Saturday evening, I went out to dinner with a group of girls at Jane, a New American restaurant in Greenwich Village. It’s actually owned by the same people as The Smith, which I love, so I’ve been meaning to try it out for awhile.
The menu at Jane is full of basic American dishes with a gourmet twist on them. It included pastas, salads, seafood and meats, but each was prepared in a special way that made them more unique than a usual “American” place.
To start, they brought us two huge baskets of really soft, chewy bread. There were eight of us and I don’t think we finished it all…I love when places don’t skimp on carbs. I had two pieces, mostly because I was absolutely ravenous.
I contemplated getting a seafood entree, especially since they had my favorite seared ahi tuna, but in the end I got two appetizers instead. They had some really unique ones, so I decided to walk on the wild side. First, I had a watermelon and tomato salad, with local goat cheese, frisee, torn basil and lemon vinaigrette.
This salad was so good. They used yellow watermelon to prepare it, and the combination of that with the goat cheese was absolutely delicious. I’m pretty sure it had some chervil or tarragon in it, too, which made the flavors extra interesting.
The second app I chose was the grilled octopus, kind of on a whim. Weird seafood never grosses me out, and since it’s not often that you see octopus on a menu, I figured why not? It came with marinated chickpeas, spicy fennel salad and fresh dill on top.
In order to be tasty, octopus has to be cooked correctly, and this definitely was. It was soft and slightly chewy but not at all rubbery or tough, and the other components they added complemented the texture and taste perfectly. I especially liked the dill!
Two people at the table ordered the goat cheese flatbread with arugula and caramelized onions, which I tried a piece of. The crust was a little delicate, but the goat cheese/onion pairing was amazing.
I also had a handful of rosemary fries from an order of steak frites with bearnaise sauce. They were crispy and awesome, especially with the hint of rosemary.
I left wondering why I hadn’t tried this place sooner. Apparently brunch is what Jane is known for, so if it can beat this dinner I might have to try that out as well…
What’s your favorite herb or spice to have in a dish? I’m definitely a huge fan of basil, but I think that dill is amazing in the summer, as well.
