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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Rouge Tomate- Haute Cuisine in Midtown/Upper East Side

Just a few sour apples here-- people rank this expensive place very highly on the whole.

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  • 10 E 60th St
    New York, NY 10022
    b/t Madison Ave & 5th Ave in Upper East Side
  • Transit information 4 5 6 6X N Q R Get Directions
  • Phone number (646) 237-8977
  • Business website rougetomatenyc.com
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Nikki H. said "Went here last night for the first time in my 11 years of living in NY- I know - shameful. I went to see Raheem DeVaughn and had a great time. But this review isn't about him. Ha! I arrived for the 8pm…" read more
    • 36 friends
    • 25 reviews
    11/6/2013
    1 check-in here
    Amazing.  I mean amazing.  Every dish, the wine pairing, the explanation around preparation.  And not crazy expensive.  The best dinner I've had in the last year (at least).

    The mushroom appetizer is flawless.
  • 12/12/2013
    2 check-ins here
    Listed in Date Night
    So you've spent some money across the street at Barney's and now it's time for lunch or dinner. Rouge Tomate is a great place to spend a bit more money on drinks and great "sustainable" food, whatever that means.

    I've been to Rouge Tomate once for a business lunch. My director insisted that we all go with the prix fixe "corporate" lunch menu which varies seasonally but it always consists of a soup or salad as a starter, a protein-ridden fish or meat as the entree, and a sweet or chocolately dessert. I had no complaints, since I wasn't the one that was going to dish out the $35-$40.
    I actually am in love with their squash soap but it comes and goes with the season. It is served during the colder months, just fyi but I am in love. It reminds me of the homemade soup that my grandmother used to make for me. It's soothing and nostalgic. And Rouge Tomate has put a heavy price on that, seemingly!! Hahaha

    First off- the venue! It's an amazing two floor restaurant. And extremely well-lit. That's something you can't find in most Michelin award restaurants, in my opinion. Very high ceilings add to the white tables, wooden floor, and columns, and the lucite stairs that lead you downstairs is something you've got to see for yourself as you head to your table or to the restroom. I think the top level is a better place to dine in, because there are booths to add to the extravagance. The bottom level is a bit more lounge-esque.

    Their Moscow mule is to die for. This has been the best Moscow mule I've had. They pour it into a chalice-like mug from what reminds me of the Renaissance era. Try it, you will not regret it!

    Their dinner food menu and drinks is the way to go. Rouge Tomate has been awarded 1 Michelin Star and it is well deserved!
    I think I always opt to go for their squid ink fettucini or their sweet bread. Their fettucini is filled with plenty of seafoods and the sauce isn't as heavy and detectable as the usual white or red sauce would be. It's a very light, garlic-infused pink sauce and olive oil.
    Their sweet bread dish is something that not everyone would like- it is an acquired taste but I do have a yearning for it, once in a while.
    I love oysters but maybe it's because I'm not a connoisseur but I can't really tell the difference between the ones they serve at Rouge Tomate and the cheaper ones that bars sell for $1 a piece during happy hour. $18 seems a bit much for a plate of 6-7 oysters.

    Perfect for those with the accommodating salary and a delightful treat for birthdays and anniversaries!
  • 12/11/2013
    There are alot of great things about this place, such as, they offer various juices, use sustainable produce, and have a lovely space and a back elevator. The down side of though is it gets unusually crowded with long wait times, even if you have reservations and the food is good, but not mind blowing.

    You really are paying for the ambiance, location, and fresh produce. We tried the various crudos, that were raved about, but I thought were okay. The beet and lobster salad was good as well as the truffle mushroom gnoki. The apple dessert was disappointing though.
  • 12/1/2013
    WOW! Once a haute east side dress shop five years ago, Rouge Tomate is a true stand out among NYC restaurants. Upscale and trendy with AMAZINGLY creative dishes and flavors. Rouge Tomate's dishes hit high culinary marks the likes of Jean Georges and others.

    Terrific brussels  sprout salad, entrees of venison, scallops, and more - all served with sauces and root vegetables of flavorful perfection.

    HOWEVER, there is a big problem with Rouge Tomate, service is terrible...for this high level of dining!  My dining companion and I are quite friendly, spend good money and tip well too. So, the wait staff should not "drop" their customers or forget about them! This amazing restaurant could be 5-stars with ease. Rouge Tomate begs for  more professional and attentive wait staff - rather than minimally trained twenty something's who know not what they do.

    If the proprietors can put it all together (i.e. amazing food and great service) Rouge Tomate could be an unstoppable force in the NYC restaurant world.

    But again, wow!
    • C K.
    • San Francisco, CA
    • 16 friends
    • 14 reviews
    12/23/2013
    Fantastic food, exceptional service, and a great experience. Glad I could do it with my ladies.
  • 12/24/2013
    Seated via OpenTable
    Food was very creative and amazing! I love a restaurant that puts veggies first, and I'm saying that as the girl that ordered the rare (and delicious) venison. We didn't realize that the restaurant has a michelin star until we were leaving.

