Cosme opened in NYC (cosmenyc.com) at 35 E. 21st St. about 2 years ago under the name of the great Mexican chef Enrique Olvera. It's been virtually impossible to get a reservation there for quite some time but when we decided to spend our Thanksgiving Friday night at the nearby Edition Hotel on Madison Square I made it my business to get a reservation for the three of us on Friday night.
When we arrived at 6:30 the place was already leaving and we were not too fond of the sustained droning bass noise for what they seem to call music. Over the evening the music did improve and I didn't feel like I needed to leave faster due to the unbearable drone.
While the place is noisy the decor is simple and they have wooden tables with exposed floors making for even more noise. There is some modern Mexican art on the wall that wouldn't be worth taking home but what they did have surrounding the entire room were small humidifiers really making a very nice difference on an extremely dry cold New York night.
Server Victor could not have been more courteous giving us as much time to peruse the trysting drink menu as well as the fairly small food menu which consisted of no more than 20 items. Will ordered a plain Margarita while I ordered a Striptease which was Vida Mezcal with Dolan vermouth Blanc guanabana and lime as well as the most awesome absinthe salt surrounding half of the glass. It was quite strong but really delicious.
I chose the Huarache which was a large tortilla fairly thick filled with surf clams and marcona almonds as well as a lime kosho salsa verde on the side..superb.
Will started with the Burrata which was made with epazote garlic mojo and Market greens.
Samuel chose to go right to the main course of short ribs scallions Cipollini onions and avocado and of course all of the main courses that were meant to be wrapped in tortillas had the most delicious freshly baked tortillas brought right to the table from the kitchen.
Will and I decided to split the main course of their signature dish called duck carnitas with onions radishes and cilantro. The dish is cooked for over 8 hours and the duck is deconstructed and then reassembled to bring to the table so that it looks like a duck but has no bones in it with all the crispy skin layered on the top. You must see my Facebook page to totally understand this. These came with fresh limes which made the dish so much better as well of course as the tortillas and two sauces one was a tomatillo chili and a spicier Serrano and Chile de Arbol.
At $72 it is a huge dish and Samuel help us finish it off luckily because it really is meant for 3 or 4 people at minimum, but we were truly glad we decided to order it.
We have always enjoyed our Mexican wines each time we go South of the border and sadly there are virtually none imported into the United States. The chef has chosen here to import his own wine called Tinto de la Casa which comes from Vina Cava in Guadalupe of the Baja Peninsula and it is a chocolate intense 2012 blend of Tempranillo, Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache that makes you proud of any Mexican wine with a huge burst of flavor in every sip.
Will ordered a delicious warm apple crumble tart with ginger cacti and mezcal vanilla ice cream that was out of this world and then some delicious fruit gelees arrived at the table which were made from Tamarind and dusted with a Chile de Arbol sugar.
So maybe it's a bit noisy and maybe it took us a while to get used to the music but the food experience here was definitely worth it.
