Michy's

Michy's is an upscale New American comfort food restaurant by celebrity chef Michelle Bernstein in MiMo. Note: Reservations are strongly encouraged. We went on a Wednesday in December and the place was filling up quickly by the time we left (around 8:30).


What we had:

My DH took me to Michy's for my birthday this year. We had an appetizer, split three half-portion entrees and then ended up having (two!) desserts.

Appetizer: Crispy pork belly with a frisee, pear and crunchy bacon salad and light sweet and tart dressing. This is the first time either of us tried pork belly. I've been equal parts intrigued by the dish (I <3 pig) and repulsed by it (fat generally freaks me out). This was awesome, and tied for my favorite dish of the night. The creaminess of the fat mixed with the crispiness of the skin(?) was a perfect combo, and the nuggets of piggy goodness underneath just sent this dish over the edge. The salad was a great balance as well and cut through the richness of the belly perfectly. The portion size was three 1.5-inch cube chunks with a nice bit of salad. I think the portion was perfect. I don't think I could have handled any more fat. Loved it, but an appetizer size was quite sufficient.

Entree 1: Salmon on a bed of celeriac puree with a pomegranate & celery salad. The salmon skin was wonderfully crisp, the salad was well-balanced and the puree provided a great foil, but salmon is salmon. It was perfectly cooked, but salmon just tastes like salmon no matter what. Not a bad dish at all. Every part but the salmon itself was wow.

Entree 2: Gnocchi in a sausage and ground beef tomato sauce topped with melted buffalo mozzarella. This was perhaps the lightest, most pillowy gnocchi I have ever tasted. The sauce was good and had a nice little bite of heat. Were I cooking it (or rather, my DH, since he is the sauce expert), I would add a little wine to the sauce and more chunky tomatoes, but that's more of a stylistic choice. The dish was great.

Entree 3: Boneless fall-apart short ribs on a bed of the creamiest potatoes ever with some sort of beef-based sweet sauce and "crispy" brussels sprouts. This was my second favorite dish of the evening. The short ribs were falling-apart, all things beefy and good, and the potatoes were impossibly creamy. I would have liked triple the amount of brussels sprouts though (only a few of the outer leaves were used as a garnish), and neither my DH or myself are sure how we feel about the sauce. It was sweet. On some bites, it was a bit cloying; on others, it was just right. Again, I would have added more wine and maybe some earthiness to the sauce, but that's just me, and people pay zero dollars for my dishes.

Dessert 1: Baked Alaska--a dense pistachio cake topped with homemade dulce de leche ice cream, wrapped in a yummy snowcap of blowtorched merangue with a side of fresh passionfruit salsa. This dessert was awesome. The merangue was kind of like a cross between toasted marshmallows (have i mentioned lately how much i adore food that has been on fire) and taffy; the ice cream was really, really good; and the cake was perfect--dense, slightly nutty and not very sweet. The salsa was tart and not bad. It was no burnt marshmallow taste, though, so I mostly avoided it.

Funny story about dessert... so, after we ate like pigs and stuffed ourselves with almost the entire dessert, the waiter-in-waiting came out with a free birthday dessert and apologies about not coordinating with our other waiter. Free dessert is awesome. Free dessert with a pretty, sparkly candle is even better. Free dessert with a sparkly candle and no horrendous song is priceless.

Dessert 2: Michy's signature bread pudding--a creamy, custardy bread pudding with chocolate chips and homemade vanilla ice cream. I'm happy this dessert had chocolate instead of fruit (if it had fruit, i would have eaten more). I only had a few bites of pudding (and all the ice cream), but it was good.



Décor:

Really cute orange/blue/white theme with interesting natural shell chandilers, french garden-style chairs and a orange moleskin bench with comfy pillows running the length of one side.



Service:

An odd amount of waiters and food runners for such a small space. We had a primary waiter, a backup waiter, we saw a few food runners/bussers, a floor manager and at least two hostesses. We never lacked in service.



Overall impressions:

I would definitely go back and definitely recommend this place. I was worried that it would be overpriced and that it was over-hyped because of the owner, but this place is really good. Not as much of a local message as Michael's Genuine, but they do try to do local where possible. I don't feel like we got ripped off, either. Our bill came to $115 for an appetizer, three half-portion entrees, dessert, a glass of pinot noir and a glass of riesling spritzer (what can I say? I don't like wine and they do not have a full bar). I think we could safely do just a regular dinner for around $50. Not bad at all.


Rating:

4.7 out of 5 salamanders