Cosme is not the typical Mexican restaurant you would think. It’s definitely not the taco restaurants you see popping up all over the city in terms of food and decor. This restaurant is owned and run by Chef Enrique Olvera (of his famed Mexico City restaurant Pujol) streamlined cool but not overtly trendy from its looks and the food is modern, upscale Mexican cuisine and the tightly edited menu is about shared plates.
We came in one afternoon and had started off a savory Michelada and very refreshing Paloma cocktails. Our waiter informed of new dishes on the menu, which we ordered under his recommendation, octopus cocktail, Blue shrimp a la veracruzana, and uni tostada.
The octopus cocktail is technically an octopus and celery aguachile, aioli, and charred avocado. This octopus Mexican style ceviche was delicious. Clean flavors of the fresh cooked octopus, mild spice from the chiles and the celery juice that’s giving this dish a distinctively herbaceous flavor. The charred avocado subtly added smokiness to the dish besides the creaminess. I won’t mind having this aguachile everyday for the upcoming sweltering months of New York City summer to cool myself as well as eating so well.
The blue shrimp a la veracruzana is another refreshing dish of cold smoked shrimp (texture felt raw in my mouth) mixed with super sweet heirloom cherry tomatoes, not too briny black olives, cubes of creamy avocado, and the hint of garlic oil just tied everything together beautifully.
We absolutely adored the uni tostada. A small, crispy, fried housemade blue corn tortilla topped with chopped ripe tomatoes and topped with sweet, creamy sea urchin (uni) and fresh parsley. I wish this tostada was a size of a dinner plate because everything about this was incredible.
As we moved to the main courses, a basket of warm fresh blue corn tortillas tucked underneath a thick linen napkin arrived with our whole fish a la talla (our fish that day was branzino) and short rib, sunchoke, cippolini onions, and avocado crema. We were informed we could make our own tacos with our proteins. First off, if you never eaten a fresh tortilla (and the ones you find in an American supermarket is definitely not that), you will be blown away by the wonderful sweet corn aroma from this pliable, soft tortilla that takes a certain blue-purple shade from that unique strain of corn.
The fish was insanely flavorful and moist by itself. When we eat it in taco form and use their house made salsa verde and squeeze the special tiny limes, it makes you want to roll your eyes back just because the entire concoction is so good. I almost wanted to hog that fish to myself.
The short rib was fantastic as well. The super tender, flavorful beef was great solo. Again when eaten with the fresh tortilla, it just kicks up the flavors more
Despite the fact we’re full, we must end this splendid meal with dessert. The restaurant’s signature dessert husk meringue, corn mousse, a cracked meringue made with burned and pulverized corn husks and filled with corn mousse that makes it pleasantly sweet.
The lemon mousse, avocado cream, Marcona almonds and coconut sorbet has stronger flavors from the toasted almonds. The lemon curd was surprisingly tamed from the typical sharp citrus notes that I normally expect but it was certainly creamy and sweet enough. The avocado cream added a certain sweetness and the coconut sorbet added semi-creamy, nuttiness to this entire dessert. It becomes a harmonious, creamy dessert with a midtone of lemon-y citrus that ends with buttery, nutty notes.
We certainly enjoyed our meal at Cosme. Service was very professional and knowledgeable of the food. The food itself was delicious (and really make me want to consider going down to Mexico City and eat at Chef Olvera’s restaurant Pujol). We couldn’t be happier. I can see this as a good date place or a solo dining spot especially at the bar area at the front of the restaurant.
To view more photos of this visit, please view the photo set or the gallery below:
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Information:
Cosme
Website
35 East 21st Street
(between Broadway & Park Avenue South)
New York, NY 10010
(Map)
Phone: (212) 913-9659
