Wine and Indian Cuisine in a Different Style

Friday nights at home, we eat a lot of Indian take-out. It's quick and easy, and can be tasty in a simple way. But real Indian cuisine can be something quite different. Done with care and skill, the flavorful spice mixtures and sauces can rival the best French cuisine. Of course, it's a bit more rare, but in NYC you can find anything, including some great Indian restaurants.

On a recent Friday night out, we decided to switch it up, and go out for Indian food. Manhattan's trendy Tribeca neighborhood has a lot of interesting restaurants, including an outpost of the Tamarind empire. A formal, spacious restaurant, it was quite a bit different than our usual restaurant adventures these days. We where there early, but the space filled quickly with a younger, boisterous crowd. Before the tables filled in, we faced that rare problem in NYC: a server a bit too solicitous, who asked if we needed something just a bit too frequently. This left us feeling a bit rushed.

Of course, the other big difference from our usual Friday night was the quality of the food. Take-out Indian is one thing, but a carefully crafted dish, cooked carefully and with quality ingredients in the same Punjab style is a world apart. A fish curry, made with a Goan sauce of spices in tomato and coconut was sweet and spicy. The last big difference from our usual Friday night was the wine options. In this case, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand brought some sweet tropical flavors that matched the coconut and cooled the hot peppers. Always important with Indian food.

When thinking about food and wine, everyone thinks about Western food. Its good to remember that wine works with just about everything, if the food is prepared right and you pick a good wine that complements it.

Special Treatment at Vitae

We're getting out less these days. So when we do, we try to do something extra special. That may be something as simple as trying a local restaurant we find it difficult to get into with a small child, or some place like Vitae when we have a night in Manhattan and want to be treated special.

When we first sat down at Vitae, we were a little concerned it was too hip for us. Surrounded by an artfully decorated space, filled with romantic young couples and noisy groups of friends, we felt a bit out of place. But the menu was approachable, and the wine list was interesting, so our cares were quickly forgotten.

It helped that they treat everyone like a special guest. While we contemplated our order, we were treated to an amuse bouche of a sweet butternut squash soup with winter spices, perfect to get the taste buds warmed up for the evening. While we waited on our food, we were served warm rolls brushed with duck fat and sea salt. And before dessert, a grapefruit mint soda to cleanse the palate. These are the little touches that can make any meal something really memorable.

Of course, dinner was great too. A appetizer of spicy pork tacos got things started with a careful blend of heat and flavor. A chestnut pasta was a rich, earthy counterpoint to a crisp glass of white wine, while the duck breast was fatty and delicious, with a fruity red.

Date night can make for a special sauce all its own, turning even the most simple dinner out into a wonderful evening. Finding a great restaurant on your rare night out, however, is its own magical experience.

Quick Review: Red Hook Winery Riesling 2010

US, NY, Red Hook Winery Riesling 2010
+ // Crisp // Green apple, Vanilla, Lemon // Petrol, Old flowers, Granny Smith apple // Light

Red Hook is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, not too far from where we live. There is no grape growing in this urban environment. Instead, it's likely Red Hook Winery sourced their Riesling from the vineyards on Long Island or up in the Finger Lakes region.

Local Food at Blue Hill

As much as we love wine, we love good food. Living in New York City, we may be a bit removed from the day to day of the wine making industry, but, in exchange, we get to follow a cutting edge food scene.

With our obsession with all things "local," we are always on the lookout for restaurants that embrace  "localvore" food--dishes composed of food from nearby sources. There are various economic and environmental reasons to follow the practice, but for us we simply prefer fresher food. An apple eaten straight off the tree tastes better than one picked, sent to a processing center, then to the grocery store, then on to our kitchen. In terms of wine, although grapes are usually grown close to the production facilities, we still prefer to drink as local as possible in an effort to support the local wine community. Local is simply important on so many levels.

When we heard about Blue Hill, we knew we had to go. Inspired by the farm on Blue Hill Road, they work with farm fresh seasonal ingredients under their "Know Thy Farmer" philosophy. Knowing this, we were willing to try their chicken. This may seem like an odd statement, but we seldom bother with chicken at a restaurant. It's such an ubiquitous ingredient, but chicken is normally bland and dry (or the accompanying sauce or side dish is the star of the show). We're also not wholly comfortable with how chickens are raised on large commercial farms. A farm fresh chicken is a thing of beauty: rich, succulent, and full of tasty juices. Once you have had a well-prepared breast just a few hours past butchering, it's hard to go back. You're reminded of a different time, when things were done more slowly. At Blue Hill, a simply prepared chicken with seasonal vegetables was perfection on a plate, especially with a nice, crisp New York Riesling with bright flavors that made the sweet chicken pop.

