In 2009, NYC lost a landmark. Tavern on the Green went bankrupt. I had never been there myself, since it was way over budget in my first few years in NYC when I lived off of ramen and the kindness of business lunches, but I always knew it to be hard to get into and expensive. Those two things should really never equate to bankruptcy in my mind, and I heard that they were one of the highest grossing restaurant of all time in 2007 (to the tune of $37 million) but apparently the economy, debts, lease problems, some bad business, and what I heard was a severe decline in quality shuttered the restaurant. 
(view down Central Park West) Since it closed, reopening the iconic space has been a never ending cycle of delays delays delays The first official day of new service for the newly redone restaurant was this past Thursday, so I was excited to snag a reservation for Sunday, even if it was at 5:15pm. I was excited to see what this iconic refurb had to offer. 
Entering off Central Park West from 67th Street, I was a bit surprised to see that it was still under a lot of construction outside. It looks like they are working on the patios and gardens. 
The entrance still has that elegant feeling, with a long covered entrance and a well dressed man holding the door open. 
When you walk inside, the first thing you see is… a gift shop. A gift shop? In a restaurant. This made me roll my eyes. I figured this was going to be an even worse tourist trap than I originally thought. 
But we proceeded inside. Rumor has it the old interior was a lot of shiny metal and mirrors. This had a lovely “tavern” feel while still being a bit upscale. (Though I was surprised at how casual it really is) 
There is a gold plated pegasus chandelier that rotates above the entry bar, however. So not all the gold is gone. 
There is a windowed, glass cube porch-like area that looks out on… unfinished courttard. I was actually a bit surprised to see that the restaurant does not have views of the park. At all. I’ve passed by it a thousand times but always just assumed you could see the park from somewhere in the restaurant. But no dice. The cube reminded me a bit of the Apple Stores. 
We walked through the main room that connects to the windowed terrace, which also contains a big window looking into the kitchen. 
We were sat in the back room, near the back bar at a quiet table for two. 
It is a large space, so I was surprised to hear that the old restaurant was more than double the size. The space used to be an old sheep barn, so the sheep play a prominent roll throughout the menu design. 
The menu, by chef Katy Sparks, offers chilled seafood and ceviche, as well as salads. From there, the menu is split into 3 sections: The Hearth (coming from a wood burning oven), the Grill, and The Plancha (a Brazilian griddle). I expected it to be over the top and ridiculously expensive. It was certainly tourist pricing, but it wasn’t as ridiculous as I thought it was going to be (most small plates/apps were $12-$18 with entrees around $24-$34 with the exception of a $54 New York Strip Steak). The bread is served as crispy (possibly cheesy?) thin breadsticks and long thin rolls with an impressive dip. I believe it had sheeps’ milk yogurt, feta cheese, oil, cumin seeds, rosemary, thyme, and a few other things. It was quite enjoyable. 
We started with the Serrano Ham, Cave-Aged Gruyere and Sage Toast, and Anchovy-Caper Sauce. It was a delicious nibble, though a tad bit greasy on the fingers. I liked the combination of ingredients and it was different and a little bit special. Though for $18, it was still a very small portion of grilled cheese. 
We also tried the Fried Local Duck Egg on a Spring Onion and Smoked Ricotta Crostata with Anchovies and Oil-Cured Olives. 
I really enjoyed the rustic crostata which had a great flavor (though when eaten on its own, was a tad bit dry) and the ricotta mixed with the egg and salty anchovies and olives was a very nice combination. 
For entrees, we got the Heritage Breed Pork Chop, Wood Roasted Rhubarb and Fennel with a Local Honey and Verjus Sauce. 
This had a unique flavor with the rhubarb and fennel. I wish it were a bit more sauced (or thicker sauce?) because I found the dish a bit flat. Good, but not great. 
We also tried the Braised Lamb Shank with Creamed Chards, Pickled Golden Raisins, Roasted Cauliflower and a Fresh Mint Gremolata. 
