& REVIEW
Sarah^ Boyumrichness. The meat was a ropy, rare spinalis
steak napped by a syrupy Bordelaise sauce
that was not marred by too much salt, as
reduction sauces too often are.
The penultimate course was the only
misstep, in which a too-large scoop of fro-
mage blanc sat on a pool of melted butter
that gave the soft cheese an odd movie-
theater-popcorn flavor. But the kitchen,
led by chef de cuisine Charles Mathews,
recovered with a lovely dessert of thick
mango pudding and coconut sorbet.
That tasting menu proved Morin could
deliver on its culinary promises. But it
took me three meals to get there. An
earlier lunch and dinner, both chosen à
la carte, were uneven. For every crudo of
razor clams—ocean-fresh and brightened
with yuzu and pickled shallots—there was
a disappointment, like the pain au lait,
a sweetbreads-filled take on the super-
trendy Japanese “katsu sando”; the Morin
version was custard-y with no requisite
crunch. And while I praise Morin’s lobster
“consummé” (though not its spelling)
for shell-flavored purity, the pseudo-
shrimp-toast
accompaniment
was pretty but
rather bland.
I liked a simple, zingy salad with frisée,
Little Gem lettuce, and preserved lemon
but found a celery root salad with truffle
and parsley “pistou” (a pine-nut-free cousin
of pesto) lacking in truffle aroma or pistou
vibrancy. Potato beignets were fantas-
tic—soft little mashed potato cakes with a
tangy black garlic vinaigrette—but a main
course of lamb chops with a fava bean ra-
gout was marred by spongy meat.
The aforementioned “poulet au vin
jaune,” traditionally a country dish from
the Jura region featuring chicken, morels,
cream, and white wine, was made with
great cooking-academy effort: The chicken
Sweet Treat
Morin’s coconut
sorbet and mango
pudding dessert