Weekend Review
My parents came to visit for the weekend, which is always the best excuse to eat out for every meal of the day!
Thursday night we went to Alta and had a fantastic meal. We showed up right around 8:00 with no reservation and were seated immediately right near the fireplace on the first floor. We ordered too many things to write about but I'll give you the favorites of the table. Spinach salad with dried cherries was great- those 2 flavors go together so well together. Goat cheese w/ honey, confit of pork tenderloin, lamb meatballs and Moroccan spiced cashews (so good we ordered 2) were all fantastic. The 2 potato dishes, one with paprika and one with trout creme fraiche I wouldn't order again. Just not very tasty. Overall though a great meal. My only complaint was the pacing of the dishes. We got about 5 dishes at once literally 2 minutes after we had ordered. They kept coming in this sort of fashion. There was barely enough room on the table for them all. I wish they would maybe give you 2 at a time so you have a chance to taste them and talk about what you like.
Friday my parents went to the Met so we grabbed a drink at Cafe Sabarsky nearby. Cute place, very nice decor and the piano was being played. I have to say I never felt comfortable though. I just felt it was really stuffy and that everyone inside was very well...snobby? I don’t know. I am not in that neighborhood very often so I guess I'm not used to that type of crowd. My father raved about the desserts though so I was happy.
We shot down to the village after that to Mary's Fish Camp. We got there about 7:30 and only had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. First of all, the service was fantastic! It's such a small and crowded place where it must be very difficult to work at since it's always so busy. But our waitress always had a smile and made sure we were taken care of. I had slipped her my credit card prior to the meal so my parents wouldn't pay and she was great about just slipping me the receipt to sign at the end and even told my parents they were so lucky to have such a great daughter! Okay, enough about me, onto the food.
We started with the beet salad, conch fritters and steamers. The beet salad was a disappointment. Onion and mandarin oranges were mixed in with the beets and it just didn't work for me. The beets themselves were sort of bland and all I tasted honestly was the orange. The conch fritters were just alright. Again the flavor of the conch was overtaken by the corn and spices mixed in. Steamers were great.
For mains my mom and I had the lobster rolls- fantastic! Identical to Pearl's but for some reason they just tasted better to me. Mr Trekker had the lobster pot pie, which he enjoyed, but it had very little lobster inside. He said he wouldn't order it again. My father had the scallops and loved everything about them. It came with some sort of beet rice. Here the flavor of the beets came out and worked really well with the scallops. For dessert we shared a hot fudge sundae and the banana pudding- both superb! I would definitely come back to Mary's again before Pearl. Overall I just found the atmosphere more comfortable and service and food a step above.
Got up Saturday and went to brunch at Cafe Mozart with some other relatives. Can't comment on their dishes but my poached eggs in my country breakfast were perfect and the Crème Bruelle French toast was yummy. We had some desserts- black forest cake and peanut butter fudge cake. Both were decadent and delicious. Again we enjoyed the atmosphere but the service could have used a little work. An hour went by between getting our dessert and getting our bill. We kept trying to flag someone down but the servers seemed a little confused. It was busy though so I would come back again maybe on a less busy day.
For dinner that night we went to a local fave of mine Giorgio's of Gramercy. For starters we had the fried calamari and vegetables. I have gotten this dish here before and it was great. This time though it tasted different. There was some sort of spice throughout everything that I couldn't recognize but it took over. Halfway through eating it Mr T stopped because the taste was getting to be too much for him. It wasn't a horrible dish; it just wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
For my main I had the fillet Mignon, which was cooked to perfection. My mother had the chicken, which was moist and delicious. Other dishes of pork and lamb were loved by all. Such a relaxing, nice place that always seems to deliver without breaking the bank.
For dessert we headed across the street to Metrocafe and had their chocolate cake. The place was packed! I was shocked at how many people were there! It's a good sign though since I love their cake and their beers on tap are always stellar.
