Lord, the crowd. You know I don't love crazy lights when mixed with noise and wall-to-wall people. I had to suck in my stomach just to avoid the guy
How does my husband know what the cocktails taste like? Well, I made him go there for dinner with me on Friday night. Spur of the moment-like. I arrived at 5:30 to secure our standing zone. By 6, I was a chic sardine. But I was also 2 drinks in, so I didn't much care.
The food is freakin' terrific. Little mini-plates of delicious beef tenderloin and whole peppers, classic ham and bechamel croquettes, shrimp prepared with roe (how I don't exactly know - it's inside the exoskeleton), "kitchen bread" (whatever the fuck that means), perfectly-rendered squid in pork fat. Let's just say the eating was easy.
After 75 minutes, I could no longer stand (the fullness of my tummy might have had something to do with this) and we got the bill. In truth, I couldn't stand the crowd any longer. (Crazily, an exhausted couple, no doubt still in parenting denial, stood next to us with their infant in a carrier. They needed our square footage.) I knew it wouldn't be cheap - I mean, I'd read the menu and all of the reviews - but somehow I was still shocked that I'd spent 240 bucks on a meal for 2, that was gone in less than an hour and a half. (Yeah, half of it was the cost of the booze.)
I wish I could tell you I won't do it again. But there are some patio tables with chairs, peeps. I bet if I arrive at 5, I might just get one of those. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll stand.
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As the person who doesn't like spending money, when we have a night like that my husband makes a rather big deal of not showing me the bill.
ReplyDeleteBut since I'm the one who pays the credit card bills in our house, I always see it later. ;)
DeleteHa to both of you. :-) Just to clarify, I don't love spending a zillion dollars on dinner if the same experience can be had for less. But it was finally a nice night and I wanted a little bit of adventure... And of course I got my husband to pick up the check.
DeleteMy husband would never take me to a place like that. There's a place called the Scotch and Sirloin that's as expensive as he'll do, and that's *only* if we've got a gift certificate for at least half of it (or someone else is footing the bill ;-) ) But, it's OK, because honestly, I'm not a "fancy food" fan--the craziest I get is eating Rocky Mountain Oysters, which are delicious (and highly underrated!) if properly cooked. Especially the lamb version. ;-) And I can make a better steak at home than I've ever had at a restaurant--home grown beef for the win!! :-P
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your steak is unbeatable. We have a really good butcher up the block who gets meat from local farms. It's all "free range" (if that's what you call it with cows and such). Scott makes awesome food from that meat, often better than we'll get a place known for cooking meat excellently. And it's not from my back yard. BTW, thing about this place is that there's no way you could make a meal with all of these choices. We ate, like, 5 meals in one given the multiple dishes. So I view that as one of the reasons to spend. Oh, and the booze. :-)
DeleteWe feel like that about the Keg. Yes it is good, and it's nice to have someone else cook, but we can make a really good steak at home.
DeleteDon't know how well I could deal with the hipsters and the standing, but the food? All those cool small plates? Oh, yeah. . . I'm not keen on paying for cocktails, tho', altho' I have to concede that there are some brilliant mixologists making some very yummy potions.
ReplyDeleteIt's not my scene either - but if I'd do it on vacation (I thought), why wouldn't I do it in my own town? I have to explore while the weather is good!
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