This past Saturday I attended a dinner at Ed’s Chowder House, the beautiful and massive new restaurant in the Empire Hotel (formerly Center Cut) from chef Ed Brown. The interior is very modern with tons of glass and mirrors - out-of-towners visiting Lincoln Center will feel like they had their glamorous “New York” dinner experience. For a review of the food check here.
Our group had four desserts: the layered chocolate mousse cake, blueberry cobbler, a trio of seasonal sorbet and a lemon meringue pie. The group seem to like the nearly crust-less and flavorful lemon meringue pie best. Like some of the other desserts we had that night it was not overly sweet. It had a very nice lemon flavor and a great texture. The dessert featured a high lemon-filling-to-meringue ratio and it seemed to work.
The layered mouse cake was very moist and looked and tasted like it was made moments before we ordered it. It was so moist and fresh that it was hard to cut with my fork without causing it to collapse on itself. Despite not having a real dark chocolate sensibility the cake was still excellent because it was so soft, moist and fresh. The shiny top layer of chocolate did have a nice flavor.
The entire group liked the blueberry cobbler. One of the reasons was like the lemon meringue, it was not overly sweet. The blueberries were fresh and the topping suitably crumbly.
The trio of seasonal sorbet had two excellent flavors, the raspberry and lemon but the third, Concord grape was not pronounced enough to register for me. The lemon was particularly excellent.
Unlike many of the restaurants I review here, Ed’s is not a dessert destination for the sweet tooth. They do have very good food however. The seafood at Ed’s, including the lobster, cod and tuna was excellent as were the chowders. They also have superb fries. If noise bothers you, I would avoid Ed’s unless you can read lips. Also, be prepared to wait a LONG time for your drinks.
Ed’s is located at 44 West 63rd St. In the Empire Hotel.