My birthday celebration continued with dinner at Telepan with Josh’s family. Telepan has been on my radar since it was reviewed by the New York Times, but I never got around to trying it out. For my birthday, I was looking for a reasonably priced prix fixe menu and Telepan’s four-course tasting menu was a bargain at $59 compared to some other restaurants, so off we went.
The restaurant is divided into two long rooms and decorated with sort of a garden motif. I found it to be a bit flowery, but pleasant. We had some cocktails while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive.
A cosmo to kick the night off
I always do a menu reconnaissance before I go somewhere new, and I already had a few dishes in mind that I wanted to try so I waited until everyone else made their selections before settling on my own choices. Luckily there was a wide variety on the table, so I was able to taste a lot of the dishes that I was interested in. After we gave our orders, the bread man came by with a huge basket full of carby goodness. There was olive bread, ciabatta, and whole grain, and of course I had to try all three. They were warm but chewy, with no discernable crust. Still they had a lot of good flavor, and I’m never one to turn down bread.
Olive bread, ciabatta, and whole grain
Our meal started off with the amuse, which was actually three little servings set on a long wooden plank. First was a wedge of focaccia, like a slice of thick pan pizza topped with salami and pepperoncino. It had a nice kick to it. Next was a chickpea tuna salad on a round of toast. It was light and delicious, and not too fishy. Even Josh ate it, and he absolutely hates tuna salad. Last was a small cup of chilled cucumber soup, which had a slightly sour tang to it like it was mixed with yogurt. It was frothy and refreshing.
Three separate amuse bouches
For the first course, I started with the house smoked brook trout, served on a blini with sweet onion sour cream. It was really good but tasted very similar to other smoked whitefish salads I’ve had on bagels during Jewish holidays. I love smoked fish so I enjoyed every bit of it, but there wasn’t anything special about it to set it apart from other versions.
House smoked brook trout on a blini
Josh had the sunnyside duck egg, which was like the best breakfast food ever. The perfectly cooked egg sat on top of a thick slice of buttery toast. A bean salad underneath helped cut through the richness of the dish and lightened everything up.
Sunnyside duck egg
For the mid course, I had soft shell crab linguini with ramps and chilies. I considered this to be my “birthday noodle dish” for long life (it’s a Chinese thing), since I hadn’t eaten any noodles all day. While the flavors were spot on, with the ramps providing a nice garlicky base, I think the soft shell crab was past its molting stage, and was tough and chewy. The texture was really unpleasant and I had a hard time swallowing it. I eventually gave up and just ate the noodles, which was really too bad because I was looking forward to having this dish.
Soft shell crab linguini
Josh’s mid course of pea pancakes fared much better, and tasted like spring. The sweet peas were complemented by earthy mushrooms and fresh vegetables. I stole more than a few bites from his plate.
Pea pancakes
For his entree, Josh had pork three ways, which included pork belly, pork sausage, pork tenderloin. All the meats were perfectly cooked and tender. There was also frisee and white beans mixed in the dish.
Pork belly, pork sausage, and pork tenderloin
For my main course, I debated several options before choosing the halibut with crispy gnocchi, spinach, and chanterelles. Unfortunately, my fish was horribly overseasoned. I like salt and usually have a high tolerance but this was way too salty, even for me. I flagged down our waitress and told her about the saltiness, and she whisked my plate away with an apology. My replacement dish arrived quickly, which was great because I didn’t have to sit and watch everyone else eat for too long, and it was seasoned perfectly the second time. The halibut was deliciously meaty, and the accompanying gnocchi, spinach, and mushrooms were also cooked well and tasty.
Halibut with crispy gnocchi, spinach, and chanterelles
I ended up enjoying the dish a lot, and when the waitress came by to clear our plates, she apologized again and thanked me for letting her know the situation, so that they could rectify it. I guess a lot of people are usually too scared to send things back, myself included, but then they leave with an unfavorable impression of a restaurant. It’s easy to make a seasoning mistake, and it’s just as easy for them to fix it. If I hadn’t asked for a replacement, I would have left hating that dish and not enjoying the overall experience as much. But because the waitress was so nice about the situation, and I ended up with a fantastic plate of food, I left the restaurant happier than I would have been had I just let the incident slide. So in the end, I learned a great lesson – if you’re really unhappy with your dish, send it back! You don’t have to be obnoxious about it, just give the restaurant the opportunity to fix the situation. If they handle it poorly, well, you gave them a chance and now you know not to go back.
Ok enough of my rambling! For dessert, I ordered the lemon cake with lemon ice cream and blueberry sauce. The lemon cake was just ok, kind of like a dense lemony pound cake, but the lemon ice cream was fantastic. I’ve never had lemon ice cream before, only sorbet and sherbet, which is why I ordered this dish. The ice cream was rich and smooth and creamy, and just the right amount of lemon – not too sweet and not too tart. The “happy birthday” written on the plate was a nice gesture.
Lemon cake and lemon ice cream
Josh had chocolate hazelnut crème brulee with hazelnut cream crepes. This is a must order for nutella lovers. Although he found the crème brulee a little bit too runny on its own, it was perfect for dipping the crepe into. It was a very rich dessert and the portion size was just perfect.
Chocolate hazelnut creme brulee and hazelnut cream crepes
I really wanted to like Telepan, and there were so many glimpses of greatness that I think I’ll come back, just to give it another shot. But there were definitely also a lot of missteps, like the not-so-soft shell crab and the overly salty halibut. Still, the waitstaff was friendly and patient, and I left with a favorable overall impression of the restaurant. Even though they warn that the tasting menu portions are smaller than the a la carte portions, these were still fairly substantial serving sizes and I left the restaurant totally full. The four-course menu is more than enough food, and the three-course $39 prix fixe menu before 6:30 pm would probably satisfy as well. This restaurant has such potential, and hopefully the kitchen will be more consistent during my next visit.
Telepan
72 West 69th St. between Columbus Ave. and Central Park West
New York, NY
Tags: Prix Fixe, Upper West Side