Le Singe Vert, Bouillabaisse and the Fluid Future

Le Singe Vert

160 7th Avenue

New York, New York 10011

212-366-4100

http://www.lesingevert.com/

The Future Is Fluid

What if we were able to remember the future and anticipate the past? How would that understanding of time affect our sense of free will, destiny, perception, and memory? What if the future isn’t fixed but fluid? Step into a world where past, present, and future exist all at once.

The Rubin Museum

I am at the Future Is Fluid show at the Rubin Art Museum. The show considers the nature of time from multiple perspectives: the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, cosmological and artistic. Perhaps the future is not fixed, perhaps it is not determined by our present and past actions but is fluid? Does this notion negate the principle of karma which is axiomatic to the Buddhist tradition?

Time forks perpetually toward innumerable futures.

The Garden of Forking Paths, Borges

Padmasambhava (the Second Buddha who was born from a lotus flower) brought Buddhism to Tibet. From the Rubin Museum’s website:

His legends carry universal relevance about triumph over obstacles, the power of human emotions, transformation, impermanence, achieving liberation from life and death, and notions of time—all of which transcend specific cultures and eras.

Padmasambhava could transcend time: he could see into the past and the future just as easily as he could see the present. Padmasambhava concealed his teachings, known as the treasure teachings, throughout Tibet to be discovered by foretold disciples at auspicious times in the future. These treasures included ritual objects, statutes, paintings and teachings written in a secret script that can only be read by the one intended by Padmasambhava to receive them in the future. The Rubin presented many thanka paintings of Padmasambhava with his treasure teachings.

The kora around Mt. Kailash in Tibet is one of the most important pilgrimages in the Buddhist and Hindu worlds. For Hindus, Mt. Kailash is the abode of Shiva. For Buddhists, it is the center of the universe. A kora is a revolution around a sacred site and a meditative practice. The artist presented a split screen video of Mt Kailash. Each screen showed the mountain during a different season and the pilgrims who were circumambulating on their hands and knees. These videos invited us to contemplate the significance of place in spiritual practice, and how pilgrimage cultivates intimacy with place, and the journey into self-discovery, and unity with the divine.

Le Singe Vert

But the real thing — the rust-brown, tomato- and fennel-based, saffron-infused bouillon, enriched by dollops of a fiercely garlicky mayonnaise called rouille, followed by a plate of fish that have been cooked in the bouillon — is well worth the hunt.

R.W. Apple-Far Flung and Well Fed

After the Future is Fluid show, I head to Le Sing Vert for an early dinner. This is a classy and elegant bistro. There are fresh pink carnations on starched white table cloths, the wine glasses sparkle and are arranged in a precise row, the wood bar is lit with soft red and mauve lights, the floors are black and white checkerboards and the music is electronic chill-out (not chanson but it works). It is a lovely place to be after the cold and grey afternoon in New York with the wind blowing the tree branches without leaves. The bar is divided from the dining room by large glass panels and wood frames. This cuts down on the bar noise and makes dinner conversation or writing your version of A Moveable Feast more intimate. Le Singe has been open since 1977 but it feels fresh and exciting rather than worn down and tired. It is a place to slow down, to enjoy the bistro life, to think about the future and the past, and to write.

The crowd is diverse: stylish ladies who lunch, older matrons, art sophistos and a couple from London. They are attractive, refined and sophisticated. No tourists are in evidence. Perhaps its location on the edge of Chelsea contributes to the creative crowd.

The menu has most of the traditional bistro dishes. Creativity is shown in the appetizers. There is a sushi tuna, a foie gras terrine with fig marmalade, and Moroccan lamb meatballs with mint yogurt. I note that hand cut pommes frites with truffles are offered as a side.

The bouillabaisse was on special; it seemed to be a perfect dish for a cold and grey afternoon.

Bouillabaisse is a classic dish from Marseille. It uses many different varieties of fish. Traditionally, it was made with the fish the fishermen had not sold that morning. It was a cheap way to feed a family with leftover fish that no one wanted to buy. There are many varieties of bouillabaisse and there is passionate disagreement in France over which style is the best.

In Marseille, bouillabaisse is not just a fish soup. It is a way of life. The best bouillabaisse in the world is considered to be made by Guillaume Sorrieu in his restaurant, L’Épuisette, in Marseille. I have not been to Marseille but it may be a spiritual pilgrimage worthy of a kora.

Every spoonful evokes the fresh sea breezes, the clean, salt-seasoned air and the brilliant light that so captivated Cézanne when he came to the neighboring village of L’Estaque to paint.

New York Times

The best bouillabaisse I have experienced in New York City is at La Mirabelle on West 86th Street. My review of La Mirabelle and a complete discussion on bouillabaisse is here:

http://www.newyorkbistros.net/?p=323

And how did the bouillabaisse at Le Singe Vert compare? It was a fish soup (and a well done one at that) but it would not compare to a classic bouillabaisse as defined by the Bouillabaisse Charter of Marseille. There was no scorpion fish or lobster or a reasonable substitute for either one. There was a flavorless slap of a generic white fish on top of a circular arrangement of mussels and shrimp. Saffron was evident in the broth but the fennel was not. Onions and tomatoes in the broth were missing as well. The broth was rust brown as it is supposed to be. The rouille (the garlic mayonnaise) was also missing.

Last night we had dinner at Lucien in the East Village. This is one of the best bistros in New York. It wins on authenticity, service, and consistency of excellent food. I chose their bouillabaisse. It was excellent. The broth was a dark brown and the saffron and fennel were in perfect proportion of herbs. The soup was crowned with a lobster which is a reasonable substitute for a scorpion or rock fish. The rouille was served with toasted bread and was properly prepared.

In my view La Mirabelle is the best bouillabaisse that I have had in New York, Lucien is second and Le Singe Vert is third.

I did not have dessert but it offers the standards: creme brulee, profiteroles, apple tart and sorbet.

The Future is Fluid but I know that, in my future, I will return to Le Singe Vert to try some of their other main courses as well as the desert and I will enjoy it greatly.

Ratings

Staff: 8 (Authentically French, casual, efficient, good timing)

Archetype: 7 (There are many signifiers of the Archetype (red awning, French posters, simple design) but it has been updated to a unique New York-Chelsea-Parisian vibe. )

Food: 7 (Well prepared traditional bistro food; good bouillabaisse (fish stew)

Energy: 9 (Noise low, sophisticated crowd, elegant and pleasant atmosphere, chill-out music that works)

Resources

Reviews

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/le-singe-vert/

Rubin Museum-The Future Is Fluid

http://rubinmuseum.org/theme/the-future

History of Bouillabaisse

https://www.starchefs.com/bouillabaisse/html/english/article.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/07/dining/a-prime-kettle-of-fish.html

La Mirabelle

http://www.newyorkbistros.net/?p=323