Terrific Takeout: Beautique Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
The Exquisite Grilled Octopus of Beautique
and why stop at one dessert
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What can we say but- don't hate them because they're beautiful! (How can anyone forget that commercial.) Recently we were delighted to make the acquaintance of owner Jon Bakhshi who's the talent behind the newly opened as of April 2014 Beautique, which is strategically located at 8 West 58th Street in the heart of Manhattan. What a fabulous location! The name is derived from the words beauty and boutique, thus creating a unique sphere of elegance that starts at your gorgeous plate and extends to every detail of the restaurant, including the well-lit ladies room. Beautique seats 60 with an additional 30 seats in a private dining area for events. We've been there only once so far, but based on this experience our initial thought is that this is quite the hidden gem at one floor below street level.
As you know a prime component of the takeout review is a green salad.
We found the roasted carrot salad simply extraordinary for fall as well as perfectly creative. Spicy harissa, kale, beluga lentils, and sheep's milk yogurt join the carrot fete kicking off our edible extravaganza. If you've been listening, you know we don't like creative ridiculous but we do adore creative interesting, which is how we find this. The carrots were our favorite part.
The appetizer we chose was the Grilled Octopus. Everyone knows that if a new restaurant gets this wrong, it can be quite a death knell. We're pleased to say that not only was the Grilled Octopus perfectly cooked with zero rubber (Goodyear tires belong on your Corvette, not in your mouth!) but also it was PEACHY!!!! How exciting; we don't remember meeting a Peachy Octopus before though there are times we feel like we could use another six arms.
The Grilled Octopus was by far our favorite part of the meal and enhanced with peach glaze, avocado mousse, salsa and cornichon, this was a clearcut winner. We hope it continues to have a spot on their menu.
Jon met us when we arrived and personally introduced every single course to us. He insisted we try the Warm Cauliflower Soup. We almost never order soup but we are certainly glad he suggested this! A brilliant creation, this is presented with dry ingredients above,
...and becomes soup in front of your eyes while the liquid is poured in the bowl in front of you. Beautique has one of the best eyes for detail we've seen in food arrangement recently. Coconut, Quinoa, Currants, and Hazelnut compliment the Cauliflower and if you don't care for coconut either, don't worry, we didn't taste it because the blend is so masterful.
We are huge fans of fish in general, and had narrowed it down to either the sea scallops or the whole brook trout. Since we definitely like the idea of a whole fish rather than a section, we went for the trout.
It was a good size and again, fit for a runway looks-wise. Cantaloupe caponata, mustard greens, spiced carrot and black sesame graced this poisson and we enjoyed sides of:
Seasoned Potato Fries (could become habit forming) with a nice dusting of seasoning that tasted like hints of BBQ to us, and Brussel Sprouts.
The Brussel Sprouts were especially phenomenal and we'd be pretty happy eating them and the octopus every day.
Dessert is not required on any review but we notice a lot of people like to capitalize on their review opportunities and Jon showed us exactly how great Beautique is at their dessert. Peachy probably would order Apple Pie a la mode every day and their Apple Tart with vanilla ice cream makes this dessert even more sophisticated and dressed up. The apple flavor was superlative and though many people think apple means fall, we think it means American and we hope you want to be patriotic year-round. Oatmeal streusel is also a guest at this party on a plate.
Here, the Apple Tart Tartin is smiling big!
Jon suggested we also try the Dulce de Leche Cremeux: Crumbled Oreo with milk sable and milk ice cream. Just divine!
Beautique is Terrific Takeout!
Love them because they're beautiful, and a boutique.
