You don’t need a weatherman to tell you that it’s been hot in New York City. For what seems like months (in fact, it’s been weeks), I’ve been shedding pounds of water weight just walking to and from work every day. Dealing with hot weather really takes it out of me, so I’ve been working hard to make up for all those burned calories with some fantastic meals over the past few weeks.
Oriental Garden
Chloe had a performance in her 3rd show with TADA, a youth theater organization here in NYC, and it was a family affair. Aunts, uncles and cousins showed up, in addition to the usual immediate family members, to see her big song and dance number (go and check out The Magic Pot to scout the young talent). Afterwards, we had an enormous Chinese seafood feast, complete with razor clams, cherrystones, a whole fish, two kinds of fried rice, noodles, hot & sour soup, sauteed snow pea shoots, and these fantastic crabs (photo credit, J. Cho):
dell’anima
I had two solid lunches at this tiny Italian spot. After trying it when it first opened, I had tried and failed to get in for dinner a few times and had mostly given up on ever eating here again. But after a disappointing meal at sister restaurant L’Artusi, I really wanted to give this place another shot, to see if it was all I remembered it to be. It was.
The first lunch, with Jared, was on the blisteringly hot Monday after July 4th. We sat at the bar and opened the meal with a nice, cooling glass of white Lambrusco, recommended by Craig, our enthusiastic bartender. Since it had been a couple of years since I’d been there last, I really wanted to try a variety of things on the menu. Jared started with the avocado bruschetta, while I had the testa with pea tendrils, horseradish & mustard seed. The testa was gelatinous and fatty. I wished it were a little colder and the texture a bit more firm, but this was somewhat driven by the fact that I was still melting a little from the walk down to the restaurant from Chelsea. Next we shared the arugula salad and the vongole with soppressata, garlic & fennel sofrit. The vongole was not the most summery dish, but the broth was quite tasty and I enjoyed the dish very much. I could definitely have this, a hunk of bread and a small salad for lunch or dinner on a regular basis.
At this point in the meal, Craig overheard us talking about foie gras, and asked, “Do you like foie gras? You should try this,” pointing to an item on the menu: a bruschetta of chicken liver topped with pancetta, then topped with foie gras. A heart attack waiting to happen. And then he brought us one to share.
This was definitely the highlight of the meal. Each element could have stood on its own as a delicious bruschetta, and when combined, some magic happened — salty, sweet, creamy, rich, crunchy. This is a must-try dish (apparently this was just a “taste” and when ordering it as a regular dish, you get several of these, so be prepared).
We closed the meal with the garganelli pasta with mushrooms and parsley. This was a solid dish, and had it not followed all these other dishes and flavors, I think I would have appreciated it more. But our ordering had been a little haphazard and I was quite full by the time it came out.
My second meal, with the very pregnant Leslie, was last week for a restaurant week lunch. I have mixed feelings about restaurant week, and I generally tend to avoid these meals. Many restaurants pre-make the dishes for the set menu, and it feels like diners don’t get the same level of care or attention, both in service and in food quality, that they do if ordering off of the a la carte menu.
The dell’anima lunch was an exception. All of the menu items appear on the regular lunch menu, and they were prepared to order. Service was friendly and gracious, and not at all concerned by the fact that we were taking our time ordering and eating. While the menu comes with choices, we both got the same things: octopus appetizer served with rice beans & chorizo, tajarin pasta alla carbonora (mmm… egg yolk…) and some sort of caramel cake (I can’t remember this exactly) with sea salt gelato. This more edited meal was definitely more successful as an overall dining experience than my previous visit. The octopus was perfectly cooked, and the carbonara was very well balanced and tasty. The dessert was a bit on the sweet side, but I did manage to eat the entire thing.
So thumbs up for dell’anima. I think lunch is the way to go at this place, where it’s less packed, the service is relaxed and the food continues to maintain its high standards.
Terrior
As always, it’s the summer of riesling at Terrior wine bar. I’ve gotten discouraged about going to the tiny East Village space, since it’s so small, and the long, communal table is configured in such a way that makes it difficult to get in and out. Thankfully, a new, larger outpost opened recently in Tribeca. I’ve now been twice and haven’t had to wait for a seat. It’s a nice looking space with exposed brick and wine bottles lining the walls. There’s an open kitchen at the back, a long bar, lots of little tables and a couple of communal tables at the back. The brick and bottles do mean that the space can get loud, and a mid-week visit was definitely more manageable on the ears.
The menu is the same as in the EV, and they’re still serving some of my favorite meatballs in the city. I got the arugula salad on both visits, and I wanted the dressing to be more viscous — it was a bit insipid to me. But the pickle plate was remarkable (pickled ramps!), and the cheese selection is always reliable. And then, of course, there’s the riesling, my favorite wine to drink in the summer. I’m sure I’ll be back here a few more times before the summer is over.
Oriental Garden
14 Elizabeth Street (between Canal & Bayard)
dell’anima
38 8th Avenue (@ Jane St.)
Terrior
24 Harrison Street (between Hudson & Greenwich Sts.)
