Tag Archives: restaurant week

Restaurant Week Summer 2013: The National

17 Sep

I somehow forgot to post this during Restaurant Week.  Whoops!

We visited The National as one of our last New York Restaurant Week stops during Summer 2013.

They had a nice looking Restaurant Week menu…

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…but Mike got lured in by The “Ugly” Burger…

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…and the Summer Squash Fritters (black garlic!) So I went Restaurant Week and he went burger and squash fritters.  We’re a good pair like that.

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I really like the space. It feels like my Grandparent’s kitchen nook if they had to expand it to a restaurant.

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We started with some very well prepared cocktails.

I got the Venetian Royal with Villa Sandi Prosecco, Thatcher’s Blueberry Liqueur, and Tarragon Blueberry Syrup.

Mike got the NTL. Mule with Russian Standard Vodka, Stirring’s Ginger, Luxardo Maraschino, Barritt’s Ginger Beer, Angostura Orange Bitters, Fresh Ginger and Lime.

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I liked that Mike’s was in a copper mug.

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I began the Restaurant Week menu with the pea gazpacho.  This was made with sugar snap peas, pistachio, and lemon.  The pea flavor was pronounced and smooth and the pistachio was a great compliment.

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The fried squash itself was tasty, but the black garlic sauce is the stuff that dreams are made of.  I think black garlic may be one of my favorite flavors in the universe.  This was absolutely fantastic and I want to pour it on everything I ever eat for the rest of time.  We lopped up every drop with the bread on the table.

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Mike’s burger was, indeed, ugly.  He says it was juicy and bacony.  Delicious.

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And his fries were very well crisped.

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We also threw in a side of brussels sprouts, because we cannot ever resist them. Especially when they are labeled as “crispy.” (These were also labeled with cider and mustard).  These were some awesome brussels.  They were, yes, very crispy.  The cider and whole grain mustard was also a great compliment to the sprouts without being too mustardy.

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Back to the restaurant week menu, I got the mahi mahi on coconut basmati rice with asparagus and sweet and sour sauce.  I couldn’t have the sweet and sour sauce, but it wasn’t at all missed. This fish was cooked perfectly, had great flavor, and the fluffy coconut basmati rice was great.  The best way I can describe this is that all the flavors were just shiny.  Each one broke through and went so well together.  A great fish dish.

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For dessert, we split my Restaurant Week selection of Whiskey Chocolate Mousse with hazelnut feuilletine and passion fruit sorbet.  I just looked up “feuilletine” and it is defined as a delicate cookie crunch. Sure enough, inside the chocolate square you see here was a layered delicate cookie crunch with mousse and a nice whiskey flavor.  The passion fruit sorbet was a bit strong for the whiskey flavor, but I still really enjoyed this dish. The chocolate sauce was rich and very, very nice.

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I loved this meal.  I am not surprised after watching Chef Geoffrey Zakarian cook on TV many times.  Everything he makes just looks so good and with the flavors I enjoy, so it was great to be able to taste it.  I have been to The National for brunch in the past, and it was very good, but this was an even more impressive meal, especially since it was (mostly) off the Restaurant Week menu.

Highly recommended.

Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10

nomscale- 08.5

 

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Restaurant Week Summer 2013: Asellina

1 Sep

I made an unscheduled last Restaurant Week stop for Summer 2013.  This time, we checked out Asellina near Gramercy for lunch. (Upon looking up the website, I realized that Asellina is from the same restaurant group as STK).

It’s in the Gansevoort Hotel on Park Ave, so as expected, the space was quite nice and modern.

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I started with a salad that had shaved pear on it with goat cheese and nuts.  It was dressed very well and was a very enjoyable salad.

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My dining companion had a shrimp appetizer (that I believe was on the regular menu, not Restaurant Week). These babies were HUGE. He said they were very good.

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I then chose to go with a flatbread pizza.  This came with mushrooms and scallions.  I really enjoyed this pizza.  Great crisp to the crust and the toppings were very nice.

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For dessert, I tried to pana cotta.

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This was a nice, simple dessert that was well executed.  I especially liked the use of stewed peaches with it.

