Restaurant Week outing #1: Mercer Kitchen, January 21

What's in the Pot at Mercer Kitchen?

NB: Restaurant Week is a (two week) semi-annual chance to visit some of New York's finest restaurants for a prix fixe menu of $24.07 and $35.07 for lunch and dinner, respectively. This is the first of several outings I plan to make.

Taste & See: It is a good thing I'm not the most knowledgeable source on where to "see and be seen," or my higher expectations for Mercer Kitchen, might have been disappointed. Sorry to say, unlike half the reviewers on Yelp, I didn't spy a single celebrity. Neither was I overly impressed with the entrees available for the restaurant week menu: a hamburger, roast chicken, and salmon. That's church picnic food, not what I want from a trendy New York celebrity-chef celebrity hangout.


Perhaps I'm biased. I'm not the biggest fan of "American Provencal," the cuisine celebrated at Mercer Kitchen. If deep down we associate eating out with an exotic treat, something we do not make for ourselves, an excursion to a new world-- perhaps it is natural I would be less thrilled with a renditions of the staples I grew up on, dressed up for the big city. Even when the chicken is tender, the hamburger patty is made from the highest quality beef, the mashed potatoes are infused with truffle oil, it still seems a little plain jane to me, especially at these prices. Tasty, well prepared, yes. Exciting, inspiring . . . not so much.

At least the appetizers and dessert were fabulous. I had tuna spring roll with soy bean puree ($15), a lightly fried spring roll stuffed with enough raw tuna to fill my mercury quota for a month. (Let this serve as the warning label for my tuna enthusiasm.) The soy bean puree was light and subtle, nothing like the baby-food mush the name conjured up. The plate was dressed with a soy sauce I suspect was caramelized with a bit of balsamic vinegar. The sweet but not cloying tang providing a nice contrast to the saltiness of the soy.


I sampled my friend's steamed shrimp salad with avocado, mushroom and tomato in a champagne vinaigrette ($15), which sounded a bit mundane. However, the unexpectedly full flavor of the light buttery sauce brushed over the jumbo shrimp made me raise my eyebrows in surprise and delight.


My slowly baked salmon, Brussels sprouts and truffled mashed potatoes ($24) was no competition for my dad's own salmon, grilled over a bed of onion rings in brown sugar, olive oil, butter and lemon juice. The portion was rather small and sad on the big white plate, a pale piece of salmon on pale mashed potatoes, enlivened only slightly by shreds of pale green brussle sprouts. As Franz Ferdinand says, you could have it so much better . . .


[I admit, now that I revisit this photo it doesn't look so bad, but it left a bland impression, which says something.]

Neither did the Roast Chicken with French Beans, Baby Carrots and Mashed Potatoes (not even with truffle oil!) nor the Niman Ranch Cheeseburger with Toasted Brioche Roll and French Fries ($18) thrill me.


If you want to make a fabulous roast chicken, try the recipe in last month's Cook's Illustrated. I assume you do not have this recipe,or you would have already stopped reading with a yawn, knowing Mercer Kitchen's roast chicken could not possibly compare. I shall print it, with photos of my own rendition, below.

Desserts were a much happier time. Never in all my life have I been known to resist a Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Bean Brittle and Vanilla Ice Cream ($10). The cake is a haughty little tart, a velvety dense outer layer that gives way to a gooey center, perfect for spooning up with melting vanilla ice cream.



The creme fraiche cheesecake with blood orange sorbet ($9) looked lovely with the shocking pink of the sorbet screaming against the fresh cheesecake. I must assume it was also delicious, because my friend finished it all without sharing.


The raw oyster bar was not included in the prix fixe menu; I can't imagine why?!


And now, the lovely French Chicken in a Pot, as presented by Cook's Illustrated. For those of you unfamiliar with CI's methods, their recipes involve extensive "scientific research" into the perfect techniques, ingredients and utensils for each step along the way. It is perfectionist cooking at its best, not something at which I excel. Yet for CI, I do my best to follow the directions to the letter.

However, their recipes look more like treatises and are far too long to reprint in their entirety. I can only hope this pared down version will not lead you astray on the path to tasty chicken:

NB: Chicken prepared this way is about flavor, not aesthetic beauty. It looks a little pasty because it is dry-cooked but the meat is incredibly rich and juicy.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat to 250 degrees.

Pat dry 1whole, high quality roasting chicken of approx 5 lb, giblets removed & wings tucked under back, and season with salt and pepper.

Chop 1 small onion and 1 small celery stalk into medium pieces.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large Dutch oven [Dutch oven-less as I am, I used a big metal pot] until just smoking.

Add chicken breast upside down in pan.

Scatter onion, celery, 6 cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, and 1 sprig rosemary around chicken.

Cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes, and turn over.


Cook until chicken and vegetables are well browned, about 8 minutes.


Remove pan from heat and cover with foil and lid [the goal is to cover tightly to keep in the liquid.]

Transfer pot to oven and cook until a thermometer reads 160 degrees in thickest part of the breast and 175 in thickest part of thigh, about 80 to 110 minutes.



Transfer chicken to carving board, tent with foil and rest 20 minutes.

Strain juices from pot into fat separator and extract solids.

Allow to settle 5 minutes, then set in saucepan over low heat.


Carve chicken, adding additional juices to saucepan.

Stir lemon juice into juices in pan to taste and juse as gravy as chicken is served.

Enjoy your very chicken-y chicken!