Caviar Russe, Midtown - He says...

I felt so guilty after we ate at Caviar Russe.  We’ve gorged ourselves in the past with heaps of cheap junk food, all-you-can-eat buffets, and 20 course tasting menus.  Despite all that, I never really felt like a glutton until this dinner.  Don’t get me wrong – the food was incredibly delicious.  But the dishes we had were so opulent and over-the-top that I couldn’t help but think we had committed some sin.

We’ve had a caviar tasting before at the Russian Tea room and had a lot fun.  So I was looking forward to having caviar the traditional way with blinis, sour cream, and minced red onions.  But looking at the menu, we were intrigued by the ‘Bites’ section.  It was essentially a list of relatively simple dishes taken up a notch by some luxurious ingredient, caviar of course being a major one.  To start, we got the gnocchi with caviar, which were 3 large pieces of gnocchi, each in its own spoon, smothered in a truffle cream sauce, topped with a teaspoon of caviar.  I think the gnocchi could have been smaller to complement the delicateness of the caviar.  But did it matter?  No, because it was still gnocchi with truffle and caviar and inevitably amazing.  We also got the caviar purses.  It was a play on caviar served traditionally (above) with the caviar, sour cream, and red onions wrapped in a large blini to look like a pouch.  I took it in one bite and realized it was the equivalent of eating 4 normal-sized blinis with caviar.  Did I need to eat 4 at once?  No.  Was it still awesome?  Yes. 

Probably my most favorite-est dish of the night was the FLT: foie gras, lettuce, and tomato.  Again, I was expecting a bite.  It turned out to be about 2/3 the size of a Shake Shack burger, which still isn’t that big but definitely not one bite.  The first bite I had was that “Oh my God”, “Wow”, eyes wide open, almost burst out laughing type of good.  How had no one served us this before??  The foie gras was perfectly seared and it wasn’t some dinky piece.  The lettuce and tomato actually held up to the richness of the foie and provided some crispness and acidity.  The bun was soft but slightly toasted.  It also added a nice sweetness to the
entire dish.  They should bag that up and sell it in a food truck – I would easily pay $15 for that any day.

There were 2 things we ordered that I could have done without.  We ordered caviar and eggs, which is exactly what it sounds like – scrambled eggs topped with caviar.  It really wasn’t anything special aside from the caviar of course.  For my entree, I got the steak tartare with lobster.  It looked so good on paper to me (I love steak tartare) but the tartare was a bit warmer than I’d like and it was lacking acidity and texture.  It could have been much better given the ingredients.  Looking back, I would have rather gotten another purse or FLT or foregone it all together.  She got lobster 3 ways, which was also tasty, but I think she thought we could have done without it.  I think these unnecessary dishes really put in that guilt for us. 

Caviar Russe is a great place to splurge on expensive ingredients.  I wouldn’t say it’s very creative, but I guess you don’t really have to be that innovative with good caviar.

Caviar Russe, Midtown - She says...

I have to admit that caviar is one of those luxury food items that he taught me to enjoy. Before moving to New York, I'd never tried it as it was meant to be eaten. Now, while I certainly don't crave it the same way he does, I appreciate how special it is - both as a garnish and showcased on its own. We'd already tried the Russian Tea Room, which was a strict caviar and vodka tasting, so now he wanted to try Caviar Russe.

I didn't know much about Caviar Russe until our waiter handed us two menus: the dinner menu and the retail caviar menu. Aside from caviar tastings, the dinner menu was focused on sushi and seafood. The caviar menu was a catalog of the caviar available for purchase. It made the experience feel a bit commercial, but it explained the different types and varieties of caviar so at least it was educational.

We started with an assortment of oysters, which were fresh and briny, followed by several "bites". The bites were served as single servings, so we ordered two of each. Again, we ended up being a bit over-zealous with our ordering, but it gave us the opportunity to try everything. I think we'd both agree that the FLT - foie, lettuce, and tomato "bite" served on a brioche roll - was the best, and most indulgent, item that we tried. It was deliciously gluttonous. The slightly roasted tomato provided sweetness to the buttery richness of the foie gras, and the lettuce added a hint of needed freshness and crunch. The bite was smaller than the average slider, but I still had trouble finishing it. He had no trouble finishing my portion.

Two of the more manageable bites were the caviar blini purse and the gnocchi. The blini purse was an elegant but simple serving of caviar wrapped in a warm blini. The gnocchi were delicious pillows covered in a truffle-infused creme fraiche, topped with dollops of American sturgeon caviar. Each "bite" came with three gnocchi, so we should have shared a single order. Still, they were delicious and the presentation was beautiful.


We also ordered the caviar and scrambled eggs. It seemed like a classic dish that we had to try, and we probably would have appreciated it more had we not just finished our FLT's. The eggs were simple, tasty, and would have been great as a brunch item.

Our entrees were the low point of the night. He had the steak tartare with lobster, and I ordered the lobster trio. Everything was served at room temperature, which was odd considering my trio included a lobster bisque, lobster salad, and lobster tempura. The lobster bisque was tasty, rich, and appropriately frothy. Unfortunately, the lobster salad was under-seasoned, and the lobster tempura lacked the light crunch of a good tempura - in fact it was almost soggy and tasted greasy. I would have rather had a few more oysters or taken more time to enjoy the bites, but now we know for next time.


Our meal at Caviar Russe was prompted by a Blackboard Eats deal. I doubt we would have tried it had it not been for this offer. The bites were undeniably delicious, but I think that had more to do with the decadence of the ingredients than the preparation in the kitchen. If we return, hopefully we'll be less distracted by the other dishes and focus more on the caviar itself - or consider simply purchasing a jar to enjoy at home.