The Musket Room
Strawberry Shrub, Egg White, Gin, Vermouth
Sourdough Baguette, Gluten Free, Bacon Cheese, Whole Wheat with Butter and Black Salt
Mushroom Custard, Raw Mushroom, Herbs
Quail, Blackberries, Bread Sauce, Roasted Onions
Seared Foie Gras, Torchon, Brioche, Peaches, Mandarin
New Zealand Red Deer with Flavors of Gin
Duck, Zucchini, Huckleberries, Turnip, Jus
Pistachio custard, cherries and caramel
Chocolate torte, black mint ice cream and mascarpone
Cocoa Cashew Macaron
Newly pinned with a Michelin Star only days before our arrival in Manhattan but with reservations made a month prior I knew The Musket Room was going to be hopping, a fact confirmed when we arrived for our 8:30 reservation to find the bar 3-deep and people standing outside, our table directly juxtaposing said bar and the stone walls bouncing sound like an amp. At first debating taking the party elsewhere but eventually deciding to stick to the plan as we’d already had to make last minute alterations due to The Elm it took little time to be seated at the snug two top and with a young man named Matt clearly struggling to keep up with the crush service was surprisingly efficient with small gaffs here and there – a trend that carried over directly to Matt Lambert’s unconventional cuisine. Beginning first with a selection of breads from which you are oddly given a ‘choice’ of one or two, myself ignoring such rules and enjoying all but the gluten free which my sister pronounced was akin to removing saliva from your mouth with a sponge, and moving on to appetizers including the ambitiously simple mushroom custard and Au Pied de Cochon gluttonous Foie on Foie on Citrus it was not until primary plates took a turn from the exceptional; the deer with marshmallow tones truly astounding but the duck in a rendered turnip juice smelling akin to bile and entirely off putting, the well prepared protein better off without it. Moving last to desserts, the pistachio custard undoubtedly the better of the two given the variance in textures and sweet/savory balance, and finishing up with a pair of tiny macarons delivered inside a box with a check I can definitely see where and why Michelin opted to award Lambert’s cuisine…I just assume they missed the duck, got all the bread they asked for, and haven’t been back since their review packed the joint.
