My parents celebrated their 34th Anniversary together a few weekends ago.  My mom being a chef, choosing a restaurant for them has never been an easy feat.  So after may recommendations from the Twitterati, I took a chance and booked a reservation at Mas (Farmhouse) in the West Village.
My mother’s a classic French chef, and when I say “classic”, I mean CLASSIC (à la Eric Ripert).  She appreciates clean flavors, classic techniques and beautiful presentation.  So I was hoping Mas would be a nice marriage of old with new.
Dinner was at 9:15pm – pretty late for my Suburban Parents, but I tried to keep them up!
<– Mi Familia, pre-dinner
We arrived, got a few glasses of champagne to toast their long union together, and then we got seated in the “back” room.  The restaurant was warmly decorated: dark chocolate brown walls with minimal decorations and illuminated panels. Really beautiful, quaint floral arrangements with simple settings:

We decided to order the Chef’s Menu: 6 courses of the Chef’s faves.  My parents felt it would be the best way to get a sense of the restaurant.  So here’s another EPIC meal!
One thing they DID do, is ask if we had any food allergies or aversions – I mentioned that I didn’t love anything uncooked, ie: carpaccio or sushi.
9:45pm AMUSE BOUCHE: Broccoli Leek Quiche with a Spring Onion Vinaigrette. The quiche itself wasn’t anything spectacular – it was light, and flavorful. But I’ve never had a vinaigrette with a quiche – it cut the “cabbage-ness” of the broccoli, and gave it a really fresh lightness.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 4/5

10:10pm FIRST COURSE (for my parents): Tuna Tartare with Champagne Gelee and Paddlefish Caviar. Couldn’t tell you how this one tastes, but my parents really really enjoyed this dish.

FIRST COURSE (for me, the unrefined one): Trout Pescatore, poached rainbow trout stuffed with a trout mousse, served with a salad of watercress, apple and trout roe. This dish was the alternative to the First Course, and not my favorite.  Maybe it was all the trout-on-trout action, but it seemed a little one-note and WAY too fishy.  The best part was the sour-sweetness from the apple in the salad, but the trout mousse + trout roe made the dish a little salty.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 1.5/5

10:24pm SECOND COURSE: Heirloom Tomato Tarte, Parmesan Sablé with a Balsamic Pinenut Dressing. We saw the table next to us get this dish, and we were all praying it was included in the Chef’s Menu. LUCKY US!!  This was my mom & dad’s favorite dish…mine as well!  Classic flavor combinations in an unconventional way: the tomatoes were fresh, ripe and juicy, the Parmesan Sablé and the Balsamic worked so well together and there were caramelized onions to give it a savory sweetness.  Heaven.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 5/5.

10:49pm THIRD COURSE: Poached Nova Scotia Lobster in a Sweet Corn Soup, with Fava Beans, English Peas and Summer Truffle. The soup was delicious; light, fresh and balanced with the sweetness from peas and the corn.  It was a nice warm, but summery, soup.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 3.5/5

11:13pm FOURTH COURSE: Normandy Duck Breast with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, with Heirloom Tomatoes and Okra Stew. The first thing my mom said when we got this dish was, “What makes it so ‘Normandy’?”  Good question.  I had no answer.  The duck was a little undercooked for my personal taste, but my dad seemed to love it, so he ate mine also.  There wasn’t anything special about this dish – the Okra was fresh, but to me, Okra is a very underwhelming vegetable.  It’s like a pepper that’s lost all its spice.  SEOULDIVA SAYS:  1/5

11:30pm FIFTH COURSE: Roasted Pork Loin with Potatoe Puree, Cranberry Beans and Red-Wine Braised Onion. I was really looking forward to this course, but was really really disappointed. Pork was well-cooked, but the onions were laden with salt.  My mom’s theory: since it was so late in the evening, perhaps the sauces and the onions were over-reduced.  Would have liked a bit more “cranberry” in the Cranberry Beans (which, my mom thought weren’t actual cranberry beans, but cranberry-flavored Kidney Beans).  Essentially, it was a Pork Thanksgiving meal gone salty.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 1/5

11:51pm PALETTE CLEANSER: Lemon Verbena Soup, Yogurt Mousse and Apricot Sorbet. This was a palette cleanser before moving on to dessert.  It was FABULOUS.  The yogurt mousse was very pannacotta-like, the broth was light and the apricot sorbet gave it a nice (but not overbearing) sweetness.  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 4/5

12:05am  DESSERT COURSE(S): MOM’S: Ricotta Chibuste with Roast Plum w/ Sugarplum Granitee with Candied Ginger.

DAD’S DESSERT:  White chocolate Pannacotta with Poached Rhubarb Pistachio and Rhubarb Sorbet.

MY DESSERT:  Honey & chamomile Glacee with Strawberries & Blueberries and a Cornmeal Tuille.

OVERALL REVIEW:  SEOULDIVA SAYS: 3.5/5
I think for the experience of having an anniversary dinner, we had a really good time.  The food was nothing to write home about, but I think I would give it another chance with an earlier dinner time.  I think my mom had a great point about the sauces becoming overreduced and things getting too salty.
But the ambience and service were impeccable!

Mas Farmhouse