    Dropping a star because the glass of wine was tiny. It is literally a small glass and we got a short pour. I can't imagine that we were served any more than 4 oz for an $18/glass wine.

    The waiter was a bit unfriendly too. Just mentioning that because so many reviews complimented the service.
  • 12/16/2013
    It was a blizzard outside on 12/14 however it was wonderful and warm inside Rouge Tomate.  The staff was fun, knowledgeable and accommodating and the food was absolutely delicious.  My sea bass was succulent and the drinks were imaginative and also amazing.  I definitely recommend this spot and I look forward to going again soon!
  • 11/23/2013
    1 check-in here
    So happy about the choice to come here. Came here for a double date on a Thursday, and they were completely accommodating to hold our table cause one of us was running a little late. The bar does a lot of seasonal drinks, and I had the pecan pie manhattan, which was just sublime.

    We opted for a much of regular dishes rather than the tasting menu.

    Spaghetti squash toast - really nice flavors and play on texture between how the spaghetti squash and crab meat both shred into strips. Nicely done.

    Nantucket bay scallops - raw marinated large bay scallops, with a little bit of citrus. Nice, clean flavors here.

    Sweetbreads and tongue - this was one of those dishes where the individual components didn't really make sense. The sweetbreads were plump, crispy, and delicious as a standalone piece. The tongue was prepared in the style n flavor of corned beef and served over picked veggies reminiscent of sauerkraut, which paired perfectly with the corned beef. I just don't know those corned beef flavors go with the sweetbreads.

    Local monkfish - so they always say monkfish is a poor man's lobster, and I kinda agree. It is meaty like a lobster tail and flavorful, without being fishy. You could pass it off as a lot of other things. The accompaniments of mushroom and black garlic spaetzel were really nice.

    Chocolate icebox cake - don't recall all the details of this, but it was kinda like a moist cookies and cream brownie with sea salt. So, so good. One of the best desserts I've had in a while.

    Also tried a bite of the wife's venison, and the meat literally melts in your mouth. You could seriously cut it with a spoon.

    This place was really satisfying for us all. We probably ended up spending about $260 per couple all in, after our 20% savored discount. We did have a fair few drinks and 2 bottles of wine.

    Really recommend giving this place a go, but be prepared to spend.
  • 11/13/2013
    Seated via OpenTable
    Do the tasting menu and wine pairing. Please, for your own sake! Delicious food, and the wines were interesting and fun.

    The price per person was about $150, which is more than reasonable for a Michelin-starred restaurant tasting in NYC.

    The only complaint I had was the waiter wasn't very friendly. He wasn't rude at all, but just felt a little distant. He did know a lot about the wines which is nice.

    Would definitely return.
  • 11/26/2013
    1 check-in here
    The flat breads were the best part of the meal.

    Nothing was bad but nothing was particularly striking either. Very trendy, business type atmosphere and thus, not really my scene.

    In terms of high end dining, I've done my fair share and I can't say it was really memorable for me.
  • 10/31/2013
    1 check-in here
    Rouge Tomate, I've walked by this place so many times, I'm surprised I've never really noticed it.  On my quest to try to get reservations into Le Bernadin or Per Se, my failure to secure a table led me to Rouge Tomate.  Thankfully this Michelin starred restaurant is actually possible to eat in without having to be the first person to call in 3 months in advance.

    The interior of Rouge Tomate is impressive for its midtown location.  The restaurant is spacious, modern, and absolutely beautiful.  With an upstairs and a downstairs, you can appreciate that tables are spaced far enough apart that you don't have to overhear other people's conversations, or move a table aside so the other table can get out.  This restaurant is so impressively large, they have multiple private dining areas including one that has its own dedicated kitchen.

    We opted to try their seasonal tasting menu at $89 which is an absolute steal compared to other similarly rated restaurants.  I chose to pair it with their cocktails and away we went.  First up was a trio of amuse bouches.  The oyster, followed by panna cotta, followed by a soft boiled egg and mushroom/lobster.  Out of the three I enjoyed the oyster the most.  I found the panna cotta very one note in flavor with the savory panna cotta accented by an abundance of caviar.  The farm egg continued this theme of awkfward salty/savory flavors.  As I was getting slightly disappointed by the initial start, I was happy to receive the hawiian walu.  It finally woke up me up with more than a simple one note flavor profile I had just had in that boring progression of amuse.

