This might sound slightly ridiculous, but one of my favorite things about New York is the ridiculous amount of good restaurants on every street. I’ll likely be moving out of the city in January (where depends on several factors, but mostly the job situation), and while I’m actually pretty excited for whatever comes next, I’m definitely going to miss the dining opportunities. I guess these next few weeks I’ll be packing ‘em in!
My friend Maggie has been staying with me this weekend for a conference, so last night she, my other friend Jillian and I went to dinner at Tom Colicchio’s Craftbar in the Union Square/Flatiron neighborhood.
I’d actually been to Craftbar just the night before for drinks after our Friday Night Dinner, so it was the first place I thought of when there was a snafu with our prior reservation. Craftbar has a menu full of unique and fun but not-too-out-there items; paired with a cool, trendy atmosphere and modern decor, it’s the perfect place to take visitors for an NYC dining experience.
Unique cocktails were obviously a necessity. At first I went for the beer list, but changed my mind when I spied a drink made with tequila, cucumber and jalepeno:
Whew! The pieces of actual pieces of jalepeno floating around in this made it super spicy, and the bartender had a very generous hand with the tequila. Just one made me pretty tipsy.
Maggie and Jillian, meanwhile, ordered a Cider Sidecar (Grand Marnier, cognac and spiced cider), and a dark rose.
Rather than all order our own dishes, we opted to go the sharing route by ordering several small plated and an entree. The entire menu looked delicious (corizo-stuffed sage leaves? Montauk squid?), but eventually we narrowed it down to just a few selections.
We got the pecorino risotto balls, served with a spicy tomato sauce:
These had a lightly breaded and fried, very salty exterior, with a soft, creamy, cheesy interior. The portion was three large balls (har har har), each big enough to take three or four bites of.
Dish number two was the pecorino fonduta:
Basically, just a vat of smooth, melted pecorino cheese with freshly toasted, buttery crostini. Definitely not a diet dish, but it was fantastic. I loved the use of pecorino instead of the traditional fondue cheeses- it was saltier, with more cheese than cream flavor.
(I just realized we had two pecorino-centric dishes. The fact that I didn’t notice till now speaks to how good they were.)
We also chose one large plate, the ricotta cavatelli with butternut squash, pancetta, sage, spiced creme fraiche and pepita:
This pasta tasted freshly made, and wasn’t drenched too heavily in sauce. Rather, it had just a few of each of the accompaniments, so you could really taste just how good the cavatelli were. The only wish I had for this dish was more butternut squash- the pieces were small-diced and therefore didn’t pack as much sweetness as they could have!
Finally, we also ordered one of the specials, a side of roasted brussels sprouts with bacon:
These actually might have been my favorite dish of the evening. They were crunchy but completely cooked, dressed in the perfect amount of oil and seasoning, and well-complemented by the thick cubes of salty bacon. I’m not much of a bacon lover, but this stuff was good. I’ll take my fried pork served with brussels instead of eggs from now on, please and thank you.
Our last-minute reservation was fairly early (6:15), so to kill some time before our next stop we ordered a second round of drinks. I got my brew in the form of a Two Brothers Ebel Weiss, which was yeasty and almost fruity:
Sharing a few plates ended up being a great idea, since we had big plans for dessert at the end of the night:
Those would be the mint chocolate sundae from One Lucky Duck/Pure Food and Wine. We each got our own and ate ourselves into food comas. Hands down my favorite dessert, forever and ever.
What’s the most unique cocktail you’ve ever had?
