SADLY, AUEROLE IS NOW CLOSED.
This is getting too stressful. Two possible failures in a row! After the maple crusted versus maplecrest debacle, now I get to Auerole, the fancy schmancy Charlie Palmer restaurant which has recently relocated to the very strange location of 42nd Street, and find that the foie gras and quail terrine is no longer on the menu. This is not fair! I walked by this restaurant maybe a week ago and there it was still on the menu. But not tonight.
I heard figs (which were a big component of the original dish) are getting harder to buy in the city at the moment. Their season might be up soon. But quails never have a season, so I’m sure they could have substituted something and still let me have my list item.
No, instead we have Smoked Duck Foie Gras Terrine. Instead of figs, hazelnuts, and celeraic (as Time Out had seductively mentioned), we get a quince compote, an endive remoulade, and a checkered design of foie gras and smoked duck. It doesn’t sound too different from the previous terrine, but I guess we’ll never know. I’m going to have to take this one and run with it.
The foie gras was so rich and smooth. Really delicious and I’m generally not a foie fan. The smoked duck pieces on the other hand were very difficult to cut and tough to eat. Not very tender or flavorful for that matter. While the texture certainly juxtaposed the creamy foie, it wasn’t terribly pleasing. The quince worked well with the richness of the meat and the remoulade zinged things up a bit. The menu also listed pain d’épice (spiced bread), but I could not find it and the toast they served with the foie was not very plentiful. And while the goose liver was as delicious as butter, who wants to eat either without bread?
I wonder if the quail terrine would have been more successful. But until they find some figs, I guess we’ll never know.
Would Auerole’s Foie Gras and Quail Terrine make my Top 100 of the year? I wish I knew, but since they changed their menu, I will have to substitute it for the smoked duck foie gras and say that some of the flavors were great but the textures were difficult and the tough duck is always a bad note in my book giving this terrine a 6 out of 10.
