My very sweet and very hardworking husband surprised me this week when he came home with two tickets to "South Pacific" on Saturday night in a very successful attempt to make up for an entire week's worth of very late hours at work. Deciding where to have dinner before the show, which is conveniently playing a mere one block from our apartment, was up to me.
Judd is strangely unimpressed with Rosa Mexicano, even though I love it. But since their irresponsible bartenders have recklessly over-served me their potent margaritas more than once, I was comfortable scratching that off the list.
I also considered Taboon, my single favorite new place in Hell's Kitchen, but we'd already eaten there twice in the last four weekends, and having come close to breaking my odd Tiramisu repeat-dining habits, I thought it best to branch out. (Tiramisu is a mediocre Italian restaurant near our old apartment where I was known to eat at least once a week and still routinely travel back to the Upper East Side just to have more mediocre Italian food.)
Then I remembered a lovely dinner I had had at Gabriel's with Kate and Kristy back in the spring of 2003. The location was perfect, we hadn't tried it since moving to the Upper West Side, and after reading recent glowing reviews on Zagat and Menupages, that's where we went.
Gabriel's was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night. I think that most of our neighbors are probably spending summer weekends at their summer homes. We had no trouble getting a reservation and we had a wide variety of seating options when we arrived.
I always get excited when you get a little bowl of olives in addition to a bread basket. But it's even better when there is a selection of breads in that basket including CHEESE STRAWS! I try to eat healthy, though I don't always succeed, especially in my post-bride life. A nutritionist you may have heard me talk about convinced me that by partaking in a bread basket, I would essentially doom myself to a lifetime of chubbiness. Still, I have a bread stick/grissini/cheese straw exception to the Heather-imposed bread basket moratorium. And so having a bundle of cheese straws land on our plate was a terrific stroke of luck. And well enjoyed.
Our first course was tasty, but unremarkable. Judd had a ceasar salad with an enormous and unattractive pile of anchovies on top. I had a grilled portobello mushroom with fontina cheese and a truffle vinaigrette. (I realize this would be more interesting with photos - sorry!)
For my entree, I had seared scallops with roasted potatoes, a tomato and sweet corn salad, and a tarragon aioli. I love corn, as anyone who went to college with me would confirm. I also love scallops, but sometimes am nervous about ordering them since many restaurants consider three or four scallops an adequate serving (see the URL for this blog . . .). But I was quite happy to end up with six tasty scallops, a salad that included corn, and a delicious aioli. Because I adore aioli. I will pretty much order anything that comes with aioli, especially french fries. I chose wisely. Judd, my healthy vegetarian, had duck. Go figure. I don't care for duck, so I have nothing to say about his selection.
We shared a deep dish peach-blueberry pie with honey ginger ice-cream for dessert. And it was fabulous, even if it cost $12, which is $5 more than I think dessert should cost.
**
Details:
Gabriel's
11 West 60th Street
New York, New York
(212) 956-4600
dinner for 2, and a lot of wine for 1: ~$200 (it was a special occasion!)
So that was my first restaurant review. I don't think Frank Bruni needs to worry about his job security just yet . . .
