The wait is over, for me, and I hope for you, too. Restaurant 42, probably the highest restaurant any where north of New York City, has been open for three months but until Wednesday I had not had the chance to sit down and really get a deep taste of the food, the presentation and the room.

I, and probably a lot of others, have been cautiously expecting great things from this restaurant, with its lofty elevation and its place as the crown jewel of the luxurious new Ritz-Carlton hotel in downtown White Plains.

Let’s just end the mystery right here. 42 goes beyond my expectations, even at this early place in its run, and let’s face it, it’s not really fair to judge a restuarant too harshly after only three months of service.

As long as it continues on this course, it will take a rightful place alongside the best restaurants of the New York City suburbs and even match up against the best restaurants in the city itself.

For those who love the best of food in the best of settings, 42 is a beacon, a destination restuarant that will attract visitors from around the country. It has creative food with flavors that are balanced yet zing and a menu created by a thoughtful, intellegent chef. Add an opulent setting, views that stretch from the Hudson to the Sound and a flexible menu that allows the diner to choose a meal either a la carte, a tasting or small plates or even just (excellent) drinks at the bar and you can see why I’m heaping praise.

I just snuck in in time to taste last of the winter dishes. Chef Anthony Goncalves will introduce his spring menu on Tuesday. Gives me an excuse to go back. So does the dish above: Pan-seared rabbit loin wrapped in pancetta and served with cauliflower puree, pickled caulflower, microgreens and a poached quail egg.

The puree was silky; the pickled cauiflower brought a bite to the contrast the fatty pork; and the egg fell apart when I looked at it. I already declare it is one of my top 10 dishes of 2008.

We started with cocktails at the bar. My husband had the violette, which I tasted on my first time at 42 about six weeks ago. I had a new concoction that will be served at the Greater New York Wine & Food Festival’s Tapas & Tinis kick-off party next Friday night.

It was so beautifully balanced I had to ask bartender Efren Velasquez for his recipe.

1/2 ounce champagne
1 1/2 ounces Grey Goose vodka
1/2 ounce pear concentrate
1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur
1/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
Pour the champagne into the bottom of a chilled cocktail glass. Put the rest of the ingredients in a shaker and shake. Strain into the glass and garnish with a pear slice.

Here’s another photo of the bar:

The violette is poured:

We moved into the dining room for dinner.

It’s opulent, with crystal chandeliers, splashes of red and comfortable chairs in a dark shade of beige. It’s surrounded by windows with gorgeous views (of course). Here’s Mamamaroneck Avenue:

But once your food comes, your attention is diverted, and how. We had a tasting menu.

Here is our amuse, smoked pampano with foie gras mousse, a root vegetable chip, micro greens and candied olives:

This dish set the tone for the wonderful balance in the dishes I found all evening. The olives were bright against the smoke, the foie was creamy and rich against the texture of the fish.

The smoke was also a player in our first course,
Smoked sea scallop over fingerling potato puree, golden raisins, toasted pistachios and a drizzle of white truffle oil:

My husband was left speechless and those who know him can tell you that’s a rare occasion indeed. We loved the crunch of the nuts, the smoke, the chewy and sweet of the raisins, the rich potato with a bit of truffle.

Delicious wine pairings by wine director Ernani Silva. With this we had a Pierre Spar Pinot Gris Grand Cru 2002.

Breadsticks on the table. Some were plain, some were dusted in salt and cumin seeds.

Next was my favorite dish of the evening, and, as I mentioned, the year so far:

It was so beautifully conceived and composed. Wine was Tre Vignis 2005, a blend of pinot grigio, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. I thought it was clever to serve an essentially Italian dish (rabbit, pancetta) with an Italain wine.

The flatware is sexy:

All the glasses have this little curve in the stem just before the bowl of the glass.

Next we had two very rich dishes. We split them halfway though the course. Hudson Valley foie gras with rum-poached pineapple, golden raisins, toasted pistachios:

This was served with Epiphany Late Harvest Chardonnay 1997.

Pan-seared veal sweetbreads served over braised frisee with a veal demiglace and a 10 year age balsamic reduction:

Served with Sonoma Cutrer “Les Pierres” Chardonnay 2003.

