Cosme, NYC

Enrique Olvera's husk meringue really lives up to the hype

Every time we're in NYC we pick a new restaurant for our "date night" and it's mostly a Meatpacking District 'new cool place', but this time I had read about Cosme and its heavenly merigue dessert and we decided to skip the MD and go to Flatiron instead.
It was difficult to get a table (I think I booked a month in advance through Opentable and could only get a 10 pm seating) but it was worth it. The atmosphere has a cool and lively vibe, the place was packed with people having drinks or late dinner, service was fast and attentive.

The food: Thankfully we weren't starving because I must say the prices are a bit high and the portions are not very big, which is to be expected - if you want hearty Mexican food, this is not the place - but if it's quality food and creative pairings you want (and you don't mind splurging for one evening if you want to eat a lot) then this is the place. 

The guacamole was perfect, so were the blue corn chips, after the guac starter we had 2 mains and 2 desserts. Mains were the half lobster pibil with black bean pure and the crispy octopus with mole - both very good, loved how the flavors mixed. Of course we had to save some space for dessert and it was not difficult because as I mentioned, portions are not huge.

We got the husk meringue with corn mousse and the chocorrol with tamarind curd and sorbet. Chocorrol is a Mexican sweet snack that I used to eat as a kid in Mexico and I loved it, it's like a chocolate cake with a creamy filling and covered with chocolate crust; Cosme's version of chocorrol has tamarind in it, and while it sounded good, it didn't have a super special taste, but the tamarind sorbet on the side was very much appreciated. But the real deal was the husk meringue - if you have read anything at all about Cosme, you have definitely read about the famous husk meringue and I can say that it lives up to the hype, it's probably the best dessert I've ever had, the corn mousse inside is so yummy and the meringue is just perfectly done *drooling*... I would just come back to this place for that meringue! 

The wine list (in our 'picky European' opinion) was a bit disappointing and ridiculously overpriced, however, our experience at Cosme was great: the food was very good, cool atmosphere and the delicious husk meringue dessert. Michelin-starred chef Enrique Olvera (see Pujol in Mexico City) has done great in his NYC test.

Cosme NYC
35 E 21st St. New York, NY 10010
Open: 5:30 – 11:00 pm
Tel. +1 (212) 913-9659

http://www.cosmenyc.com/
Reservations on Opentable: http://www.opentable.com/cosme