FOOD! #1

Let's hear it for RESTAURANT WEEK!! During this past week, and (after a weekend off) continuing through next week, virtually all the best restaurants in NYC have fixed-price three-course menus for lunch ($23.07 per person) and dinner ($35.00 each). As soon as we heard of this (Vancouver has a similar 'Dine Out Vancouver' event that we always look forward to) we jumped on it and Barb made ten reservations--one for each day--at the Open Table site (a really good free online restaurant reservation service at www.opentable.com--see if it covers your city). So this was week #1 of eating our way through the kids' inheritance....

Because I took many photos of the restaurants and food we enjoyed, I'll spread this over two days. I am NOT very good at restaurant reviews-- I have never worked in one ('server' was one of the few part-time jobs I did NOT perform during my education) and I don't cook. I have neither the expertise, nor taste, nor writing ability to do a worthwhile job at such an endeavor. However, what I CAN do is simply SHOW you the place and the food we enjoyed, and report the websites of the restaurants themselves (although they won't be active--you'll have to copy and paste the web address into the address bar at the top of this page and hit 'enter').

In retrospect, this is actually fairly valuable information for this reason--more than any other place I have been, the restaurants here are VERY VISUAL, both in interior design and in food presentation. Indeed, they are almost like theater or movie sets created by a very competent production or set designer--they convey a mood through physical space, lighting, music, color, texture, and objects. When your food arrives it will not only taste wonderful, it will LOOK wonderful too. I should say, however, that once again, I did not take my good camera (my main intent was to enjoy the food, not photograph it) nor did I choose to interrupt the experience of other restaurant patrons by taking a flash photo. As many of the restaurants we attended try to create a romantic mood, they are dimly lit, even in the middle of the afternoon, making photos difficult. So bear with me--many of the food photos are not my best as they were hand-held one to three second exposures. Some of the websites referenced here will have very professional images of their interiors and/or food, in addition to full menus. Finally, I am including the 2006 Zagat ratings of each restaurant in a series of numbers. They stand for, respectively, the rating (on a scale from 0 to 30) for Food-Decor-Service-and Cost (for a dinner for one, with one drink and tip).

So...We began last Monday with lunch at the SoHO/Tribeca location of MEGU (http://www.megunyc.com), which was fun (24-27-22-$102). We had a booth to ourselves on the side looking out on the restaurant. I had Kobe beef for the first time, and it was wonderful. The quality of the chocolate was SO intense--I think this was my favorite desert for the week. On their website they show an ice sculpture of Buddha in the center, under the huge bell--that was replaced by a flower arrangement when we were there (not nearly as appropriate given the theme of Megu, which means 'Blessings').

Tuesday we lunched at Union Square Cafe (http://www.unionsquarecafe.com) which is always one of the favorites in the Zagat guides (27-23-26-$62). This looked like a restaurant rather than a stage set, and I enjoyed the large paintings on the walls and the wooden floors. Our table was not a very good one, unless you would rather talk to the person next to you than your partner (although the man's recent trip to Costa Rica sounded like a lot of fun). My pork stew was OK and the deserts were pretty.

Next we went to the Village for our only dinner of the week. One if By Land, Two if By Sea (http://www.oneifbyland.com) is one of those restaurants that does not have its name on the outside of the building (23-26-24-$71). It is located on a largely residential street, since it was, back in the day, Aaron Burr's carriage house (!). We had a great table overlooking the main floor from the second floor and could still hear the live piano music from near the entrance and bar area. My soup was sublime, the beef (and Barb's scallops) very good, and the desert (I'm a sucker for chocolate) my second favorite of the week.

I have not mentioned the service yet, but it is noteworthy. During this week top-level restaurants get more varied patrons than is usually the case (e.g. we are not the top-level restaurant goers: we are those who wait for deals like this). In Vancouver we had occasions (C and West) where we were treated by the servers as second-class--if we didn't begin the meal with a $10 bottle of water they couldn't be bothered. Here the servers were uniformly professional, informative, friendly, and competent and added significantly to the dining experience.

More to come,
Dan

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