And that brings us to the other reason we felt compelled to try Blue Hill--local wine. All too often, high end restaurants are afraid to offer any wines from outside France or California. Thankfully this place that celebrates the meat and produce of New York is also willing to embrace the State's wine, offering bottles from several of our favorite producers. To get a glass of great local wine with some great local food is a great night out.

A Less Casual French Meal at DB Bistro Moderne

French food can be casual, but it seems to be the go-to high end cuisine of American restaurants. We usually enjoy more laid back experiences, but every once in a while we look for an amazing meal. For a special night out in Manhattan, we decided to check out DB Bistro Moderne after hearing good things about their wine menu.

We joined the pre-theater crowd on a busy Saturday night. Busy and trendy is not our usual scene, but we were impressed with the selection of French wines, and the classic French dishes weren't too overwhelming. Like French wine, French food can come off a little opaque, but a little bit of knowledge goes a long way to finding something you'll enjoy. Our waiter was extremely helpful in deciphering our dishes and the wine list, and we ultimately chose their 3-course prix fixe and were not disappointed.

A great dish to look for, if you want a glass of red wine, is Coq au Vin. "Old Rooster in Wine" may not sound too appealing in English, but slow cooking a tough meat in red wine is a great use of ingredients in any culture, and gives you one of the few chicken dishes that can handle a big red wine.

That is a wonderful thing about French cuisine. Years of culinary tradition have turned humble peasant dishes into amazing food. DB Bistro Moderne seemed to embrace that, serving amazing variations on dishes that can be found in any casual French bistro. The extensive wine menu did let us find a bottle at a reasonable value, and stick with wine that has been grown to match the traditions of French cuisine.

Wine and International Cuisine at Junoon

With European food, there is a long history of pairing food with wine. If you know a bit about wine, it's not impossibly difficult to pick a wine to match your meal at a French restaurant. But for more international cuisine, it can be a bit tricky. Thankfully, we have the old standby of Riesling to meet all our adventurous dining needs.

While European dishes may develop some complicated flavors in their sauces, many Asian dishes rely on a depth of spices seldom seen in Western cuisine. At a quality Indian restaurant like Junoon in Manhattan, a dish may simmer in a dozen spices, including hot peppers. Riesling offers simple, crisp flavors that can't compete with the flavors of a spicy meal. Even better, that hint of sweetness from the grape will often soothe the heat from the spice.

In the cavernous restaurant, we sat down amid the trendy crowd, feeling like we were having dinner in the middle of some big party. Amid it all, a handful of plates drifted across our table, a wide range of flavors to match the bottle of Riesling we'd ordered to share. Against the spicy shrimp, we saw the real benefit of Riesling, as the sweetness of even a semi-dry can play well with heat. With chickpeas though, the wine could have stood to be a bit more dry to counteract the fattiness of the beans. The wine was far too big for the lamb in light sauce, but offered a nice sweetness to match the sweetness in the cauliflower steak.

It's tough to match a bottle of wine to multiple courses, and even more difficult when you aren't as familiar with a cuisine. At a time like this, you can always fall back on what you are familiar with. We like to be adventurous with our wines, but sometimes the meal is adventure enough.

Cuisine at Hecho en DUMBO

Somehow, it always surprises us when we end up eating Mexican cuisine. Maybe it's because the country seems stuffed full of Mexican restaurants that try to convince us that rice, beans, and tortilla can be combined in enough different ways to make up a couple of dozen items on the menu, but, when we find ourselves in a restaurant that uses carefully crafted, slow-cooked sauces to complement a menu of interesting dishes, it always leaves us happily surprised.

Hecho en DUMBO, which means "Made in DUMBO," is not actually located in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The chef got his start there, with a small pop-up dinner in a café there, but now he's managed to find a permanent space in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Using fresh, local ingredients, he is making small shared plates influenced by the cuisine of Mexico City.

