[Pink Pig Time Machine: September 15, 2016]
Does everyone remember Gotham Book Mart. I used to hang out in its penultimate location (amidst the Diamond stores) all the time. Anyway, I was there ten years ago, my diary says. I also discovered John Allan's salon inside Saks Fifth Avenue, which became my regular grooming spot while working around Rock Plaza.
But you don't care about any of that; you care what I ate.
Well to kick the week off, after drinks at the Flatiron Lounge, a seven course tasting at Tocqueville. I liked this place a lot for a few years, but I felt the menu stopped evolving early on. The sea urchin carbonara is delicious, but it's still on the carte today, just as it was, I believe, when the place opened sixteen years ago. But still, as nice dinner:
Tuna carpaccio and tartare with sardine and chives
Poached lobster
Salmon, cous cous
Poularde
60 second sirloin, 24 hour ribs, smoked potatoes, aromatic root vegetables
Cheese,
Dessert
A bit scant on details there, I'm afraid, especially the mode of preparation of the poularde. But there was a Domaine Jean-Michel Gerin Côte-Rôtie 2001 lurking in the background.
I did some art: the Anne-Louis Girodet exhibit at the Met, as well as the AngloMania fashion retrospective; then the 75th anniversary of the permanent collection at the Whitney, with a full floor of Hopper. Light meals? Lobster wraps at Lobster place in Chelsea Market, chicken and pork buns at Momofuku Ssäm Bar--which had just opened, basically as a snack joint--and a visit to Pig Heaven.
Finally, dinner at a restaurant I really enjoyed during its short existence, Dona by chef Michael Psilakis and front-of-house adornment Donatella Arpaia. What a swanky little place, in the best sense:
Braised octopus, guanciale, peach
Tortellini with pumpkin squash, dried cherries, nuts
Gelati
And a Greek white wine, Thalassitis. Then packing for the next trip: London and Paris.
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