    Following the walu was their autumn squash soup, fantastic flavor and certainly made you think of Fall.  The best dish of the night came next which was their pacific black cod, perfectly executed, perfect seasoning, and boy of boy could I eat a triple portion of that.  Our last savory course of Squab and foie gras came.  As much as I love foie, it was not the best I've had by a long shot, it was actually pretty disappointing, I did however believe the dish was a success.  Finally, I thought their desserts fell flat.  Since it was essentially squash three ways, you could imagine it being pretty dull in sweetness.  The souffle, smores, and ice milk were just a little too muted in sweetness than I would normally crave for a dessert.  Also the cocktail pairing was the worst with this dish and simply did not work.

    Overall the service from the front of the house at Rouge Tomate were fantastic.  They were attentive, friendly, described the dishes in great detail, and certainly one of the best I've had in the city (still no Ramsay though).  The kitchen however was in my opinion a bit slow.  They were off to a great start at the beginning of the meal but it seemed that they took longer and longer to churn out the rest of the courses as the night went on.  We had reservations at 7:00 and we weren't out of there until 9:00.  Although the tasting menu portions were quite tiny (as to be expected), I left feeling satiated and definitely felt like I got my money's worth.
  • 10/22/2013
    My friend and I ate dinner here for an event -- she threw up 4 hours later and I threw up 10 hours later.

    My friend ordered: Kale salad, duck, sorbet
    I ordered: Ceviche, branzino, sorbet

    --

    Update: The restaurant followed up with me shortly after seeing my Yelp post. I received an e-mail yesterday that they are diligently looking into the cause of this. They suspect it was the Paw Paw sorbet - made of a new fruit ingredient they are using, which sometimes causes symptoms that my friend and I experienced.

    The restaurant said they reached out to the purveyor and are working with him and the farmer to make sure that other restaurants are notified on how the fruit should be handled and any risks that may be involved. They also said all traces of the fruit and the sorbet have been removed from the restaurant, and offered me the opportunity to dine there again on the house.
    Peter E.
    Comment from Peter E. of Rouge Tomate
    Business Owner
    10/24/2013 Hi Emily,

    Please contact me as soon as possible so I can look further into what happened.  This is…
    Read more
    • 287 friends
    • 550 reviews
    11/16/2013
    Seated via OpenTable
    The space is like the food -- light, clean and modern. Particularly cool that there's a legit list of mocktails.

    Sit across the chasm from another table of friends and fly paper airplanes back and forth.
  • 10/24/2013
    Tried this place on a whim tonight. Am traveling through NYC on work business and, unexpectedly, had the evening free. If you look through my reviews, you'll see that I am a frequent business traveler, which also means that I am a frequent solo diner. One of my requirements for a good review is if the restaurant staff still made me feel like a valued customer, even if I am just one guest that evening. On this front, Rouge Tomate excelled -- I don't know that I have been better cared for in a restaurant.

    The food was also excellent, with the risotto moving into the "memorable experience" category. Their housemade ricotta cheese (see a picture) is also extraordinary.

    I was glad to find a restaurant that actually served bread as humans know it. For years, restaurants have been into carb-shaming -- serving these little remnants of bread, and then expressing shock if you ask for a second piece. Rouge Tomate serves a normal, human-sized slice of hearty bread as an appetizer.

    The down side of this is, well, that it is a normal human-sized slice of hearty bread, and thus a little difficult to eat graciously. You can either tear off individual bits of bread to eat piece by piece, or, you can try to gnaw through the crust, leaving a puddle of wheat crumbs all around you. Clearly, I opted for the latter.

    Also, I did not find the amuse-bouche that amusing. Tonight, it was some kind of roasted beet thingie with a horseradish something overlayed, topped by caviar. One, they had already forgotten that I was vegetarian, but, no biggie -- let's not just toss that roe out because a mistake was made. But the horseradish thingie was fizzy and biting, as horseradish will be. But because it was whipped up into a mousse, it left me with a sensation of "danger" -- like the fizz of food that has spoiled. For me, not that amusing.
  • 10/18/2013
    Food: Nothing wrong with our dinner but not the most exciting menu, fair.

    Service: Nice and polite

    Wine: Good selection

    May be 1 Michelin, felt a bit sterile.
    • 33 friends
    • 49 reviews
    10/11/2013
    I loved Rouge Tomate! Perfect dinner, right sized portions and solid drinks. The tomato/burrata and Concord grape/fois gras/peanut toasts were incredible, as was the eggplant tartare. For mains the lamb loin was delicious and the Bronzino was perfect.

    Everyone rants and raves about the chocolate sphere for dessert but to be honest it wasn't all that... I'd skip it for the roasted pear instead.

    Overall it's an excellent place and definitely worth the price.
  • 10/11/2013
    Beautiful restaurant with an immense amount of flavor in every dish.  Make sure you pace yourself and eat everything slowly to truly appreciate the flavors.

    Cocktails: They have an eclectic drink menu, that features an exciting mix of different juices. I had the Pear Crisp and loved it.