Small plates and local ingredients. How could we resist? We found ourselves there for an early dinner, fighting our way past the happy hour crowd at the bar to a table in the back. Another benefit of Mexican Cuisine? The margarita menu. Instead of pages of the usual sugary, fruity slush concoctions one finds in most Mexican restaurants, here the cocktail was simple and focused on the tequila. Like a good whiskey, tequila can create some dark, complicated cocktails, which can be a great way to sit and ponder a dinner menu. After such a hearty drink to start the evening, we wanted a hearty dinner. So instead of sharing a few small plates, we decided to share one giant plate, piled high with meat. The Parridilla Yucateca is a house specialty: a plate of half a dozen different grilled meats, with a little bit of cheese. We ordered a salad of garbanzo beans to make it a healthy dinner, and a Malbec to drink, because what other choice is there for a pairing with a pile of meat? It was amazing. Hearty, smokey, meaty goodness filling the table in front of us, paired with a wine that always manages to hold its own against the strong flavor the grill, while bringing a balance of spice and fruit of its own.

Like finding a great wine from an unexpected region, it's wonderful to be reminded that good food isn't about some stereotypical interpretation. Good ingredients, careful preparation, and the deft hand of a skilled chef are universal to all cultures, and can give us amazing dishes in every corner of the world.

A Quick Stop at Lillie's

We have a handful of favorite places to visit when we go into Manhattan, but there is always a benefit to trying something new. While the old tried-and-true places deliver a comfort that comes with something known, a little adventure can lead you to something new and exciting.

After brunch with some friends at a popular wine bar and restaurant, we found ourselves with an afternoon to kill in Manhattan. We wandered about, shopping and people watching, but eventually we needed to seek refuge from the mean streets. Venturing off the beaten path near Union Square, we came across an interesting little place, a small "Victorian Establishment" by the name of Lillie's. Between the Victorian decor and the live Celtic Folk band playing at the entrance, we thought we might have found an Irish Pub, but the varied and international wine list let us know we were in the right place. We find it rare for such a casual bar to offer such a varied wine menu, it's typically "red" or "white" or at best "merlot" and "chardonnay." Not here: the selection was well-rounded and diverse.

We sat at the bar and enjoyed a couple of glasses, listening to the music. We didn't get a chance to try any food, but the pub menu looked comforting. All told, it was nice to find an alternative to the big named restaurants of the neighborhood, and an opportunity to enjoy some interesting wine in a more casual setting.

Lillie overlooks the scene.
Courtesy unionsquare.lilliesnyc.com

Slabs of Meat at Fatty 'Cue

It's been a meat-centric year for us. Lots of grilling at home, and lots of BBQ when we go out. Steakhouses aren't really our scene, but there are a lot of interesting barbecue joints popping up throughout NYC these days. Fatty 'Cue counts as part of this wave of BBQ, but manages to be something entirely unique.

Fatty 'Cue - West Village location.

While most BBQ joints aim for a more casual vibe, Fatty 'Cue seems to be shooting for a more upscale feel, with a complicated fusion of American BBQ and Asian flavors, adding in an interesting menu of cocktails and wine. We sat down for an early dinner on a stormy night, enjoying the basically empty restaurant that the storm and our early dinner afforded us. The intimacy of the space was highlighted by the lowlighting, provided by small lit niches filled with bottles of bourbon. Feeling free to sit and savour our evening, we ordered a cocktail while we pondered which slabs of meat we wanted to enjoy.

Everything on the menu looked interesting and amazing, so we had trouble narrowing down our choices. The apple salad was fresh and crisp, well-complemented by the addition of some extra sharp aged cheddar. The pumpkin congee was rich and earthy, with a pickled mushroom that added a touch of acid bit. The real stars of the evening though were the meat dishes: a half pound of deep fried bacon and a brisket served up with a big slab of Texas Toast. Simple dishes--smoky, meaty, fatty. We decided to try a wine from a region known for its simple "meat and potatoes" cuisine: a red Zweigelt from Austria. The wine had a delicate flavor surprisingly suited to the hearty meat dishes--a bit of fruit and light oak that added some spice to the meat dishes. We were pleased with the choice.

