Raising the Bar (Food) at The NoMad

Chicken Fingers.  French Fries.  Hot Dogs.  Burgers.  While these are standard issue dishes when it comes to bar food or pub grub, you certainly wouldn’t expect to find them in the utterly opulent The NoMad — a luxe hotel located at the intersection of a trio of New York’s toniest neighborhoods; Gramercy, Chelsea and Midtown.  Especially considering that the culinary programs offered in a series of rooms — from the glass-ceilinged Atrium to the velvet-swathed Parlor and the clubby, bi-level Library — are overseen by EMP greats; Daniel Humm and Will Guidara.  But being that the pair is well known for their love of the concept of bait and switch (a la sneaking truffles and foie gras into a humble roast chicken), nothing is quite as it seems at the sultry, expansive bar, which opened adjacent to the hotel and restaurant in June.

Take that Hot Dog, which arrives wrapped in bacon, slathered in aioli, and strewn with chopped celery and sliced black truffles (it also comes with a $14 price tag).  The musky, dry-aged Burger gets extra, meaty moisture from bone marrow and suet, the French Fries are dusted with herbs and delivered with a crock of lemon and Pommery champagne-infused mayonnaise for dunking, and there’s even a delicate spin on that greasy British gutbomb, the pub-friendly Scotch Egg, reimagined as small, spherical Scotch Olives, cloistered in lamb sausage and sheep’s milk cheese.

But if you’re looking for an unexpectedly extravagant chicken dish, forgo those chili-lime yogurt dipped strips for the pastry-domed Pot Pie.  A play on The NoMad’s infamous Roast Chicken, which sports a slick of foie gras, black truffles and brioche under the skin (and which was previously dialed down during brunch service, as a $26 sandwich of foie-injected breast meat and black truffle spread), this ingenious and killer Pie is comprised of chunks of tender thigh meat, perfumed with morel mushrooms and yes, black truffle.  It’s also accompanied by a silky skewer of foie gras, which you poke, tableside, through the flaky, burnished crust, and let melt into the wealth of sumptuous ingredients inside.

And did we mention it’s $36?  We’re talking bar food at The NoMad people.  A re-heated tin of Stouffers at the corner pub this most certainly ain’t.  And yes, it’s worth a trip ASAP.