I know most people would swoon over both of these (and I loved the flavors). But it was a lot on the plate. Some people think that big portions = good value, but I’d rather pack a wollop of flavors in a couple bites and then move on, at least in a tasting menu. Not to say that these dishes weren’t luxurious and the flavors very well-balanced and inventive. (I spoke with chef Anthony after the meal and told him so, too… and he said he served us big portions because these are his favorite dishes!)

Next we had soup. Lobster bisque with scallop and lobster sausage they called mousseline and a milk foam:

I admired this little sausage…it was so delicate and beautiful. The soup was rich and tasted so truly of lobster. The wine was a Valdumia Premium Albarino Rias Biaxas.

After two rich courses in a row, we were happy to have something bright and fun.

Branzino, fava, capers, meyer lemon gastrique, fiddleheard ferns and crispy chard:

The star of this dish was the fish — it was crispy as morning toast, flaky and fresh — but what will stick out in my mind most is the surprise from the gastrique. It’s a bright yellow, astringent sauce, and I can’t recall ever tasting anything like it. Chef Anthony was bold in letting the acidic qualities shine so strong, resisting the urge to soften the taste with sugar or a reduction. My husband said the dish was “tight as a snare drum.”

It was paired with a Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc 2006.

More beautiful cutlery:

Our final savory was lamb cassoulet.

With a Qupe Syrah:

I have a video of the tableside service, but it didn’t come out right. (I’ll try to fix it over the weekend and add it if I can). Our captain Genaro Jimenez used a fork and a spoon to serve each piece separately: lamb loin, lamb shank, turnip, beet, parsnip, morcilla (blood sausage) and black eyed-peas studded with lentils and pancetta.

It was fabulous: tasting of thyme, rosemary and the French countryside. I didn’t love the blood sausage… it fell apart too much for me, showing all the chunks. But other than that, I swooned.

We didn’t think we’d have room for pastry chef Gustaf Mabrouk’s desserts, but somehow we managed.

Baba au rhum with creme chantilly and raspberry crisp over mascerated winter berries:

Creme brulees in four flavors: vanilla, pumpkin, lavendar and cardamom (my favorite):

Brown sugar Muscovado cake with puffed wild rice skirted with dark chocolate and topped with chocolate and orange sorbet and a fresh milk ice cream, warm chocolate custard and burnt orange reduction:

And unfortunatley, I don’t have a photo of my favorite dessert, the gianduja made of chocolate and
hazelnut with walnut crunch and plum financier cake topped with hazelnut ice cream.

I have to come clean: the chef recognized me and sent out dishes that were not on the regular tasting menu. But I asked him a special favor: if any of you come to the restaurant and say: “I want what Liz had,” he promises he’ll cook special dishes, too. “Whenever people order a tasting, I’m always throwing them little things and extra courses,” he told me — because he knows they’re interested in trying new things.

Karen Croke, one reviewer for InTown magazine was dining there that night too. Her review will appear in the June issue, but she gave me this sneak peek: “I would come back for that lamb cassoulet anyday — amazing, absolutely great.” She tells me service was “phenomenal” and she had and a really cute waiter. Too bad my husband was with me!”

My service was excellent and I saw that it was throughout the room at other tables, too. There were some timing issues in the meal, but that is to be expected in a meal this long. I did see some people in the dining room impatiently waiting for checks, and a table next to us waited an extremely long time for their first course. Chef Anthony told me the front of the house went through a bit of a shake-up this week, so hopefully those glitches will be ironed out soon.

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about how expensive 42 is. And there are some expensive menu items. Cassoulet is $46; venison is $56 and steak is $75. But the tasting menus, in my mind, are a bargain: $79 for four courses or $105 for five. It’s an extra $55 for wine pairings. This is on par, even less than many restaurants in the city — and the quality is there to compete. And just remember: you can always go to the Small Plates lounge and order the rabbit and a glass of wine and get out of there for $30.

Here are links to the menus:

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42, One Renaissance Square in the Ritz Carlton at the corner of Main and Mamaroneck, White Plains; 914-761-4242. 42therestaurant.com.