While the idea of an Asian/BBQ fusion restaurant seems overly complicated, in reality it's a great pairing. Long traditions of simple meats, cooked low and slow, are just as much part of some Asian cuisines as they are of Southern US cookouts, so it adds a little flair to an already familiar food. The wine might have been something out of the ordinary, but was well selected to keep from over-complicating the meal. It was just what we needed.

Something Local at Apiary

Wine lists at nice restaurants can be intimidating. Even with everything we have learned in the last few years, there a still grapes and wines we don't recognize, and there are only a handful of wine makers we know. With a wine list of 300 bottles, Apiary in Manhattan left us stumbling to find the perfect wine, but thankfully that was the most difficult part of our meal.

A tiny space in the Lower East Side, Apiary was surprisingly busy for an early dinner on a Friday night. The menu was impressive, and the wine menu was almost overwhelming. Luckily for us, we were there to take advantage of their Restaurant Week menu, so with a limited dinner menu, it was easier to narrow down our wine choices. Picking duck leg confit, it was only a matter of finding a glass of red wine with a balance of fruit to complement the flavor of the duck with a bit of acidity to cut through the fattiness of the bird. It turned out that the duck had a crispy, heavily seasoned skin, which brought some spice to the dish, giving the fairly simple dish some complex layers of flavor.

While we focus on local wine, we are proponents of local produce in general, so we were pleasantly surprised when and glass of after-dinner tea was accompanied by a selection of honey from a bee farm (or apiary) in Upstate NY. Such a simple thing added yet another layer to a simple but elegant meal.

Brinkley's with Friends

As you well know, we try to focus on the local. We buy local wines whenever possible, and we try to enjoy restaurants that work with local ingredients. Unfortunately, it's tough to find restaurants around NYC that do both. Many restaurants carefully source their foodstuff from local farms, so going so far as to list the farms they work with, yet very few places really embrace the local New York wine regions. Instead, you find French, Italian, and Californian wines on those same restaurants' wine lists.

Thankfully, we know of one place to rely on for both. When we tried to grab dinner with some friends at our old standby, Public, we found that we couldn't get a seat. Thinking quickly, we decided to head around the corner to Brinkley's. A spacious bar and restaurant, Brinkley's focuses on the products of New York. The menu is filled with hearty fare from local farms, while the bar is stocked with only wines and beer from New York.

Brinkley's is a popular place. On this trip, we managed to sneak in ahead of the crowds, and found ourselves a table to camp out at for the evening. We enjoyed a long, casual evening with our friends, sharing some of our knowledge of New York wines with them among the many topics of conversation. It was fun for us to be able to show off our knowledge and make some recommendations, since it's not often that we know the wine list so intimately. We knew it here, of course, because New York wines are our bread and butter. And we're always grateful to find restaurants who showcase them as we like to do. 

Winter Wine at Terrior Tribeca

A cold mist hung over the concrete canyons, the tops of the skyscrapers obscured in a eldritch glow just barely illuminating two figures huddled under a hotel canopy. The dim light of a cellphone illuminated their huddled faces.

"It says 375 Greenwich St."
"Maybe it should be Greenwich Ave."
"Maybe its right around the corner."

The couple popped their umbrellas and darted down the street,checking each address as they passed. Finally, they found what they were looking for. Darting under the entrance vestibule, they found their way out of the cold winter rain into the cozy brick bar they sought.

For some unknown reason, it took us a long time to find the time to get to Terrior in Tribeca. It's not too far outside our usual neighborhood for dinner in Manhattan, and it is known for its vast selection of Riesling--our usual neighborhood for wine. Of course, when we finally decided to go it turned out to be a miserable night, but we had our minds set, and made it in despite the storm.

The wine bar itself was a bit different than our usual destination. Dark, loud, and trendy, we felt a bit out of place. But after we pulled ourselves up to the bar and chatted up the bartender on our options for the evening, we quickly felt at home. The wine menu was exhaustive, but organized and informative to make it easy to find something interesting. Chock full of Riesling from throughout the world, including some of our favorite Finger Lakes wines, we were a little sad it was so cold and miserable out, since it didn't feel like a night for white wine. But with selecting some dinner and asking the bartender for recommendations, we found some other interesting options.

