The Modern
The Modern review at-a-glance
Awards: Two Michelin Stars
Verdict: This was actually the first US-based Michelin restaurant I have been to since I started my European tour of the stars and I have to say, there was a very New York feel to it. From being asked if I was going to see a show after (isn’t an 8 PM tasting menu enough entertainment for one night?) to the sleek interior and type of clientele, this felt very different than a meal in Europe for better and worse. Even the food reminded me a bit of NYC, with high-class dishes coming out briskly but feeling a tad structured and cold.
While I can’t find many dishes to criticize, I also can’t find many to heap praise on. Other than the signature “eggs on eggs” (which was great), most of the dishes checked all of the boxes you expected them to check but failed to entice much of a reaction. The Modern will fit the bill if you are looking for a well polished Michelin meal but I am not sure it will bring much excitement.
Rating: 87/100
Visited: June 2022
Price I Paid: $250 for the tasting menu
Value: 10/20
The Modern and Chef Thomas Allen background
Like many travelers in the summer of 2022, a flight delay injected a bit of chaos into my day by causing a missed connection and an unexpected overnight stay at JFK airport. While not ideal, I decided to ignore the jet lag and make the best of the delay and head into the city for a spontaneous Michelin dinner. While I couldn’t get into a few of my top choices on short notice (Atmoix, Aska, Atera), I settled on the Modern mainly to try its signature caviar dish.
The restaurant is tucked into an unlikely location for a two Michelin restaurant - New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (or maybe art museums are a likely location given Enrico Bartolini’s three star in Milan is in the Mudec). Part of the Danny Meyer Union Square Hospitality Group (even after selling Eleven Madison Park to its chef, the group still has multiple starred restaurants and famously founded Shake Shack), The Modern has a slick dining room with towering ceilings and a view of the Rockefeller Sculpture Garden which seemed to be hosting some sort of event on my visit.
Chef Thomas Allan is quite the phenomenon having worked up the ranks of the USHG including stops at Blue Smoke and Eleven Madison Park before earning the title of executive chef at The Modern in 2020 at the young age of 30. In between his time at USHG restaurants, Chef Allan also moved to Paris to work as a sous chef at Le Meurice under three star chef Yannick Alleno. I found Chef Allan’s food at The Modern to be much closer in style to the (pre-vegan) version of Eleven Madison Park than the modernist style I had at Ledoyen.
You do not have to think about much when ordering as only a $250 tasting menu is offered (~$325 when you factor in tax and tip). If you are looking to sample chef Allen’s cooking without fully committing, The Modern also has a Bar Room with an a la carte menu that has similarly elevated fair including some of the dishes I had in the main dining room. For cocktail lovers, the existence of the Bar Room is a blessing as there is a pretty extensive cocktail menu (something I find very lacking at even the most luxurious Michelin restaurants) with each drink ringing in at $19. There is also a pretty lengthy menu of beer ($13-$26) and wine by the glass ($19-$36). If looking to go by the bottle, The Modern’s wine list runs 178 pages deep with a handful of bottles priced in the $80-90 range.
What I ate at The Modern
I have grown accustom to quite elaborate sets of nibbles to start meals in Europe so I was a bit disappointed to see the kitchen send out a solitary amuse bouche of Chesapeake bay crab on a small crisp. This was quite alright, the sweetness of the crab coming through nicely and the texture of the crisp spot on but something more elaborate would have been appreciated.
The amuse was followed up the signature of The Modern - “Eggs on Eggs on Egss”, a cleverly named dish of caviar, egg yolk, and toasted brioche. This was a luxurious take on eggs and soldiers, the childhood classic where a softboiled egg is served with toast “soldiers” for dipping into the runny yolk. The addition of caviar and dill to this classic combination was smart, the caviar adding its signature salinity and bursting in your mouth to contrast the creamy mouth feel of the yolk. This was quite rich so the pickled shallots added a welcome dose of acidity even if I would have appreciated a few more of them. Overall, a well-put-together dish that lived up to its reputation (and was the main reason for my visit).
The second course was a dish of raw hiramasa with sugar snap peas and foie gras. This was light plate which provided a good contrast from the very rich opening course. The seasoning on the fish was spot on and the green strawberries were nice and tart, lifting up the fish’s flavor. That said, the sugar snap peas were mostly pedestrian and a far cry from what you get at European starred restaurants. The foie also seemed like one ingredient too far, making the presentation messy and mostly for show as the signature rich fatty flavor of the foie was mostly absent.
Staying with seafood, the next course was roasted lobster, with spinach and olive oil. I quite liked the sauce work here, a take on sauce américaine with a deep flavor and quite a bit of surprising heat (a tad too much if I am being honest). The lobster was excellent quality (the perks of NYC not being far from Maine) and cooked accurately while the greenery added a bit of earthiness and grounding. I wouldn’t say the flavors danced off the plate but the sauce in particular was of a very high standard.
Moving to meat, the kitchen sent out a dish of smoked potato ravioli, sweetbreads, and bordelaise sauce. This was topped with a shaving of Australian black truffles which typically come with a $50 supplement although the chef kindly added them for free when he heard I was fresh off a plane from Europe. This featured pretty classic flavors with truffle, sweetbread and silky potatoes, not exactly a groundbreaking combination but still excellent. The sweetbreads in particular were a joy, well crisped on the outside but still silky smooth on the inside. The morels were also of good quality but perhaps a tad late in season to be fully at their peak. While well made, I can’t say this holds a candle to the black truffles and sweetbreads at Waldhotel Sonnora. I also question whether charging a supplement for the truffles is really necessary given the cost of menu and I am not sure the dish really works without them.
The main course was dry aged duck, almonds and summer squash and while the sauce was excellent with plenty of punchy citrus notes, the duck itself was a tad disappointing with the skin limp and somewhat under rendered. While it was still a flavorful piece of meat, in such a stripped-down dish the execution needs to be perfect and I didn’t think this one met that standard. Fine but not exceptional.
While the savory courses were of a high standard, the pastry section was a let down. Pre-dessert of a poached peach with lemongrass granita was well put together but de rigueur, the lemongrass flavor subtle but present, and the peach having good texture. The Modern’s main dessert was chocolate with crunchy almond and rum, the presentation reminding me a bit of the dessert at Eleven Madison Park some years earlier. While the flavors were enjoyable enough, I thought this could have been more refined both in textures with the ice cream not being particularly smooth, and the presentation which seemed a tad sloppy.