Tocqueville

My friend Max's dad works in the restaurant business, he publishes a magazine called Great Places, so naturally he would have connections in the resauranteur world. Therefore when we heard that Marco Moreira, the owner and proprietor of Tocqueville and 15 East, two Japanese/French restaurants located on 15th street and 5th avenue wanted us to eat at his restaurant, Tocqueville, Max and I were very thrilled for two reasons. The first being that we got to go to a world-class restaurant for FREE nonetheless, and secondly we got to go alone. Now going alone brought many dangers with it other than crossing the street safely, and things like that. Not once, but twice, I had to convince Max to not get the 96 dollar tasting menu, in fear of appearing too snobby. We did get many comments from a very funny couple sitting next to us. They thought that it was very strange for us to be eating at the fine establishment all by ourselves. Well we thought it was very strange for them to be at the restaurants by themselves. Hey, we had to take the pressure off of us. However, they were very nice people who were very interesting. However, their conversations were a little bit too intense, so we stopped listening in. Max and I both the same thing, the pasta with Sea Urchin. It came in a bowl, and it looked delicious from the second we first saw it. The only problem with it was that there was a cream overload, and it was a little too filling for an appetizer, falling into the category of risottos and heavy purees. However, I was rather sure that this restaurant's dessert would continue the paragon of virtue that had made it so famous and reputable. The entree that I ordered was the sea bass, which I found very interesting. However, while the quality of the fish was excellent, the meal itself continued to be a paradox; starting off good, yet gradually losing points as something just did not quite fit in with the dish. Max order the steak which he said was excellent and hearty. For our desserts, Max and I both ordered the churros which we found to be delicious. It came with two dipping sauces, chocolate and caramel, the former being the more preferred of the two. However, one of the funniest things that took place during the meal was when Max blew out all of the candles near us, frustrating our beloved server Mary, to no end. Overall, Max and I greatly enjoyed the meal, and had a ton of fun, especially when Mary and I made up a secret handshake together. I think that Tocqueville fully deserves a 7.8/10.