The menu felt like elevated bar food, and we picked some big meaty sandwiches. Starting with some Pig's Head Bruschetta to start with, a rich and mineral meat that might scare some people away. Followed by a meatball sandwich and a pork sandwich, glasses of red seemed like the only choice. Fatty meat with some fruity, spicy red wines kept us warm on a cold, rainy night. The knowledgeable staff helped us find some interesting wines: for our second glass, we specifically asked for something "unique and different" and they encouraged us to try something new and linger over our glasses. Part of the adventure is going beyond what you're used to. Now we just have to get back and try their Rieslings.

Riesling "on tap" at Terroir Tribeca.

Downtown Local with Wall & Water

In some of the hotels around NYC hide some interesting restaurants. Hidden from the street by lobbies and bars, there are gems throughout the city that lack the street presence of most restaurants. But with just a little bit of research, they can be excellent finds.

With too many restaurants to choose from, we often look for some place where the philosophy of the chef matches our philosophy on wine. Luckily, more and more restaurants are embracing the local, at least when it comes to food. 

Wall & Water, located in the Andaz Wall Street hotel in Downtown Manhattan, fit the bill for us. Perched on the second floor, overlooking the busy after-work crowd schmoozing at the bar, this is not a place we would have just stumbled across. The contemporary design of the space contrasts the simple but elegant food. With dishes crafted from local produce, we should have ordered local wine, but instead we decided to try something a bit different than our usual Finger Lakes picks. A Californian Pinot Noir went well with our dinners: it was light enough to pair well with Tuna Nicoise but had earthy notes to play with the french beans and potatoes in the dish and the typical fruitiness of a West Coast Pinot Noir to complement the rich Mac & Cheese.

When looking for a special restaurant, it can be good to have a specific goal in mind. We never would have just run across this place on our adventures around the city, but looking for a good Localvore place helped us find this hidden treat.

Theater of the Stomach: A Review of Broadway's FOODACTS

Now playing at The Lion Theater in Times Square, FOODACTS http://foodacts.com/ reminds us that food is everywhere—even in the most acclaimed literary achievements. We were invited as press to sit down for this literary “meal” of established novels, poetry, historic essays, letters and other literary works. Some might be familiar with the featured texts, but FOODACTS asks you to return to them from new perspective: these are the passages your teachers skipped over. There is something for everyone, including serious, heavyweight works from Homer, John Milton, Dante, and the like, but the show is at its most delicious when conveying the comedic side of food.  Our favorite vignettes included:

·         Dorothy Parker’s “But the One on the Right,” performed by the excellent Judith Bancroft, in a very real scene in which a dinner guest finds herself trapped at the dinner table next to a dolt of a guest, when she would really prefer to speak to the man to her right;

·         W. Somerset Maugham’s “The Three Fat Women of Antibes,” in which three constantly-dieting women must endure a visit from a perpetually-thin friend;

·         Langston Hughes’s “Simple Uncle Sam,” in which the main character tries to order dinner at a take-out place in Harlem. Based on the audience’s reaction, it’s safe to say that, when it comes to New York City food culture, some things have not changed. Antonio Edwards Suarez brings life to the server behind the counter, making it even the more real;

·         Peter Hessler’s “Rat in my Soup,” points to the challenges we as diners face when trying to immerse ourselves in local culture.  Food quickly becomes the biggest barrier to full immersion, even more than language; and,

·         “Anthony Bourdain’s “Secret Ingredients” made us laugh as the voice of Tony translates the nonsensical orders of kitchen staff in New York City’s “culinary underbelly.”

It follows that we might be most attracted to the comedic vignettes, because that’s the same attitude we have towards wine. We’ve always said that wine should be about the experience—enjoyment first, seriousness last. Like wine, food exists on a spectrum from “very casual” to “haute cuisine,” but we insist that the focus should be on fun. This play was certainly fun, and left us hungry for more (literally).

 

FOODACTS is playing at The Lion Theater at 410 W. 42^nd Street through February 24. Tickets ($18) can be found here. http://www.theatrerow.org/thelion.htm

Staycation Restaurants: Le Colonial & Rouge Tomate

If you are looking to make a special weekend in NYC, there are a lot of restaurants to help you. And if you are in the city after the holiday season, Restaurant Week (which is really more of a month) is a great way to enjoy some of the best restaurants without breaking the bank.

When we made our plans to embrace a weekend in Manhattan, our highest priority was figuring out where we wanted to eat. With so many choices, it can be a bit overwhelming. Of course, picking restaurants depending on how interesting the wine menu sounds helps narrow it down a bit.

