#93 – BEEF SEVEN WAYS at MÁ PÊCHE

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

Last year around this time as we were nearing the end of the TONY list, I had to make reservations for a big chef’s tasting dinner at a very popular fine dining restaurant in Brooklyn. We were hoping to save it as the grand finale, but there was one other list item yet to obtain. And so, our big, wonderful meal at Brooklyn Fare was a pre-celebration of all the hard work and eating that took place last year. And the experience at Brooklyn Fare was just that: an experience. Even if the food had been less than stellar, the process of eating it was not. You can read about that excitement here.

So it’s fitting that the big Beef Seven Ways meal at Má Pêche was not the final list item, but rather an early celebration of the work accomplished so far. This critically acclaimed large format family-style meal has changed a bit since TONY’s list was published last year. Back then, the meal cost $85 per person and included a tongue salad, sausages, and a whole shank. Fortunately, for me, the price has dropped a bit and the dishes have changed (although you still get a full seven courses of beef). Now it costs $450 total. And you can bring up to 8 people to help share the costs (and the food, of course).

Believe it or not, I do have 8 friends, but we could only get a reservation at 9:00pm for that big of a group and the thought of eating all that meat so late gave me premature indigestion. So I cut the group down to 7 and miraculously, a 6pm slot was available. I don’t understand why 7 people would work that early but not 8. Would an extra chair have been too difficult?

Turns out we didn’t end up eating until close to 7:00pm anyway. Some friends were late (you know who you are) and we lingered at the bar having a few drinks, including the other list item here, the Seven Spice Sour. We finally sat down and our waitress was very polite and helpful filling us in on what we were about to experience and whether we needed to order any additional dishes a la carte.

We ordered a few extra dishes, which in retrospect was unnecessary because the chef sent a few complimentary items out (one friend had some connections) and the beef was filling enough on its own. Those extra dishes, however, were quite spectacular. I especially loved the creamy and crunchy Summer Bean Salad garnished with brilliant tofu croutons. It actually may have been may favorite dish of the entire meal. We also got sent out two other appetizers: the light and tangy tomato salad and the Beef Tartare, which techincally made this meal Beef Eight Ways.

But at the same time the extras came out, the official Beef Meal had begun. The first two dishes were grouped together, but I started with the Tendon, which was a salad of basil, spinach, peanuts, and a plum vinaigrette. The tendon meat was fatty and chewy, with a nice smoky flavor. My guess is it was cured and slightly dried. It was moist and made this more than just your usual first course salad. This was a favorite across the table.

The other dish served at this time were thin slices of Wagyu. The edges were slightly seared, but this was pretty much a carpaccio.  It was topped with some beautiful ginger, scallion, and radishes. Since there were seven of us, everybody only got one thin little taste. It felt rather slight to me and I’m afraid I couldn’t get a true sense of the flavors. It was definitely fresh and light, but I forgot about it rather quickly as the meal progressed. Wait, what were we talking about?

The second course practically knocked us over. They sent out a trio of side vegetables, which was a nice relief from all the meat, but didn’t help us with finishing the meal. The off-the-menu pea shoots were my favorite of those vegetable, but I did adore the spicy corn with togarashi and nori and the cavalo nero (black kale) topped with sweet, crunchy duck ham bits.

The beef that arrived next was filling and potent enough to be the final round, but we were just half way through. Number three was the Meat Pie. It was a large pastry filled with a terrine of tongue, potato, and caramelized onions. The pastry itself overshadowed the tongue inside. The meat was full of flavor and had the texture of a meat loaf, and that pastry was remarkable.

Along with the pie, we received Ribs, which were lacquered with a ketchup sauce and garnished with scallions and styrofoam-looking white balls, which I think was the masago. Masago are fish eggs, which I love but I’ve never seen them this color – they’re usually red or black. The meat mostly fell off the bone, yet I didn’t love the overly sweet and tangy ketchup sauce.

The next two dishes were delivered together, along with two healthy plates full of pickled vegetables, lettuce, sauces, and condiments. These were included as a way to turn the following two beef items into lettuce wraps. But just looking at the vegetables at this point in the filling meal was painful and overwhelming.

The Cote de Boeuf (Ribeye) was next and was the most obvious choice for stuffing between lettuce leaves with some Hoisin sauce, fried garlic, chili sauce, pickled daikon and then stuffing in your face. And I did just that. The perfectly cooked meat practically melted in my mouth. It was full of flavor and not tough in the least.

However I think I slightly preferred the Brisket, which was practically a big stew topped with bone marrow, chili jam, and crispy shallots. It looked like a mess, but that brisket was incredibly tender and bursting with flavor. It may have been a tad salty, but there was so much flavor and textures that I had a very difficult time resisting one more bite.

The final course was not a beef-flavored dessert (although I certainly would have liked to try that), but a deeply flavored consomme. The Oxtail Soup was poured into little espresso cups and after a few polite slurps with the spoon, I eventually picked it up and drank the liquid. That’s when I discovered chunks of meaty oxtail. Bits of tamarind, mint, and cilantro had been placed in the cup prior to the liquid which rounded out the complex umami flavors of the soup. This had to be the best beef broth I’ve ever tasted. There was a light, sweetness (although it had a richness that coated my mouth) that made it fitting for the end of this monster of a meal.

The meal was a success – we received beef seven different ways and while there were some ups and some downs, most everything was intensely flavored. I felt a little off balance because of the high salt level of the food (I had the meat shakes), but I enjoyed the beefy experience. I walked away spending much more money than I had anticipated (those cocktails and extra additions sure add up) and I’m not sure the meal was refined or spectacular enough to warrant the price tag. I have spent roughly the same amount to mind-blowing experiences at some high end restaurants in this city. Má Pêche is not one of those. But the food is good and the communal meat gorging experience was certainly a highlight of my list journey.

Would Má Pêche’s Beef Seven Ways make my Top 100 of the year? I think some of the dishes I tried that night probably would. The meal as a whole warrants an 8 out of 10 because there were some tasty dishes, but the salt levels must have raised my blood pressure exponentially and it cost more than I was expecting for comfort food.