Dining in New York

I was in New York for a short business trip and of course we took advantage to try a few new restaurants. Our first location was Geisha, on 61st between Madison and Park. The food is Japanese. I'm not a sushi fan, so I stuck to cooked items. I started with lobster dumplings and shrimp lollipops, both quite good. My main was a salmon in miso, perfectly cooked. Dessert was a chocolate cake with a delicious ginger-y sauce and tiny dollops of ice cream along with some fresh oolong tea.

Our second evening, we had booked a table at OTTO Enoteca, one of Mario Batali's places. It's one of his many restaurants in NY and located at the end of Fifth Ave. where it meets with Washington Square Park. This is a casual pizza and pasta restaurant, with a large bar area in front and characteristically loud dining room. Because we had a pretty big group (6 people) we decided to order a bunch of things and share. We started with the sformato di parmigiano, which is basically a mini parmesan souffle, but that doesn't begin to describe it. It's the most delicate, creamy, airy cheesy thing you'll ever taste. For pastas, we did the short rib with tomato sauce and a special agnolotti with fennel seed and a cream sauce. The short rib was very good, but the agnolotti was exceptional, with a very light fennel aroma. Our pizzas were the funghi and taleggio, prosciutto arugula, and the special with lamb. My favourite of these was the funghi (of course) but the prosciutto was also very good. The special thing about the pizzas is the crust. Very very thin, but crisp all the way through, even at the points of each triangular slice, which tend to flop over on a thin pizza. For dessert, I had the Black and White, which was mint chocolate chip gelato, creme fraiche gelato, hazelnuts and chocolate and caramel sauce. Apparently this is the favourite dessert in the house, because after I got it, I realized the wait staff had been bringing these out of the kitchen past our table all night. Wine was a delicious Tuscan recommended by the sommelier. We were well stuffed by the time we left, so we walked back to our hotel at 56th Street via 5th Ave., taking in all the wonderful sights of NY along the way (Flat Iron building, Madison Square Park, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, etc.).

For lunch on the 2nd full day, I joined a colleague at the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien where we were staying. This is an odd little place. The hotel itself is very European chic. The burger place is tucked around the corner, a little room covered in plywood with patron's graffiti all over it, cash only and it carries only burgers, fries and sodas. The burgers are exceptionally juicy and the fries are amazing. The place was packed, we barely grabbed ourselves a couple of stools, and by the time we left, the line to get in was around the corner and almost to the hotel lobby.

My final meal had to be a relatively quick one, since I was seeing a performance at City Center, so I grabbed a seat at the bar at Rue 57 (at 6th Ave.). They have a nice cocktail menu, food leans towards French bistro fare, and service is friendly. The bar was a popular place it seems for the after work crowd, grabbing a beer with their buddies before hopping on a train to go home.