| rev:text
| - I came into the opportunity to have a nearly-free meal here, and given the reviews, I wasn't expecting a good experience with food or service. I was surprised, both were fine.
Just to get it out of the way, this place has the most self-concious decor and ambience that I have ever encountered. It's bordering on ridiciulous. It's precious on precious stacked on top of about eighteen layers of hipster chic. The wine list comes in this perfectly tattered field-notes book with a handful of empty pages in the back, the last of which is adorned with a casual lipstick kiss. The servers wander around in v-neck t-shirts in different dusty shades, each wearing a heavy leather gun holster which is a really unflattering effect if you have a giant gut.
To be honest, it's taken so far that it comes off as a really high-end Spaghetti Factory. It's that kitchsy, that rammed full of faux vintage. Or a trendy version of something you would encounter in Epcot Center's league of nations or whatever those entirely over-the-top stereotypes of European countries are called. And it makes the moments where the attention to details have faltered really stick out. The bathrooms are beautiful, worn brass faucets dump into a big porcelain farmhouse sink, gleaming subway tiles all over. But the water closets are co-ed, so I walked in to find a toilet seat up and a shitty plastic dollar store wastebasket overflowing. The ugly gray sanitary disposal unit ruined the whole effect. Don't get me wrong - all of these things are neccesscary and in isolation would have meant absolutely nothing, but when you have created this totally over-the-top experience, any lapse in the illusion is super obvious.
Regardless, on to the things that matter. The hostess weirdly waits for you to tell her what you are after. She's not great. She doesn't welcome you, she sort of raises her eyebrows at you in a "what do you want" sort of way. It's a restaurant, my friend. We probably want to eat.
Luckily, our server was lovely and down to earth. With the decor, if the attitude had been snobby or too-cool, the experience would be ruined. Wasn't a problem. She was attentive without being too formal, and made excellent recommendations. I got the impression she had tasted everything on the menu, and that's important.
We ordered the scotch egg (which is actually a quails egg) and the beef tartare to start, which comes with smoky-grilled sourdough bread and a foie gras mousse and seed mustard. The scotch egg is really amuse-bouche sized, but delicious enough that I didn't resent the $5 price tag. I could have eaten six. It was a wonderfully balanced bite of food. The tartare was exceptional.The portion of beef was pretty substantial.
I ordered the veal cheek. It's earthy and rich, and served with a decent portion of what I believe is lingot bean puree and a smear of pureed amaranth. A bit of bacon and date are meandering around in there as well. It was a great dish, and the server's suggestion that a side should be ordered as well was possibly not true.
It served in contrast to my partner's dish, the Wagyu beef. Next to the rich taste of my veal, it was just... plain old pedestrian beef. I would encourage people dining here to try a more adventurous cut. Unlike the veal, the Wagyu beef came with absolutely nothing, and seemed incomplete. Beautifully cooked though.
We ordered herb spatzle with mushroom & lamb bacon on the server's advice and were not disappointed. It was a bigish portion and could have served as a meal alongside a salad or other veg. The bacon was very rich; it's a very indulgent pasta-like dish.
I can't remember which cocktail my partner ordered, but it was well balanced and strong. It came with one very large perfectly clear giant ice cube, which are shipped in specially and basically did not melt for an hour. I had a $16 glass of wine, which pained me, but it was very good.
We did the gold bar chocolate thing for desert, with their version of sticky toffee pudding. Both were fine, but nothing revolutionary.
Bill came to about $160ish pre-tip. It's spendy, for sure. But you could do better if you ordered strategically. The burger is reasonable, and I saw it coming out a couple of times. It looked out of this world and smelled as good. But I could definitely see myself going back there, purely for that veal cheek... I'm still thinking about it!
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