ice, colored with chopped orange melons, and all resting in an enticing juice. With each scoop, I could taste neither the sweetness of fruit nor the freshness of fish: nil.
The entree and dessert courses were split one for one. The octopus was definitely the standout dish when compared to the penne with rabbit at the culinary level of an Olive Garden pasta dish - whatever that means for you. Heavy on the pasta and not on the sparse rabbit pieces, it sat in a puddle of plain juice. Flavor finally presented itself with the coil of well-cooked, tender octopus that sat atop satisfying risotto grains with garden vegetables. This harmonious blend got my vote, as it was the only plate scraped clean.
Don’t be fooled by the blueberry-lemon cheesecake, which did not taste like blueberry, nor lemon! Its whipped consistency was not that of a cheesecake either. But it was dressed with blueberries and fit the sweet bill of a dessert. What you should get for your last course is the assortment of ice creams and sorbets, which are reportedly made in-house. Mango and pineapple sorbet was the perfect palate cleanser, and the creamy coffee ice cream was supremely silky and satisfies your post-dinner espresso fix.
Thus if you do find yourself in the tourist-laden Midtown are and feel compelled to taste Todd English, all I can standby is the octopus and the ice cream at Ca Va. For all else on this Restaurant Week menu, I wish you the best of luck.
But you do not have to flip a Restaurant Week coin for luck when transporting to the tranquil Telepan. With a refreshingly professional yet relaxed staff, the air is breathable in this breezy restaurant. Another aspect that sets apart this find from the rest is their unique approach to the Restaurant Week menu challenge. Diners can choose for their three courses to consist of an appetizer, mid-course, and entree, or appetizer, entree, and dessert - though whatever you choose, the whole table must participate. And for $10 more for all four courses, you can have your cake and eat it too! This place has it right and an excellent dish selection to back it up, with six choices in each category. A true tour of Telepan may commence.
To begin, get the surprisingly light sunny-side up egg with fried green tomatoes. The yolk glistened with gooey perfection, dressing the crispy tomatoes and subtle cheddar cheese. Also, don’t miss the simply refreshing pickled beets served with a scoop of sweet beet-tinted bulgar, which had the pleasant mouth-feel of moist Japanese sticky rice.
For the mid-course, every guest should order the veal tortelloni: a truly stellar standout. So much so that it overshadowed the garlicky linguine with Peekytoe crab, which was a bit oily and had a pronounced parsley flavor. The two gorgeous pieces of home-made tortelloni encased perfectly tender veal shreds, whose meatiness was mirrored by earthy wild mushrooms. The doughy pasta was expertly juxtaposed by the crispy thin greens beneath it. The only problem: we only ordered one.
While the tortelloni cannot be surpassed, the wild striped bass for the entree came in a close second. Thick and meaty, with a slightly pink center, it separated into fork-tender flakes with expert ease. Served with a potato gratin cube and a wonderfully refreshing green tomato tartar, the balance was excellent. The roasted trout as an entree was a bit lackluster I must admit. Though a sizable portion, the fillet (and plate) was dressed with too much oil, and the five white beans it was specked with did not make much of a contribution. With a preamble of such excellent fare, this dish was admittedly at a disadvantage. But know you can pass over this dish when thinking fish. And while it’s not included in the prix-fixe, finish off with their dark and strong espresso. Actually, make it a double.
Evidently, Restaurant Week is a true toss-up. It leaves you wondering if a restaurant’s sample menu is a true sample of the cuisine, which can be a very promising or very disappointing discovery. How does one proceed when Restaurant Week comes to a close? All I can say is this: If you like it, then you’ve found a gem; if you don’t, return at your own risk.
Remember school lunch from the cafeteria? I remember buying bags of chips & cheese doodles mostly, also those whipped cream filled cakes… yodels I think? Or ding-dongs… I remember french fries were a staple and everyone got excited when it was chicken nugget day (aka nuggets of breading with a bit of chicken inside). In short, there was nothing healthy about it.
School cafeteria food has been the focus of media attention throughout the past few years as society’s new interest in healthy eating has trickled down to the educational system. Well-funded private schools began to outsource food providers that focus on well-balanced healthy meals that also taste good.
After President Obama’s two daughters started attending Sidwell Friends in Washington, DC, TMZ posted a copy of the cafeteria menu online. Snacks include zucchini bread, roasted veggie melts, organic spinach salad, fresh fruit, and graham crackers among others. It may be strange to refer to a school lunch as a main course, but that’s what these dishes sound like- cheese tortellini with garden marinara, spicy organic black bean tortillas, all natural Shepard’s pie, roasted chicken tenderloins… you get the idea.
Drink of Water blog posted up the lunch menu of Barcroft Elementary in Arlington Virginia to compare choices. The students at Barcroft can choose from corn dog nuggets, pizza dippers, and something called fish treasures. Children of less financially fortunate schools are fed grilled processed cheese sandwiches with barbeque sauce composed of ketchup and jelly, and it’s just not adding up.
Chef Bill Telepan not only agreed- he did something about it. Owner of NYC’s renowned Telepan restaurant, Bill Telepan has a reputation for incorporating fresh and locally grown ingredients into his cooking. Bill has been frequenting green markets since 1991, before it was the cool thing to do, and remains passionate about quality food. His passion has reached the kitchen of P.S. 87 on the Upper West Side, the elementary school where his daughter attends classes.
What began as a once-a-week volunteering gig in the cafeteria has turned into a revolution of the school’s entire food program. With the aid of Wellness in the Schools, an organization focused on bringing health and nutrition to NYC public schools, Bill Telepan is helping to make vital changes to the system.
“I realized people weren’t working well with what they have. Why open canned green beans first and wait for the [fresh] cauliflower to get old? Why steam canned ravioli for an hour? Take something as simple as a salad bar. If the lettuce is brown and all you have with it are some chopped onions, the kids aren’t going to eat it,” said Bill.
He began his mission by introducing a salad bar full of fresh produce and whole wheat pasta salad and by teaching kitchen workers how to prepare simple wraps and other recipes. Bill, along with the Wellness in the Schools workers, then worked towards the elimination of what they called “The Top 10 Bad Foods.” The list included breaded chicken products, french fries, cold cuts with nitrates, and corn syrup filled peanut butter.
The healthy lunch program has already expanded to P.S. 84 and Muscata/Amistad in Inwood, and is in the process of being introduced to eight more schools. And in a truly intelligent move, students from the French Culinary Institute have been recruited to help promote the program and balance out staff shortages.
Muscata parent association president Shannon Park explained, “Bill is a child advocate. He was able to answer questions about policy, school food politics, calories, sodium— all the things we really didn’t know. He could communicate effectively with the school food people. He believes you don’t need to dumb down to children. They deserve to have their palates inspired and they understand good-quality food.”
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