Bouley Test Kitchen

This is the private restaurant of Monsieur Bouley where he supposedly experiments to come up with new menus for his public restaurants, but also just hosts privately catered events. The ambiance itself is great: essentially like stepping into a plush Tribeca living room with an amazing kitchen counter, grand piano, and dining room. Service is fantastic, too. Food is mostly ok. Or great if you’re really into fancy schmancy French cuisine. I personally find it to be a bit hit & miss, and always pretentious. But whatever, it was a great experience.

Very funky, eclectic space.
Many of the canapes served during extended cocktail hour were mixed bag… some delicious with wonderful truffles and such and others, meh.
Our meal was a culinary extravaganza though starting with sea urchin that was exceptional. A rack and loin of lamb was served that also was quite terrific as were a crab and scallops dish with mushrooms and black truffle dressing.
Desserts didn’t disappoint either. A soufflé with tangerine sorbet was very good… memorable.

Amazing.
We were fortunate to attend a wedding ceremony here and everything from start to finish was unforgettable. The interior is just beautiful and the staff was amazing as well. Perfect setting for an intimate wedding.
The appetizers, main course and desserts were excellent excellent excellent! I had no idea what I was eating, but I didn’t care, everything was delicious. I rarely visit NYC, but this experience was one of the best experience I ever had in NYC.

Attended a wine tasting and appetizer event here and thoroughly enjoyed it. The setting evokes a certain speakeasy style — am I even at the right place? wow is this elevator tiny! The interior is deep and split in half by the large kitchen where the work occurs. The appetizers were heavenly and I camped out in a strategic spot to have my fill served my an extremely amenable staff. The only thing that prevents a perfect rating would be that the room gets quite warm (so stay on the windowed half) and the cooking antics can get a bit out of control (we witnessed an unwatched pot burn off — I can do that at home!) and the shrimp weren’t fresh (which surprised me given the beautiful quality of everything else I ate).

I have now had the distinct pleasure of attending a cocktail party and a sit down dinner at BTK, with David Bouley cooking on both occasions! EEEEEE! After these visits to Bouley Test Kitchen, I thought it was high time to review it on Unilocal,only to find that the space was not listed, so here goes…
The space is rather untraditional, an amalgamation of part office, part cooking school, part kitchen, and part event space. You start the evening in front of an office-​looking building and wonder — «am I at the right place?» You stand in the tiny lobby area, waiting for the elevator, which is hand operated by the elevator serviceman, who takes up no more than seven or so guests at a time. The rickety and barred elevator — again you think «am I at the right place?» –you arrive at the fifth floor, where the doors swing open to another world. Computer stations line the front across from the front desk/​coatcheck area. Then another room opens up to what looks like a library, next to a chef’s station in the middle lined with copper pots, cookware, and chefs busily making deliciousness happen. Further down are the tables, which are set up rather wedding-​like in circles of 8. You take it all in, then say YES, I am at the right place! Overall a uniquely beautiful, dark and industrial-​chic space.
The food at both the sit down dinner and cocktail party was excellent. Beautifully presented canapes that were tasty, including a knock your socks off single scallop served on a spoon, lip smacking mushroom risotto, and i want more tuna tartare wrapped in a thin crêpe. All served with matching wine from a very attentive sommeliere or server, who always seemed to pop up to keep your glass full. Dinner menu can be individually crafted towards your event — if you dream it, it can be made and you can trust Bouley to mix his French (Bouley) and Asian (Brushstroke) influences to create inventive New American cuisine.
The only downer, and reason for one star off, maybe only half a star, is that, because all the cooking is done in the center of the action, it can get rather smoky and very hot. At times throughout the evening, it was slightly uncomfortably so, but otherwise, a sublime evening… and if you have a chance to come to BTK, don’t hesitate to accept the kind invite!