Wow. Some meals and restaurants just blow you away. I shared a dinner at Koloman with my friend a few weeks ago when we were visiting NYC, and it waws one of those meals, and it exceeded even my pretty high expectations (I learned that it had snagged the 37th spot on Pete Wells' 100 Best Restaurants in New York City in 2024 list just days after we made our reservation)!
Where to start? The delicious, beautiful food? The great wine? The lovely service? The understated (not overly fussy or decorated space)?
The food! We stated with their freshly baked bread service (poppy seed rolls, sourdough bâtard, and cultured butter). We were starving after a day of exploring, and it was a great start. Next, we shared the kingfish crudo (horseradish, spicy citrus, and smoked olive oil), which was a very different crudo than most that I've had, a light start to a meal that I knew would get heavier! Then? The Lucullus de Valenciennes (foie gras, smoked beef tongue, and black walnut vinagraitte), that was as luscious and rich as it was beautiful. Next, that cheese soufflé (pleasant ridge reserve, aged cheddar, and mushroom jam). How to explain how much I loved this course? I talk a lot. I basically never shut up. So if I'm eating and I get quiet, that's how you know I am just floored by how good something is. It's good that I don't even have any words. That's how good this soufflé was. And the meal just kept going! For our mains, we shared the Salmon en Croûte (scallop mousseline, sunchoke, and beetroot-beurre rouge) and the Goulasch (beef cheek, smoked paprika, caraway, buttered spätzle, and crispy onions). Both of these were absolute stunners - both in presentation and taste. I had to ask questions about the salmon because how on earth do they do THAT?! When a meal is this good, you don't even think about whether you're hungry - just go for dessert. We shared the palatschinken (fromage blanc, blood orange sorbet, and citrus). And never have I ever seen palatschinken (Austrian crepes) like this! It was light and small and absolutely the most unexpected, gorgeous presentation of crepes I have ever seen. Seriously, not a bite was off. Everything was absolutely delicious and gorgeous (without sacrificing an ounce of tastiness).
We shared a bottle of wine - an Austrian Blaufränkisch, of course - which was a great accompaniment to our meal. (Their wine list is a book, so if wine with dinner is your thing, be prepared to make some hard choices! But what a good problem to have!) We also enjoyed two dessert cocktails with dessert - the Mayan Mocha (empirical ayyuk, banana, faccia brutto nocino, coffee, and bitters) and the Einspänner (alb vodka, mr. black coffee liqueur, pumpkin seed, kirsch, espresso, and sabayon) - both were wonderful.
On top of the food and drink just be excellent, the service was top notch as well. Everyone who assisted us during our meal was so lovely and helpful. Our waiter was fantastic. We wanted everything on the whole menu, and he was extremely forthcoming in the best way when helping us make choices. The service really added to the experience. And - since this review is going long - I'll just say that I really enjoyed the space as well. It's beautiful without being over the top or leaning to the style over substance so common nowadays. The focus at Koloman is the food and drink, and nothing about our experience detracted from that!
If I have one tiny complaint (but nothing could persuade me that our meal at Koloman was anything but five stars), it's that the bathroom is in the Ace Hotel (just a short walk away), but there just aren't enough bathrooms when the Ace lobby bar is full of people (is that all the time?). But seriously, that is the only remotely critical thing I have to say about what was a pretty perfect meal.
My friend and I agreed that our dinner at Koloman was the best meal we'd both had so far in 2024 and one of the best meals we've had in the last few years. It was incredibly special, stunningly delicious, and lovely. One of the easiest five star reviews I've ever written. read more