    We decided to have the Seasonal Tasting Menu (89), and it's about 7 small dishes brought to you in spacious intervals.  We arrived at 8:15 pm, and spent four hours at the restaurant chatting and enjoying the food: http://www.rougetomateny…

    Many of their dishes on this tasting menu center around squash, as it is currently in season, and interestingly enough, many of their dishes feature different types of foam.
    Highlights from our dinner included the Autumn Squash Soup, the Hawaiian Walu, and the Branzino a la Plancha (the fish in this dish was amazing--the outside was crisp, and the inside perfectly moist and juicy).  The main entree, Thomas Farms Squab, which includes Foie Gras, was good but too salty. Also, the bread that they served actually seemed a little stale(!), but the two spreads to put on the bread (ricotta cheese and a delicious pumpkin puree) made up for it.

    It is a pricy, but it is a wonderful experience.  So clear out your evening, sit back with good company and revel in the flavors.
  • 9/16/2013
    1 Michelin Star.. Chef Jeremy Bearman

    This was a random selection around the area after a nice massage session not too far down the same street.  I always passed by the Rouge Tomate cart and always wondered how their food were.  Next time, I am definitely going to stop by their cart since the menu seems delicious and casual for a picnic in the park.

    The venue itself is very sleek, chic, modern, and sexy with its red accents for the "Rouge" theme emphasis.  It was very spacious with 2 levels and is located right smack in the hussling and bussling of midtown east, near the shopping and working area.

    I am glad we got to try this place out and maybe I just ordered the wrong dishes or maybe it was an off night that day!  I was not too impressed with my dish, which was the seared salmon (specials menu) while my friend has the almond crusted sea scallops, and definitely enjoyed it.  I took a bite of his and liked his dish more too with the strong asian inspired curry flavor of the sauce that came with the scallops.  We were also given an amuse bouche of summer corn soup with diced tomatoes.  It was light and refreshing.  I thought their butter and sauces for the side bread was a bit interesting.  I didn't really enjoy it at all.  I know this restaurant is about fresh ingredients which I can see how they incorporated into their well plated dishes but maybe I just have to give it another try some other day!

    I didn't get to leave this restaurant feeling satisfied happy.  Instead, I came out feeling like I just ate any other regular meal on any other day, but of course with a higher $$$. :/
  • 11/25/2013
    Seated via OpenTable
    Highly recommend the Fall tasting menu with paired Cocktails. For the extra $45, the 6 cocktails which we tasted made a big impression, and add complexity to the excellent dishes.
  • 9/4/2013
    1 check-in here
    For sure, Rouge Tomate is one of my favorite restarants. What I really think Rouge Tomate is unique from other restarant is that they utelize lots of different vegetables and greens in their dishes. Even in a seafood dish, the chef garnished with fresh unique ingrideients. You don't find it bore, you get a good surprise when you are eating each dishes.

    For dessert lovers, please must give it a try of their "Bittersweet Chocolate Sphere", it is one of the best dessert I've ever experience. Yes I said Experienced, you will see it when you order it. Its sensational!
  • 11/4/2013
    Midtown Restaurants are usually "Meh" ... they may have a nice atmosphere , but are generally Tourist friendly. That means average food compiled with touristy chackas so everyone feels like they got a "local" flavor of The Big Apple.
    The restaurant was brand new the very first time we ate here it was truly good.
    Big Stylish Restaurant ,easy to locate and park, beautiful friendly staff with prompt service.
    Six months went by with good memories from the first time  we brought the partners along the second time. Still nice, comfy 6 seater white curtained booths were perfect for conversation and laughter. This time though we had to send back a drink or two and had issues with the service. OK..no biggie..
    A year later the third time we ventured with one another couple. Starting from the wait time after we made reservations it all went downhill. Poor service from inexperienced  staff, average cocktails , bad food , cold coffee.
    Needless to say that was our last time.
    How fast city restaurants slide downhill ....it remains a mystery to me.
  • 10/31/2013
    FOOD:
    Note: Rouge Tomate serves clean, organic, healthy, high-end, contemporary food. They do this probably better than any other New York restaurant, but the rub is, is this what you want from a Michelin-starred restaurant? It may be, however we were looking for something a fewer caloric restrictions and more of an opportunity for indulgence. That said, no what you're getting into. Ordered prix-fixe "business lunch". Started with a wonderful gazpacho, however the taste of the food progressively declined with each course. Ordering dessert at RT is pointless; they're that bad.

    SERVICE:
    Michelin level service. Knowledgeable staff. Friendly and down to earth.

    DECOR
    RT serves food in a beautifully modern, albeit somewhat antiseptic, space.

    PRICE
    Very well priced for the quality of food and service.

    OVERALL
    This place is a value, especially for those looking to eat healthy, organic food. If you are looking for indulgence, this is not to place for you. If you are looking for high-end healthy, nobody does it better.


 

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