Ceviche and Oyster Dinner at Desnuda, a Winebar & Cevicheria!

I’ve been meaning to check out Desnuda for a while because I love ceviche, and more recently I’ve developed a taste for oysters and saw that they had $1 oysters on Sunday and Monday.  I also know they do a tea smoked oyster dish and I was curious to see how that would be.  It was my friend’s birthday and she is obsessed with oysters, so I thought this place would be perfect for her birthday meal.

Complimentary popcorn with truffle oil and truffle salt – good start to the meal.

Two Dozen Oysters (from New Brunswick Canada) served with Three Sauces – chipotle mignonette, sweet and sour ginger shallot mignonette, and a chuka fu gelee.  All three sauces were amazing with the oysters, but my favorite was the chuka fu gelee.  Originally when I asked our server what it was, I thought he said tuzazu, which the head chef mentioned was a Japanese dressing.  I figured I would research the recipe later since I’ve never heard of a tuzazu dressing in Japanese cuisine.  The name is actually chuka fu, which is the Japanese name for a Chinese dressing made of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, which they made into a gelee.  These were the best sauces that I’ve had with oysters, and we were both so impressed that we ended up ordering two dozen more.

Sichuan Tea Smoked Oysters: they also smoke it tableside for you – it’s definitely cool to try, but fairly pricey at 4 oysters for $18

Not my video, but you get a better idea of it here:

Tiradito of Hamachi with Sechuan Peppercorn Infused Ponzu and Sechuan Peppercorn Dust and Thai Chili Oil: this was one of the specials for the day – really good, but verging on being over salty – the balance between the ponzu and chili oil was a bit off and the scallions didn’t have enough punch to cut through the salt.  For me this dish was fine since I really like salt, but my friend thought otherwise.

Seared Foie Gras with Seared Tuna with Warm Pear Chutney and Balsamic Reduction: this was another special of the day.  Really fantastic dish – everything on the plate complimented the perfectly seared foie gras.  However, it’s really expensive for what’s basically an appetizer version of foie gras.

Overall, really good but too expensive – I feel like at the price point we were at, there’s a lot of other places we could’ve gone to have a better meal (though I will definitely be back for the oysters).

Desnuda
122 E 7th St
New York, NY 10009
http://www.desnudany.com