The meat was cooked perfectly. Tender, and fell off the bone. The meat itself had nice flavor, however, I wanted a bit more from the preparation. Again, a thicker sauce may have really set this dish apart, or more mint. I will say that I had one piece of cauliflower that was crispy and packed with flavor. It was great. Unfortunately, the other pieces sat a bit too long in the jus and weren’t quite as crisp. Shame. 
As for dessert, we went with the Ice Box Cake with Ruis rye bread, maple-rye whisky pudding, sour cherries, maple walnut pralines. The jar that came out felt especially small for the $13 price tag, but there was something about it that was strangely interesting. It was basically pudding and bread crumbs, but somehow it tasted new and fresh. 
We also got the Spring Pavlova with Matcha Green Tea curd, macerated organic strawberries and rhubarb, chantilly cream. I LOVE pavlova, so I cannot NOT order it when I see it on a menu. This very was very interesting with the Matcha green tea. There was also something salty that I really enjoyed in this. Added a depth to the flavors. The pavlova itself wasn’t as crispy as I like my meringue, but it was still tasty. 
Overall, I enjoyed my meal at the new Tavern on the Green. If it were priced a few dollars cheaper on each dish, it would have been a much better meal. It just didn’t have value. But it did have appeal. Tourists will flock here, and there were a fair amount of children dining there, so families will enjoy it for a nice meal out where they can feel comfortable bringing the kids, however, I’m not sure it will regain its stature as a “go to” restaurant for the food. (Then again, it never was the “go to” for the food!) From what I heard, this is going to be quite the undertaking. They will owe the city licensing fees of either 6% of the total restaurant sales or $1 million dollars, whichever is greater. This will mean that they will need to make $17 million in their first year, which translates to about 1,200 meals on Saturdays and Sundays and 600 meals per day each week day. I don’t know if I’ll go out of my way to go back, but I’m glad we got to try it, and part of me hopes it sticks around because I’m a sucker for NYC nostalgia, especially in dining. Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10 
Grand Reopening of Tavern on the Green
28 AprNew Opening: Heartwood
26 AprEvery time I find out that I know someone, who knows something, who is opening a restaurant, I am both excited and concerned. Excited because I am fascinated by the business of opening a restaurant and love being one of the first to try a new place. Concerned because if it sucks, or is even just average, I’m going to write about it and that someone, who knew someone, may read it.
So when I heard that Mike knew someone who knew someone who was opening up Heartwood, in the space previously occupied by the famous Donatella, I was even more concerned. Lately, I feel like Chelsea has been opening restaurants that excel in abundant averageness. The old standbys have gone away, and now it seems like a revolving door of places that are just okay. The area has spot after spot of places to get something to eat, and definitely something to drink, but no place you go out of your way to dine at if you don’t happen to be passing by while hungry.
But the pedigree sounded pretty great:
- Nick Mautone from Gramercy Tavern
- Nick Fiorentino, former bread baker at Daniel
- Bradford Thompson, from Lever House and Miss Lily’s
Heartwood just opened on Monday, but it already got a bit of buzz on Eater, so we checked OpenTable for a reservation as we walked across town towards the restaurant…made one for 5:30 . We got there a bit early, and it turns out the kitchen doesn’t open until 5:30, so we had a drink at the bar.
The space has a great look that’s right up my alley, with mason jar chandeliers and a comfortable dining room.
Soon after we ordered, a bread basket was whisked to our table, outfitted with the house brown butter and a spicy mustard, as well as some nice rustic slices of bread and delicious salty pretzels.
Now THIS is how bread baskets should be served. Too many restaurants treat their bread baskets as an afterthought, but it was obvious that someone who truly cares about bread put this together, and it was a great opening scene. The brown butter was slightly sweet, which was actually really fantastic, especially with the salty pretzel. Turns out it’s sweetened with agave, which I usually don’t like, but was excellent here. The mustard was SUPER spicy apparently (sinus clearing, in fact).
