Restaurants: April 2005 Archives
I'd forgotten what it's like to go out on a Friday night. Thursday night was always date night for Todd and me pre-baby, so much so that while I was riding in to meet Todd for dinner last night I wondered if I we would show up and not have a reservation because I'd made it for Thursday. Anyway, we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table at The Red Cat, with frequent assurances from the hostess that it would only be a couple of minutes. So nice. And that set the tone for the whole evening. I thought the waiter would be snooty, but he was nice, too.
I took a big risk here and ordered the liver, which I had never had. I figured if I was going to like liver, it would be liver prepared at a place like this, so I went for it. The waiter told me if I didn't like it they'd bring me something else, but you know what? I'm all about appetizers, desserts and sides. Usually the main dish is the most boring part of the meal. So I wasn't too nervous. And even though the unctuous, silky-sweet liver was too much (I liked the crisp edges, though), I really enjoyed the meal.
It helped that it started with a hearty dish, their salad of bitter greens. I know it sounds light, but their salad is served on top of a pool of gruyere fondue, with wonderful wedges of salty potato, diced apples and bacon. I could've stopped there. I saw one table sharing it.
The liver came with broccoli rabe and tomatoes with olives and capers. The bitter greens actually didn't seem to go very well with the sweet liver, but it was yummy. Todd had the most boring-sounding dish, roast chicken, but they literally spice it up with some Thai chiles. I don't know how they did it, but the skin was crispy and the meat was flavorful.
They have some fancy desserts and some wonderfully homey ones. We ended with the rocky road sundae, caramel ice cream with hot fudge, candied walnuts and homemade marshmallows. I wanted the cookie plate, which is served with a mini milkshake. There was also an almond panna cotta that sounded good, but the rhubarb dessert, their special, was rhubarb-raspberry ice cream sandwich, with the bread part made of pistachio meringue. Sounded a little froofy, so we went the comfort-food route.
We ventured out with the baby in his new stroller last weekend, to the Dahesh museum near the IBM atrium in midtown. They have an exhibit of early photography right now, more sociological than artistic, although there were a couple of great photographs by unknown photographers. The permanent collection at the museum is really small and even on a Saturday afternoon there weren't a lot of people there, which made it good for a couple with a stroller child.
On the second floor overlooking Madison Avenue is Cafe Opaline, which serves an afternoon tea as well as sandwiches, pizzas and salads. Some of the dishes seem to have a Mediterranean bent, then there's basic dishes, like my crab salad, which was undressed crab meat arranged on a plate with avocado cubes, capers and mixed greens in radicchio cups. Sounded much better than it ended up being, mainly because there was no seasoning or dressing on the crab or avocado. Looking around the table at others' plates gave me the impression that's common. The banana bread pudding I had, with ice cream, was mushy but delicious, if only the baby had let me enjoy it fully (2 hours in a museum plus 2 hours at lunch was too much to ask of him).
But the setting was beautiful and the teas were fragrant and wonderful. I think I'd like to try their tea service sometime. And off hours there was plenty of space for our stroller, although the service was pretty bad in the late afternoon, too.
OK. I'm reading a review of The Red Cat, where I've always wanted to go, on Words to Eat By, and I'm suddenly desperate. Are there any wonderfully interesting restaurants in NYC where I won't get dirty looks for bringing a stroller? I just had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and while I love their chopped salads, with the perfect distribution of ingredients and dressing (and available in half sizes!), it's certainly nothing to brag on. I hear Schiller's is very kid-friendly, and I read a review of Lupa written by a man who always takes his young daughter there, but what about babies? Anyone recommend someplace?