For brunch this morning we tried to get into Penelope but I couldn't even get through the door! So we decided to check out Petite Abeille instead. We had the waffles with berries, au Gruyere omelet and the coquette. Everything was great. The food came out quickly, our waitress was friendly and the creme brulee we had for dessert made for a great end. I will definitely be back to partake in their many Belgian beers, which at 11:00 this morning seemed a bit aggressive!
http://altarestaurant.com/
http://wallse.com/
http://www.giorgiosofgramercy.com/
http://www.petiteabeille.com/
http://metrocafenyc.com/
Thursday night we went to Alta and had a fantastic meal. We showed up right around 8:00 with no reservation and were seated immediately right near the fireplace on the first floor. We ordered too many things to write about but I'll give you the favorites of the table. Spinach salad with dried cherries was great- those 2 flavors go together so well together. Goat cheese w/ honey, confit of pork tenderloin, lamb meatballs and Moroccan spiced cashews (so good we ordered 2) were all fantastic. The 2 potato dishes, one with paprika and one with trout creme fraiche I wouldn't order again. Just not very tasty. Overall though a great meal. My only complaint was the pacing of the dishes. We got about 5 dishes at once literally 2 minutes after we had ordered. They kept coming in this sort of fashion. There was barely enough room on the table for them all. I wish they would maybe give you 2 at a time so you have a chance to taste them and talk about what you like.
Friday my parents went to the Met so we grabbed a drink at Cafe Sabarsky nearby. Cute place, very nice decor and the piano was being played. I have to say I never felt comfortable though. I just felt it was really stuffy and that everyone inside was very well...snobby? I don’t know. I am not in that neighborhood very often so I guess I'm not used to that type of crowd. My father raved about the desserts though so I was happy.
We shot down to the village after that to Mary's Fish Camp. We got there about 7:30 and only had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. First of all, the service was fantastic! It's such a small and crowded place where it must be very difficult to work at since it's always so busy. But our waitress always had a smile and made sure we were taken care of. I had slipped her my credit card prior to the meal so my parents wouldn't pay and she was great about just slipping me the receipt to sign at the end and even told my parents they were so lucky to have such a great daughter! Okay, enough about me, onto the food.
We started with the beet salad, conch fritters and steamers. The beet salad was a disappointment. Onion and mandarin oranges were mixed in with the beets and it just didn't work for me. The beets themselves were sort of bland and all I tasted honestly was the orange. The conch fritters were just alright. Again the flavor of the conch was overtaken by the corn and spices mixed in. Steamers were great.
For mains my mom and I had the lobster rolls- fantastic! Identical to Pearl's but for some reason they just tasted better to me. Mr Trekker had the lobster pot pie, which he enjoyed, but it had very little lobster inside. He said he wouldn't order it again. My father had the scallops and loved everything about them. It came with some sort of beet rice. Here the flavor of the beets came out and worked really well with the scallops. For dessert we shared a hot fudge sundae and the banana pudding- both superb! I would definitely come back to Mary's again before Pearl. Overall I just found the atmosphere more comfortable and service and food a step above.
Got up Saturday and went to brunch at Cafe Mozart with some other relatives. Can't comment on their dishes but my poached eggs in my country breakfast were perfect and the Crème Bruelle French toast was yummy. We had some desserts- black forest cake and peanut butter fudge cake. Both were decadent and delicious. Again we enjoyed the atmosphere but the service could have used a little work. An hour went by between getting our dessert and getting our bill. We kept trying to flag someone down but the servers seemed a little confused. It was busy though so I would come back again maybe on a less busy day.
For dinner that night we went to a local fave of mine Giorgio's of Gramercy. For starters we had the fried calamari and vegetables. I have gotten this dish here before and it was great. This time though it tasted different. There was some sort of spice throughout everything that I couldn't recognize but it took over. Halfway through eating it Mr T stopped because the taste was getting to be too much for him. It wasn't a horrible dish; it just wasn't executed as well as it could have been.
For my main I had the fillet Mignon, which was cooked to perfection. My mother had the chicken, which was moist and delicious. Other dishes of pork and lamb were loved by all. Such a relaxing, nice place that always seems to deliver without breaking the bank.
For dessert we headed across the street to Metrocafe and had their chocolate cake. The place was packed! I was shocked at how many people were there! It's a good sign though since I love their cake and their beers on tap are always stellar.
For brunch this morning we tried to get into Penelope but I couldn't even get through the door! So we decided to check out Petite Abeille instead. We had the waffles with berries, au Gruyere omelet and the coquette. Everything was great. The food came out quickly, our waitress was friendly and the creme brulee we had for dessert made for a great end. I will definitely be back to partake in their many Belgian beers, which at 11:00 this morning seemed a bit aggressive!
http://altarestaurant.com/
http://wallse.com/
http://www.giorgiosofgramercy.com/
http://www.petiteabeille.com/
http://metrocafenyc.com/
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