We ordered the skate fingers, which were tempura fried skate that was supposed to be served with jalapeno tartar sauce. Since I cannot have peppers, they made a parsley aoili for our dish.
I absolutely love sweet and sour chicken from Chinese restaurants, with that perfect golden crisp. This reminded me a lot of that kind of crisp, but a much cleaner flavor and the light skate inside was delicious. It was perhaps a tiny bit on the greasy side, but I didn’t mind it a bit. The aoili we had was pretty good, but it was made great by adding the tart acid of the lemon to the dish. That really made it sing.
We had been seated at one of the few 2-tops in the back near the pizza oven, which was tucked away from the crowd. I thought it was a really fantastic seat… nice and quiet and with a perfect view of the action.
Apparently, the pizza oven is a Stefano Ferrara that was previously gold plated. But it turned out a perfectly crusty pizza even though it is now repainted red.
We ordered the “When Peter Luger Goes Out For Pizza” which was topped with braised short ribs, creamed spinach, and horse radish. While I have no idea how they are getting away with that name, I am very glad that someone was genius enough to put this pizza together. All the ingredients went so well together, were so well balanced, and made for a truly lovely and flavorful pizza.
It was also served with shisito peppers and smoked flake salt. I don’t know if this was just for this pizza or comes with all, but I added a bit of salt to the pizza and it brought it to a whole new level (I love salt).
The upskirt shows a lovely bit of char. The pizza wasn’t all that crispy at the inside, however, the flavor of the dough and toppings were so good that it didn’t matter in the slightest. Great pizza.
We also decided to split the “Crisp Skin Chicken” which was described as coming with “day old bread sauce” and soft herb salad.
But when it came out… it looked a bit scary, as indicated by Mike’s cautious finger below. Why scary? See that shade of orange? It’s a very particular shade. It’s the shade of death. (Not quite death… but a very, very itchy mouth potentially filled with blisters).
It did look beautiful, however.
The waiter apologized for the mistake and offered to leave it for Mike to eat and they would make me a new one. We were already over-stuffed, so Mike said he was fine just eating the pepper-free one that was to come.
I was also a bit surprised to see that they described what looked like parsley garnish as an herb salad. Nothing wrong with that at all, but perhaps something that was billed a bit strangely.
It took some time for the new version to come out, and the waiter apologized to us again that each time it takes 15 minutes to prepare and it would come up as soon as it could. I could tell he was upset about the mistake. He was upset he couldn’t get the revised chicken up sooner and that the mistake happened. Poor guy.
But when the chicken did make it’s entry without peppers, it was worth the wait. When a chicken is billed as “crispy skin,” it certainly should have super crispy skin. Too often I’m disappointed by chicken skin in restaurants, but this was not one of those times. It was perfectly crisp and somehow the meat inside was super moist. And the pan jus with it was a really fantastic sauce.
Our waiter was kind enough to apologize for the mistake again and offered to buy us dessert.
We chose the chocolate caramel brownie pie.
It was SO rich, but that dark chocolate in a very rich crust was great, and the caramel reminded me of the salted bourbon caramel sauce I love from Fat Toad Farm. The cherries on top were a bit off-putting when eaten alone. They tasted a bit, maybe, medicinal? And I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But when our waiter told us that they are soaked in SoCo, it all made sense. I think they should probably mention this, because wrapping my brain around “cherries in SoCo” made them taste more like that and less like medicine. The pie itself was really great though. A nice balance of sweet and bitter, which a lovely texture and delicious crust. And that caramel… give me more of that any day!
As we were leaving, we had a pretzel left in our (now second) bread basket (it was just so good). I sheepishly asked if they could give me a to-go bag for the one pretzel to have for breakfast tomorrow, and the waiter nicely came back with a box of TWO pretzels for tomorrow. One of my favorite touches of fancy restaurants is when they leave you with a parting gift, so this made me incredibly happy.
