new york, ny
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tonight jenny, r.g. and i managed to escape from our respective offices for a night of good fun, great food, and strong drinks. the redhead is famous for receiving a rave review from frank bruni, his last as a ny times food critic. so we were worried about the wait when we showed up to the tiny restaurant at 8 pm on a thursday night (thursday being the new friday). the hostess said it was a 30-45 minute wait, but it didn't seem that long. it was just enough time for me to finish a redhead fizz (absolut mandarin, elderflower cordial, fresh lemon juice) and start on a revival (beefeater gin, white lillet, triple sec, fresh lemon juice). by the way, i recommend the fizz if you want something light & refreshing and the revival if you want a real drink.
properly liquored up, the girls and i sat down at the corner table (nice) for our meal. which was amazing. even the little dinner roll and soft butter they serve were delicious. i highly recommend starting with the mushroom flatbread and definitely add the sausage if you're a meateater. the consensus at the table was that the best entree was the shrimp with andouille sausage and grits. everyone in the restaurant was ordering the fried chicken, so we tried that too. good, but lacked flavor. the trout was good for a "lighter" entree. no need for dessert - they give complimentary chocolate espresso cookies at the end of the meal. this place definitely deserves the praise that it has received and i look forward to returning.
5/13/2010: updated with better photo of the mushroom flatbread.
wow strong review. definitely putting this place on my list. shrimp & sausage, really?
ReplyDeleteJenny and I ate there on Bruni's word too, but we weren't as impressed. The fried chicken is not the best in the city. I've now tried maybe 20 places with supposedly amazing fried chicken, and Popeye's still beats them all.
ReplyDeleteThe Pollo alla mattone at A Voce, at columbus circle, on the other hand, is chicken heaven on earth.
totally - we all realized that we prefer korean-style fried chicken. but the whole restaurant was ordering it! maybe they haven't had korean fried chicken or popeye's before. who knows.
ReplyDeletea voce - so good, right? i haven't tried their columbus circle location yet. :-) do they have the bomboloni there?