For Restaurant Week Winter 2014, we made 3 reservations: City Hall on Duane Street near West Broadway, Butter Midtown on 45th St near 6th Ave, and Villard Michel Richard at Madison and 51st St.
Unfortunately, upon showing up at Butter Midtown, we found out that they do not participate in Restaurant Week on Sundays, which was disappointing since our last Butter Restaurant Week experience at the downtown restaurant (which is apparently closed now?) was so great. (And it became even more disappointing after we actually ate there… more on that in a review coming soon).
So our first Restaurant Week experience wound up being at City Hall in TriBeCa with some old friends and new friends.
The dining room is set up nicely so there are a lot of tables but it still feels somehow private. The building and space is quite beautiful with a very Old New York feeling. They even have a lot of old pictures of New York backlit around the top of the walls.
We were given some some (pickled?) veggies (carrots, pickles, green tomatoes) upon seating.
And they quickly took our orders, which most of us took from the Restaurant Week menu.
I went with the lamb chops with a mint chimichurri over kale. This was absolutely delicious, with great lamb flavor and a nice fresh mint and herb sauce. Not much needed to make lamb taste great, but this was prepared very well. I was especially impressed that they were serving it for Restaurant Week.
Someone also got the scallops, which they said were tasty but the portion was SUPER small with one miniature scallop on the plate and one reasonably sized one.
Another friend got the salmon appetizer, which was a nice portion over a risotto that had squash in it. It was very nice.
Another person in our party ordered off the regular menu and she got the local field greens salad, which they seemed to enjoy.
Mike didn’t get the Restaurant Week menu either, but the chef didn’t want him to go without anything so they served him a very, very small amount of French Onion soup. It was about 1/4 inch in a small bowl with a crouton in it. While I appreciated the gesture a lot, it was a bit.. odd. Very little soup and no cheese. They would have been better serving it in a very small shot glass or something of the sort, because it just seemed funny when it was barely a bite in a cup.
We got a side of brussels sprouts off the menu that the entire table split when the entrees came out. They were caramelized and very, very tasty.
Two of our friends go the fish, but I cannot recall exactly what it was (and sadly, them menu is no longer posted), but it certainly didn’t photograph well. Luckily, I think it tasted better than it photographed and they both ate it all up.
I got the beef bourguignon over wide egg noodles. The meat was fork tender and I enjoyed the dish, but I do with the sauce had a bit more punch to the flavor.
The regular menu offered Calves Liver “Milk-Fed” with sauteed onions. I certainly was tempted to try this myself, and then I forgot to ask for a bite when it came (damn) but she gobbled it up and seemed to enjoy it.
Mike’s regular menu choice was the burger. It was a big burger and Mike chose blue cheese, which he said was a bit overpowering. It wasn’t anything too special but it was a decent burger.
For dessert, I got the chocolate with raspberry. I remember enjoying it but it wasn’t overly memorable or special. Just a nice end to a nice dinner.
A few other desserts that were all tasty but nothing to write home about:
Overall, City Hall was a very good place to have dinner and the Restaurant Week menu was very good. I don’t know if I feel the need to run right back, but I would absolutely recommend it if someone is looking for a place to eat in TriBeCa.
Overall Nom Points: 7 out of 10
