THIS RESTAURANT HAS CHANGED LOCATIONS Tocqueville

THIS RESTAURANT HAS CHANGED LOCATIONS Tocqueville Restaurant Review:

Husband-and-wife team Marco Moreira and Jo-Ann Makovitsky make and serve extraordinary food with no pretension to an in-the-know (and knowing) audience. Chef Moreira is the Andy Goldsworthy of food---making beautiful creations from things found in nature, only his art is edible. Meals may start with a variety of artful raw seafood appetizers that layer luxuries of the sea: east and west coast oysters on the half shell; a sashimi tasting plate featuring a trio of salmon preparations, bass tartare and sea urchin; and sashimi and tartare of Japanese yellowtail and tuna, finished with a sevruga caviar dressing. Dinner continues in a culinary arc, much like a kaiseki dinner. It makes sense when you know the Brazilian Moreira got his New York start at a sushi restaurant. The intense saltiness and gritty bite of house-cured veal bacon with bits of black truffle are tempered by creamy Parmesan grits and petite quail egg. Moreira reinvents surf 'n' turf as an earthy combination of seared scallops paired with foie gras (as well as nicely chewy braised artichokes, fava beans and forest mushrooms) in a sauce of chicken jus and balsamic vinegar. And he is just as accomplished (and punny) with meat: Tocqueville's trademark dry-aged sirloin seared for sixty seconds to a perfect black-and-blue, and served with a poached aracauna chicken egg and circle of buttery toasted brioche, is steak and eggs for a refined palate. Equally accomplished desserts run from rustically delicious (sweet corn panna cotta) to sleekly sophisticated (a chocolate tasting: warm chocolate cake, chocolate milkshake and minted white chocolate ice cream). While Moreira reigns over the kitchen, unflappable Makovitsky oversees the calm, peachily monochromatic room that lets you focus on the magic on your plate.