THE VIEW AT THE VIEW

One of the advantages of the locale is that the hotel is noted for its restaurants. Marquis’ lobby is located on the eighth floor where Broadway Lounge faces Broadway. Encore is most noted for an all you can eat buffet. That night they offered an Italian menu for $25 and Katen is the one you want for sushi.

Hop the express elevator on the 3rd floor for the View Lounge and View Restaurant. The Lounge is on the 48th floor, while the Restaurant is on the 47th. Both venues give a 360 degree view of Manhattan as they slowly revolve. The Lounge’s menu offers a buffet of basically appetizers and desserts as it’s the drinks that are the feature.

The View is all about the newest $69 three course pre-fixe menu designed by chef Ron Camillo beginning with appetizers such as: Purple Potato Vichyssoise with lump crab meat and herbed crème fraiche; Grilled Quail with honey almond goat cheese, frisee and a sherry fig vinaigrette; Jumbo Lump Crab Salad accompanied by avocado mousse, mango essence and mache (greens); and Salmon Duo of salmon toro tartar and smoked salmon with a caper mustard vinaigrette. You should note that the crab salad had little added ingredients if any. The salmon duo was plated with a separate toro (fattier) from what appeared to be slices of a more Nova lox style salmon.

Before I get into the entrees I want to tell you about the bread plate. There are two types of rolls offered. The Parker tasted as good, if not better than the original that I enjoyed at the Parker House hotel in Boston and were best served with butter. You should not put butter on the olive bread rolls. Request olive oil. The waiter brings out a “creamer” with olive oil and a small plate of shaved parmesan. Mix the oil with the cheese and then place some on the roll. Now that’s an almost appetizer in itself.

On to the entrees and it was a tough choice. Which ones sparked my taste buds? Considering the salmon appetizer I passed on the following: Pan Seared Salmon with crushed peas, mushrooms and smoked Beurre Blanc; Seared Shrimp and Penne with roma tomato, oregano in a marscapone wine sauce; Steamed Mahi Mahi with chanterelle, summer corn, chorizo and saffron oil; and Sauteed Skate Wing with truffled leeks in a lemon caper sauce. If I was a vegetarian I might have opted for the Vegetable Napolean with Portobello mushroom, eggplant, squash, tomato and asparagus veloute. Down to the choice of a pork, chicken, steak or lamb dish, it was the Roasted Rack of Lamb with black beluga lentils, squash fricassee, and Banyuls Vinaigrette that wound up tingling my taste buds. I was also informed that the Maine Lobster Tail (a $30 supplement) is not of the frozen ilk. Personally, I have never been able to order a non-frozen lobster tail when a full lobster is not on the menu. It is served deshelled and quite a large portion.

Desserts? Top choices: Chocolate Caramel Square with chocolate jelly and cassis ice cream; Pineapple Polenta Cake with grilled banana, cappuchino ice cream and passion sauce; and Mascarpone Brulee with raspberry Croisannt Pudding, raspberry praline ice cream and macerated raspberries.

Hopefully I can get Ron Camillo on my radio show, Whirl With Merle on www.blogtalkradio.com as the food is a great as the ambiance!