And the best part? Our entire meal, including 3 drinks, came to under $100. It felt like a gourmet meal and I was pleasantly surprised when the bill came. (Love when that happens!)
So as it turns out, I had nothing to be afraid of. Not only was this restaurant way above average, but Mike and I left there abuzz about how good our meal was. Not only was it great quality at a great value, but the food felt special, different, and inspired. That doesn’t happen very often. So not only is there now a great place to go in Chelsea, I would say it’s worth a trip to Chelsea just to visit this great new restaurant.
On our walk home, Mike and I talked about how we hope that they will soon start serving brunch, and how that bread baker would make some excellent breakfast baked goods and that adding an egg to the pizza would be incredible. Also, I cannot image anything better than a short rib hash made with the incredible meat they serve on the menu twice (once on a pizza, and once as a main). I’m glad to have been able to try dinner there, and I look forward to going back for many more meals.
Total Nom Points: 8 out of 10
Bodega Negra NYC in the Dream Hotel
26 MarAnother selection from Eater’s Heatmap brought a friend and me to Bodega Negra in the Dream Hotel on 16th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. The NYC branch opened in February and there is also a location in London).
I was a bit nervous when I made the reservation, so I called back to explain my allergy (peppers the vegetable, aka, capsaicin) and ask if I was going to be SOL since it is Mexican food. They assured me that they make everything on the spot and I wouldn’t be able to have everything on the menu, but a good amount would be available to me. Great!
We restated this to our waiter, and I made him nervous, but he assured me he would make sure I received no peppers.
The interior I would call… eclectic. It was very dark when we walked in, and it kind of had a haunted house type feel somehow, with antique and semi-industrial artifacts hanging in every corner…
…including the ceilling.
We started with grilled corn with queso fresco and cilantro (it also had a chipotle aioli, which they kindly left off mine). I’m a huge fan of grilled corn with cheese, and this did not disappoint. Delicious charred corn with that salty, creamy cheese and fresh herbs.
We decided to split three different tacos, which were served in pairs. We went with the peking duck mole negro (with sesame seeds and kumquat morita compote), pork belly carnitas (with salsa verde), and skirt steak (with grilled onions, salsa roja, guacamole verde, and queso fresco). Our waiter checked with the kitchen and he informed us that I could eat each of them with a bit of modification, and he would serve the sauces on the side so my friend could enjoy.
But when he put them on the table he looked forlorn and told me I couldn’t have the steak NOR the peking duck. Womp wooooomp. But he came back a few minutes later to say that someone was messing with him and that the duck actually was okay. Phew! But the beef still was not. Damn!
I so enjoyed the duck and the pork, however, that it didn’t matter that I couldn’t try them all (and my friend said the beef was also fantastic). Really awesome with fresh, flavorful ingredients, even without the spice. Killer.
We got a side of fried plantains, which I was very pleased to find out was covered in delicious Mexican cheese. I absolutely LOVED these. Yum yum yum.
While we were eating, I saw someone across from us get a dessert that I just had to try. Not only did it look delicious, but it looked like fun. So the waiter came by and I asked what the sphere was that they melted on the spot… and he told me we just had to try the Don Huevo, which was described as dark chocolate molten cake, Negra Modelo caramel sauce. Had I not seen it at the other table, I would have never expected this to be what was delivered…
And then… the magic happened…
What was left after the decadent hot caramel pour was an incredible, phenomenal cake, with bits of crunchy white chocolate shell with some of the best caramel sauce I’ve ever tried. And the molten lava cake inside was perfectly cooked and perfectly sweet and bitter. It was one of the best deserts I’ve ever had in my life. (And I pride myself on having had a whole lot of great desserts)
With a side of (chocolate) scorpion.
Wow.
What a meal! And that dessert alone… wow. I cannot wait to go back… but especially for that dessert. Run… do not walk… run to Bodega Negra and get the Don Huevo. (And have a meal while you’re there)
Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10
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