Back in October, I surprised Mike with a dinner at Gramercy Tavern for his birthday. I had lunch once at the bar, but had never had a full dinner there, so we were both excited to try it.
The inside is beautiful, with separate but grand rooms and just a really comfortable dining room. We both commented that it was one of our favorite restaurant spaces.
Our waiter very nicely took a picture of us to remember the occasion.
We started with an amuse bouche of a polenta cake and some sort of fish topping. I remember it being unmemorable.
We then started into the Seasonal Tasting menu with a red snapper course that came with sunchoke, shiitake mushrooms, and (not mine) jalapeno peppers. The snapper was very fresh and the broth around it was quite nice.
Our next course was lobster with corn, sucrine lettuce, and pickled green tomato. The lobster had great flavor and went very well with everything around it.
We then had smoked trout with cippollini puree and pickled onion. The combination of trout and onions was fantastic, and the smoked trout was perfectly smoked, full of flavor, and the thin slice made for just the perfect bite.
The duck agnolotti were next and came with turnips, carrots, and arugula. The duck was so flavorful and perfectly sweet, balanced with the arugula. I wanted more agnolotti, not because the portion was too small, but because they were so delicious.
Our last savory course was roasted and braised beef with black garlic and farro (was supposed to also have peppers, but mine was without, due to my allergy). This was a perfectly cooked piece of meat and the jus was perfectly flavored. Every course was even better than the last, building one after the other for a really fantastic meal.
We had an intermezzo with raspberries.
We then were given a free glass of moscato (yum!) with the raspberry dessert
I don’t remember it very well, but I remember those raspberries being so perfectly fresh.
Then out came a very nice Happy Birthday dessert with shaved ice. It was quite refreshing.
We then started into our tasting dessert, which had chocolate mousse tower that I believe came with hazelnuts.
Then a delicious display of petit fours. Chocolate mousse cups, macarons, chocolate fudge squares, and their famous toffee (which I actually use the recipe to make my own!)
All of the bites were very good (though shh… my toffee is better). I really enjoy ending a meal with these little bites.
And then they did do one of my favorite things that a restaurant can do… gave us a muffin to eat in the morning. It’s such a great way to enjoy the restaurant a little bit the next day. It’s such a lovely touch.
Gramercy Tavern was a top notch experience. It was perfectly in line with my expectations as one of New York’s old standbys. I was hoping it would totally WOW me, which it did not, but it was certainly a great dining experience that I would recommend to anyone looking for some classic New York.
Total Nom Points: 7.5 out of 10