Our first pick for our staycation was Le Colonial. With our goal of a decadent vacation in our home city, the idea of embracing the opulence of Vietnamese food mixed with French colonialism seemed to fit the bill. The space was big and inviting. The service was stellar, almost as if we were colonial masters ourselves. The food was an intriguing mixture of Vietnamese and French, lending a very unique feel to the meal. And the wine menu was superb, populated with amazing French wines, at prices better than the American wines on the menu.

Rouge Tomate was a different beast entirely. There, the menu was focused on modern American food, with an emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients. The space matches the focus on modern, with the main dining room overlooking a semi-private party space below. The wine menu was huge and international, but the staff was more than willing to help with some knowledgeable recommendations.

Both restaurants were a great fit for our staycation. Not only did we have delicious food, we gained a lot of great memories at these special restaurants to help us reminisce on our "trip" when we are stuck at home.

Staycation at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel

I'm not sure if this is something unique to NYC, or if it happens in other tourist cities as well. Living here, it's difficult to justify enjoying it the same way as someone who is just visiting for a special trip. Why spend the big bucks for tickets to a Broadway show when you can find an interesting Off-Broadway show? Why make reservations at a high end restaurant when you've got a great pizza joint on the corner? Why spend a night at one of the amazing hotels throughout the city when you've got a comfy bed at home? But sometimes, we just want to break out the camera and "I Love NY" sweater and enjoy the city in the most extravagant fashion possible.

One of the benefits of a "stay-cation" is that you can be flexible for when you do it. Many of the best hotels offer deals "off-season" after the winter holidays. We picked a nice central location: the Waldorf Astoria in Midtown Manhattan. For us, it was the perfect choice. It may lack some of the modern touches, but the atmosphere of historical decadence added to the special treat of the weekend. 

Over the course of the weekend, we found the time to stop off at both bars in the hotel and have a few drinks, amidst all the other fun activities we'd planned. Sir Harry's Bar was our favorite: dark, quiet, and cozy, it was easy to enjoy a cocktail by ourselves, even though it was very busy. The Waldorf Bar might not have been any busier, but sitting so close to the main floor of the hotel, with brighter lighting and a more open floor plan, it certainly felt busier. The handful of NY wines tempted us, but we stuck to cocktails there as well, and watched the crowd go by, before dinner and a show. 

It was the perfect weekend, almost "quiet" after the holiday rush of tourists had cleared out of the city. A light snowstorm gave the city a special winter glory, almost as if Mother Nature were helping us celebrate the city we call home.

A Fancy French White Wine

We pride ourselves in enjoying good, everyday wine. But when special occasion calls for it, we feel we must step up and play with the big grapes. For Tina’s birthday last fall, we enjoyed dinner at Veritas Restaurant in New York City’s Flatiron District. We chose this restaurant namely because the wine menu was so extensive, and because the food menu features dishes comprised of locally grown ingredients. We were not disappointed. After a funny faux pas in which Tina tried to show off her wine skills to the waitress, and almost immediately learned she shouldn’t play in the Big Leagues - at least yet, anyway - the big wine book came out over which Nate and the sommelier hunkered and discussed various options for dinner. We’re not embarrassed to say, we chose the cheapest of the wines discussed, and it wasn’t even that cheap!

Bar Veloce Dinner

Normally, we keep Friday nights casual. Some takeout, a bottle of wine, a bit of TV. It's a good way to wind down the work week. But every once in a while we pretend we are young and adventurous and go out for the evening. Sometimes we even justify it to ourselves by going to check out a good wine bar. This time around, we decided to check out a place known for having a great wine list--Bar Veloce.

B&B Winepub Adventure

We remembered! So often, when we are wandering around NYC, we spot an interesting restaurant or bar that looks interesting, look over the menu, and say "We should remember this place." Then we wander off and forget all about it. We nearly did the same with Burger & Barrel Winepub, but after a Saturday spent in the office, the promise to check it out sprung to mind, so we ventured over to see exactly what they had on offer.

Celebrating at The Dutch

New York City is a great place to celebrate the important events of life. And we like to take advantage of that. So, having received some good news and after a quick phone call at lunch, we had reservations for a restaurant we'd been hearing great things about: The Dutch.

(c) Noah Fecks, from www.thedutchnyc.com