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Overall, my Restaurant Week experience here was fine. Just fine. Food was good, and since it’s close to my office, I will most likely be back.  But nothing to write home about.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

nomscale- 06.5

 

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Restaurant Week Summer 2013: Kutsher’s TriBeCa

3 Aug

We went to Kutsher’s TriBeCa when it first opened and had a pretty good meal with pretty lousy service.  Looking back on our last meal, a lot has certainly changed in the food, and our service this time around had no faults (and was actually quite lovely with a friendly waitress).

The space fits well in TriBeCa with a modern, industrial look.

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The restaurant was not busy at all, but it was a Tuesday night.

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The menu is quite large, but the Restaurant Week menu, while limited, had a good selection from around the big menu.

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I saw that they had homemade Apple Pie soda on the menu and had to try it. Sure enough, it tasted like apple pie you can drink.  I really enjoyed this.  (Mike wound up making up his own drink by combining this with bourbon. It was awesome).

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One of our friends started with the wild Alaskan cod gefilte fish. Gefilte fish is something typically relegated to Passover dinners where kids turn their noses up at it with exclamations of “ewwww” while many adults secretly can’t wait for Passover to come again just to have a reason to eat it. Gefilte fish is typically described as a fish cake, but that really doesn’t explain it at all. It’s a wet lump of fish parts, basically.  It took me years to even agree to try it again, and now I actually enjoy it.  But not more than once a year.

ANYWAY… back to our meal.  The combination of the gefilte fish with beets was nice, but the horseradish (typically served with gefilte fish) was a bit much for me. I’m really not a fan of horseradish, however, and everyone else enjoyed it.

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I got the latkes, which last time were only fair.  Comparing this to the picture from last time shows VAST improvements.  These were crispy and the bits of potato that were hanging off reminded me of potato sticks.  Last time they were a bit soggy whereas this time they were crisped up nicely with a great potato mixture inside.  The apple sauce on the side was also thick and nicely flavored.  I wish the sour cream was a bit more sour, but it was still good.

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Mike ordered off the Restaurant Week menu to get the crispy artichokes because he knows I absolutely love artichokes.  Last time, we LOVED this dish.  This time, it was pretty good but not as great as last time.  The crispy parsley was missing and the artichokes didn’t have enough crisp. But I never would have faulted this dish had it not been so outstanding last time.

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Both of our friends got the salmon off the Restaurant Week menu.  They both enjoyed this very much.

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I got the brisket off the Restaurant Week menu.  I was having some camera trouble and it looks like I somehow failed to save a picture of it!  (Damn)  It came over a BBQ sauce that was quite good and the meat was flavorful without being overly fatty.  I have a problem where all brisket is compared to my grandmother’s brisket, which means all brisket is fair at best.

Mike went off the Restaurant Week menu to get the burger.

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This came with a fried onion ring filled with cole slaw on top of a cheeseburger and latkes on the side.  It was a bit big once the onion ring was on top, but he said it was a nice juicy burger.

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We also got some matzo crusted onion rings on the side.  These were well seasoned and the matzo crunch was nice.

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For dessert, our friend got the coconut cake which he loved so much he refused to share it (just kidding, he offered, but not convincingly).

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And I got the rainbow cookie ice cream cake. I loved this in theory, but it was missing the signature almond flavor that make rainbow cookies so good.  The ice cream inside was also a bit lacking in flavor.  It would have been nice if this had been strongly almond flavored to bring it all together.

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One nice thing that Kutsher’s TriBeCa did is give out a “Dine Again Card.” This was the first time I’ve seen this, but it was a nice touch and really brings the entire purpose (in my opinion) of Restaurant Week full circle.  The goal is to get you to try a new place (or try a place again that was so-so in the past to give it a second shot) with the hope that you will come back.  Why not give people a reason to?

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As far as Restaurant Week goes, I wouldn’t say this was my favorite meal. But I think it was a good value for what we got and I’m glad we got to try it again and see that the kinks have been ironed out (at least on a Tuesday night).  I enjoyed it and would happily return (especially for free latkes!)  This is the perfect place to bring the family when they’re in town. A little fancy, but a little bit of home and what we all grew up on.

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10

nomscale- 07.0

 

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