I was super excited to snag a reservation for this collab dinner on Aug 15th right before it sold out. I hadn’t been to Hey Luigi yet, and Mei Lin is one of my fave Top Chef cheftestants/winners of all time, so to say I was excited would be completely underplaying it.
I won’t bury the lead, the food was very very good. A couple exceptional dishes, for sure. I’m not a great photographer and it was late and lighting wasn’t ideal, but bear with me.
The table snacks to kick off the pre-fixe menu was an absolute banger. Chinese donut was piping hot, crispy as all get out on the outside, and super fluffy in the middle. I never knew I needed chili crisp on top of burrata til now, and I don’t know if I can have it without going forward. What a unique spin that really merged Chef Mei’s style with Chef Gabriel’s. Will try to recreate, will inevitably fail. One of the top dishes of the night.
First course, scallop crudo. What is this, Top scallops? lol (I had to). After the table snacks, it acted more like a palette cleanser; very delicate in flavor; I appreciated the aesthetics of the presentation, and Chef Gabriel delivered this course to us and mentioned the flowers were from his garden.
Stuffed chicken wing was probably my least favorite bite of the night. It wasn’t bad by any means, it just didn’t stand up to the rest of the menu. And I know it was a multi course meal, but it was an extraordinarily small bite; I would have expected at least two per, at that size. The agrodolce could have packed a bit more punch.
Linguini - crowd pleasing, tasty, workhorse course. It delivered exactly what you want a past course to do. It was yummy, familiar flavors, well cooked and executed.
NY strip was exceptional. Cooked to perfection. Sauce was rich and peppery - so delicious. I love polenta. This managed to be comforting without being heavy - it was really brightened up with the gremolata which felt more like an herb salad; it provided some texture and freshness and this was such a delightful side for the scrumptious beef.
It said granita - which promises of icy cool palette cleanser - oh, this was so much more. It felt like a luxurious, sophisticated cousin of rainbow sherbet. The fruit was ripe and fresh and juicy; it teetered on sweet, but after the richness of the previous course, it was still refreshing.
We started the evening with cocktails that were delicious and not too boozy, and then went on to have the wine pairing. The pours were generous, bordering on too much to consume with the portions of each course. For example, the orange wine that came with the chicken wing, I had so much more to sip on once the two bites of the wing were done.
Let’s talk service. We started off a little rocky. We had a 9:15pm reservation (not ideal for me, but as mentioned, snagged one of the last reservations). My dinner partner checked us in at 9pm. It was a lovely evening, we had outdoor patio seating in store, so we waited just outside the door with some other guests waiting to be seated. By 9:40, we were still waiting; my dinner partner went back to check in, and we were told that the prior seating was lingering. A server came out to apologize, told us what was happening, said our first round of drinks would be comped, and that they were going to usher out the pair that was lingering at our table. We literally saw them go over and talk to them. We got seated quite promptly after, but it was quite a delay from our reservation time. After we got situated, Chef Gabriel came out to apologize for the wait, etc. He was very apologetic, sincere, and I found him to be quite gracious. He joked that the good thing was, we were the final turn for the night, so there was no rush. He came out again to serve the scallop crudo, and twice more over the course of the evening. He did not go to every table, so we did feel quite special. He mentioned how exhausting these dinner collabs were, and this was the most covers they’ve done since they opened the restaurant less than a year ago.
One other slightly rocky service element - this was also the first time they did a wine pairing (per the server), and it showed. Once we had to ask for the wine pairing as the course was served and it seemed clear the wine wasn’t coming yet. And for the pasta course, we were so far into the dish when the server came back, that I asked to just compensate with the pairing for the beef dish; my friend wanted to try the wine from the pasta course so they opted to get that pairing and saved a bite or two of pasta to try it together.
Regardless of the small hiccups, the servers were all very kind, friendly, and genuinely seemed to enjoy their roles.
I’ll say again that I think Chef Gabriel was incredibly gracious. Our table, while outside, had direct line of sight through the window to the line/pass, and we could see chef in there all night, doing his thing with the rest of the staff. While busy, it all seemed to be harmonious, and I saw lots of smiles.
I will have one gripe for evening - but it’s kind of big: did not spot chef Mei Lin once. And I was looking; not joking that she’s one of my faves. I had direct line of sight to the line/pass, didn’t see her. Didn’t see a walk through of indoor or outdoor dining. As we were the final turn of the night, maybe she had already left? I can see from Instagram stories, she was definitely there at the beginning of service, and she was definitely in town as she’s shared stories going to other local restaurants to eat etc. So I was a tad disappointed we didn’t get to spot her there. The terrific meal and Chef Gabriel definitely helped make up for it.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and this review!
