Chef Obaton - Bold, Creative, Talented

Danyelle Friedman from the Daily News writes:

"The chef, Thomas Obaton, is from Lyon, France, and cooked with Guy Savoy in Paris. He's serving really simple — bistro classics — chicken fricassee, salade nicoise and a foie gras terrine.

And it's the simple things that work best here. How do you know what isn't simple? It's drowning in sauce. That includes the beef bourguignon, the fricassee in chasseur sauce, and the scallops in an orange reduction sauce. So what does that leave you with? Lots.

One of my favorites is the sautéed skirt steak. At Chez Lucienne, the skirt steak has a texture more like filet mignon, but with all the skirt steak's ­flavor. And the foie gras ­terrine was as good as a foie gras terrine should be. What made it ­special were the accompanying ­Anjou pears, steeped in red wine. They enliven the seriousness of the foie gras itself.

On this mostly French menu, there are a few immigrants, like the tuna tartare.
Listen to this list of ingredients: wasabi-spiked caviar, cucumber, red pepper puree, and parmesan cheese crisps. How are they supposed to get along? This is one of the dishes that give you a glimpse into the way a creative chef thinks. He finds a kind of taste-logic where you wouldn't think it exists. This is also the kind of appetizer that makes the $15 Burger du Chef and the leek and potato soup taste drab.

Chez Lucienne is a ­really good find. And chef Obaton is asking to be taken seriously. So let's."