It’s funny how something you love, someone you love, a general concept that you can’t get enough of, all of these things can be radically different in reality than the perceived thought of them. For example, baseball is a beautiful game, the stoic figure of Babe Ruth was worshiped, and apparently yet he wasn’t always that nice of a fella.
Working in the restaurant industry, there’s a fear that this general principle could somehow apply to eating out. Being in love with the concept of cooking, but faced with the daily realities of it, the whole charade could come crashing down in front of your eyes. Yet I’m lucky, as much as my prism has been tainted, I still love dining out.
So on my only day off of the week, out to the restaurants I go. I’ve been lucky. I have great friends and a great family, and therefore have been to Corton, Vandaag and Cafe Boulud on my days off, just to name a few. But the shout outs I want to make here towards eating out don’t come from these big names. No they come from the littler places I know, or have been introduced to, that still manage to put a smile on my face. For it’s these places that I find the most impressive. With a kitchen smaller than my own, or less classically trained chefs, or a smaller not quite as rich clientele, they still do fun things with food.
First up, Tia Pol (205 10th Ave). I’ve been coming to this place for five or so years now. When they opened, there was a bit of hype, and quickly they opened up a few other restaurants. This generally spells disaster for the flagship restaurant, where the food or the service or the decor or all three tend to dwindle. This is not the case with Tia Pol, not only are the founding dishes still good, but the newbies are pretty damn tasty too. Take the seared chicken liver with pickled red onions on toast for example. And their cheese plate, something so common, is not only well presented but reasonably priced. Never skip out on the sangria.
Second up, Bar-Bo-Ne (186 Avenue B). If you go, you must try the 5 course tasting menu. In comparison to all others in town, and with quality taken into consideration, it’s a steal. Highlights from this meal would be the duck ravioli, the sauce was bangin’, the swiss chard and ricotta malfatti, and the duck special they had running that night. The owner is also a highlight, he brought two additional pasta dishes to our table, and although me and my dining companions rolled out of there, we were very appreciative of them.
With a lot of things tainted in my life at the moment, I’m glad my one consistent guilty pleasure has been left unscathed. I’m ecstatic I still love to dine out.
