Rara Lucid.
Wednesday was a girl’s night out with my high school best friend Heather. I stuck around the office a little while and went across the street to Crush Wines & Spirits to buy a housewarming gift for my friend Christine. Not surprisingly, I selected a bottle of St. Germain’s Elderflower Liqueur. I ran into my favorite wine guru, Chris, who is a sommelier of sorts at Crush. Being the great wine seller he is, Chris comp-ed the gift wrap on the bottle. He also offered to help me select a bottle of white wine I might enjoy. I admitted to never having really enjoyed a glass of non-sparkling white wine, although have been known to indulge with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Even with sparkling wines, dry Spanish Cava is my style, not sickly sweet Spumante. Chris recommended a dry Riesling, yes a Riesling! Then he vowed to one day wow me with a glass of sweeter white wine. Ick, I look forward to challenging my palette! Here is an interesting article about Elderflower Liqueur from Food & Wine.
After my trip to Crush, I went downtown on the V train to meet Heather at the Second Avenue and Houston Street stop. We proceeded to Allen & Delancey, a new restaurant on the Lower East Side.
At Heather’s suggestion, I am going to note we were able to walk-in and immediately be seated at 7:30 PM on their first official night of business. I love it when a restaurant does not insist on reservations, although it may have been too early in the night or the fact they’re newly opened (albeit with much hype 1, 2 & 3. We were sat in their very cozy, homey dining room. Heather assessed it as a cross between the Park Slope area bar, Union Hall and Sam Mason’s Tailor. I got much more of a sense of a cross between Tailor and Gramercy Tavern, as it was so inviting and home-like. I immediately noticed the inviting lights, antique mismatching wood furniture, heavy rust colored velvet curtain, antique lighting and collection of portrait paintings.
Service was pretty great for the first night. The wait staff was obviously flustered, yet jovial despite it being their first night. Everyone was attentive, smiley and helpful. There was some minor confusion, as our food, drink and dessert orders were taken by a couple of different people.
I’ll start with my major likes… I love it when restaurants include their entire menu online, in the format they present it at the restaurant. They do this at Allen & Delancey, although they don’t have their cocktail menu posted online yet. You can see their menu online, which is where I took the list below of exact names of the dishes we ate.
We started with the “Terrine of Guinea Hen, Smoked Ham Knuckle, Foie Gras, Beetroot.” Heather and I asked to share the dish and the kitchen split it on two smaller plates. *love it when they do this, it’s like a, “hi, we’re thinking of ya!” sorta thing.* The dish was pretty well put together, layers of foie gras, veggies, ham, etc. It wasn’t as foie-y as I’d anticipated, but it made it less heavy, which was a bonus!
Roasted Dorade, Onion Marjoram Stew, Golden Eggplant Puree. This was the dish Heather ordered for herself, although we switched half way through our plates to have a true sampling of the two dishes. I was extremely excited about the Onion Marjoram Stew, as fresh marjoram is a favorite herb. The dish was good, but by the time I tasted it, the plate and food was cold and the eggplant a little bland. Overall it was an elegantly presented and flavored dish. Although, I must admit I was a little underwhelemed and would like to try some of their other tempting offerings.I ordered the Cabbage, Beef and Onion. This dish completes me. It was home cooked food on a plate, a beautifully presented plate, with everything I want to eat when I go to my father’s parent’s home. I wish this is what they served at weddings, as the stacked tower of potato slices reminded me of a four-star hotel’s ballroom food offerings. It was accompanied by three other little neatly presented components. A beef stuffed cabbage, like my grandmother’s Polish channeled creations (we’re not Polish). A tender cut of beef, which our server kindly informed me was supposed to be a short rib, but was changed to rib eye. Then there was the broiled onion, sweet, flavorful and tender. Yum. It was heaven. Heather complained the dish was cold by the time she got a bite, but I’d been lingering over the plate for well over twenty minutes before I switched, so my fault entirely! The only thing lacking in this dish was the presentation. There were four very groomed components cramped together in a checker board type formation, crowded together in a shallow bowl. I would have given each of the four pieces a chance to shine and glow. It was an ample dish, the portion was satisfying and tasty. By far my favorite dish. Heather thought it was too common, I thought it was an impecable masterpiece.Heather was feeling sick and only wanted to order one dessert. I’m not going to be pushy, so I went along with the delectable sounding Milk Chocolate Cremeux, Moist Pistachio Biscuit, Olive Oil Ice Cream. I was lured in by the Olive Oil Ice Cream, as I dreampt up visions of Mario Batali’s Olive Oil treats, Heather was intrigued by the combintation of flavors. She is not a huge chocolate fan. *wha?! yes, I know it’s crazy.* The dessert was good. Cocktails and drinks were pushed all night long, but the only thing we gave into was the Dalliancy, a Prosecco, Pomegranate, Elderflower Liqueur cocktail. Yum! The drink and dessert weren’t entirely memorable. Best of the food was the Cabbage, Beef, Onion dish. I would go back just for that, but would try all new starters, desserts and drinks.
After dinner, I had planned on going to my co-worker, Patrick’s, comedy show at The Cake Shop on Ludlow. Instead, Heather and I ventured to The Back Room for their Lucid Absinthe party. Man-o-man. I have never felt like such a heffer a day in my life. My size 6/8 build, 5′8 frame, has never in all of my East Asia bound years felt so large. Women skinny as toothpicks, men as groomed as Tom Ford himself! This was a people watching party! As Heather and I entered the bar we headed to the bar to try all of the offered cocktails. Eventually settleing on a Traditional Absinthe Cocktail, Mint Absinthe Cocktail and a Starry Night. I hadn’t realized absinthe is a anise or licorice flavored drink. I love me some Sambucca, but in it’s place. Not everywhere. Ick. These drinks were a bit medicinal tasting. The party was fascinating. I first noticed Jade from America’s Next Top Model fame, sitting near the bar with a very attractive man, she very undrunkenly pouring her cocktails on women standing too close to her. Next was the noticeable Brodie Jenner, of The Hills fame, who was flirting with the naked, painted-on-clothes Lucid Absinthe Fairies, as their nipples hung ripe for the glancing, barely covered in paint. I heard Mena Suvari was in the room beyond the faux library books, but I stuck in the main room, perched on a poof, watching Danny Masterson of That 70s Show fame dj popular hits. There were the men from menstyle.com dancing near Heather and I. One of them wrapped an arm around my waist, kissed the top of my head and whispered, “you’re absolutely fantastic,” in my ear as he walked out of the bar. Heather and I left soon there after, although not before I stuck my tongue out at Danny Masterson at the witness of his body guard and co-dj (yes, I said that). All in all, absinthe was interesting, but mostly because it attracted a strange assortment of people. The actual drink has none of it’s hallucanigenic properties. Lovely evening all in all. Too silly, too stupid and too drunk to know what to gather from it all.
Lucid indeed. Rara lucid.
October 5, 2007...11:48 pm
Rara Lucid
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