In the Tavern at Gramercy Tavern

This evening we went for a belated Valentine's Day dinner at Gramercy Tavern. In this case I was interested to see if we could walk right in and get a table at around 7pm on a President's Day evening and get a table in the tavern without having to wait.

In this case we were in luck, and were able to get right in. The highlight of our meal was a cauliflower appetizer, which was a semi-circular cross section of the head of cauliflower; a unique presentation.

Valentine's Day at Sidecar

Tonight we enjoyed a low-key dinner at Sidecar, the upper floor to P.J. Clarke's on 3rd Avenue. Sidecar is a "reservations only" establishment," an approach which is apparently intended to maintain an exclusive ambiance. Given the much more prominent entrances to the first-floor P.J. Clarke's dining room and the bar itself, the entrance to Sidecar is barely labelled and could easily be overlooked (especially since it requires ringing the door buzzer to be allowed in).

Since we live close by, we go to Sidecar fairly often and have always remarked at the quality of the food, in contrast to the fact that they usually don't seem to have much of a crowd.

Sunday dinner at Craftbar

This evening we enjoyed what has become somewhat of a habit, Sunday evening dinner at Craftbar. The biggest draw for me is the quality of the small bites available, including particularly the olive mix with marcona almonds. At $6, I would assert that you aren't going to get them any cheaper direct from the grocery store (well, at least not at Whole Foods), and not with a side of almonds. And certainly not prepared and delivered to you in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of tasteful dishes by competent if not overly attentive wait staff.

In addition to the olives, veal meatballs with ricotta are a recurring favorite, served with a side of fettucini pasta. 

Breakfast at Katz's

This morning at breakfast was my first experience at Katz's Deli. We arrived there shortly after 10am, and the lasting impression I have from the experience is that a ticket-based counter ordering system designed for high volume and throughput becomes baffling to the customers when business is slow.

When we entered a uniformed security guard handed each of us a yellow ticket and told us to order at the counter, eat and then present the tickets upon leaving to pay. In retrospect is sounds simple enough, but at the time it was a bit disorienting.

Once past the security station there are a number of ordering stations (cutters) at a long counter running the length of the establishment. Being a newcomer I wasn't familiar with which section of the counter I should head toward in order to order lax and a bagel, but after trial and error (unfortunately trying all of them) I finally got to the one authorized to let me have a bagel. Unfortunately this was not the same one that could give me coffee so I had to double back, but after only ten minutes or so I was able to collect my plates and head to a table and sit down.

After the ordering ordeal things went more smoothly. The bagel and lox were served with small containers of cole slaw and cream cheese as well as onions and tomatoes, all placed on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce leaves. Not being well versed in the tradition of new york bagels and lox I don't think I am qualified to comment on the finer points of the arrangement, but certainly I found the main components to be satisfactory, although nothing that would stand out from other places with a less complicated ordering system.

Sarabeth's UES

This morning we headed uptown to one of our staple weekend breakfast/brunch locations, Sarabeth's on Madison near 92nd. Having visited several other locations in the Sarabeth's empire, most notably the Central Park South and Chelsea Market bakery, we have find the Upper East Side location to be the most consistently pleasant experience in terms of food and service.

One of the things I like about Sarabeth's is that they open early enough for a respectable breakfast time (8am), while not restricting you to a limited menu that transitions into a more substantial brunch menu later in the morning. For a counterexample see Balthazar, where you can show up at 8am but you will only be able to order very few items from the contintental breakfast menu. At 10am they start serving the "full" menu which includes a full range of brunch items. Not at Sarabeth's, though. Here there is no menu penalty for having breakfast or brunch as an early riser, and the menu is consistent throughout the morning.

Today was pretty cold, so front entry area by the bakery counter was particularly crowded with people waiting to be seated. Space is at a premium here, with only a narrow strip in front of the bakery counter and a couple of chairs next to the hostess stand. Even in the dining room every inch of space is carefully allocated to maximum the seating capacity; on one visit my wife was scolded for rotating a chair around the four-top table that only had three chairs. Apparently the fourth was carefully omitted for ease of traffic flow and they noticed within thirty seconds and corrected the problem when we tried to disrupt it.

We know not to tamper with the seating arrangements any more, though, and subsequent visits have always been pleasant. I am a fan of the sundials of grapefruit with yogurt and granola and this is almost always my choice, but today I selected the green and white, which is scrambled eggs with cream cheese and scallions.