Eaten back on September 2nd, 2009. (I’m working on it…)
Dining Room Interior
I have to admit, if I haven’t said it yet, I love Gramercy Tavern. It has the casual, down-home earthiness yet it’s innovative of what one would expect from fancy pants fare. The service is great, as expected from a Danny Meyer institution, and I absolutely love their food. They haven’t steered me wrong from the multiple times I’ve eaten here and ever since Executive Chef Michael Anthony helmed the kitchen.
I went to their dining room for the tasting lunch. Back when I ate here (on September 2nd) and when it was Restaurant Week (about a month or so) not a whole lot changed in terms of the menu, I requested a few changes on the courses.
In case you all didn’t know, New York City’s Restaurant Week (or “weeks” should be the correct nomenclature) started last week (July 12th). The somewhat strange thing with the Danny Meyer owned restaurants, namely Eleven Madison Park, Union Square Cafe, and Gramercy Tavern that they are doing their own version of RW – broke down into one restaurant per week for City Harvest. During that week, Gramercy Tavern was doing RW; this time, I went with Helen.
Partial view of the Dining Room area
Since this was the beginning of lunch service, the dining room isn’t as packed as it would be. It was relatively calm and not too loud.
Bread service
The bread served were the usual suspects – the country bread slices or the olive roll. Both Helen and I chose the olive roll. Probably because I was starving and didn’t eat breakfast, I kept eating the entire thing, knowing that I shouldn’t stuff my stomach with a ton of bread. In any case, it was good. Slightly crusty on the outside and chewy in the inside (a little too chewy for me). The olives weren’t overtly salty and briny, just a touch.
Interior of the Tavern, left, and Exec Chef Michael Anthony
During the week when half of my lab is out to conference in the West Coast, I managed to relax a bit to have lunch at Gramercy Tavern. It also helps with timing, since I have to use their gift certificate that was given out during Restaurant Week in February. Not wanting to bother with spending a whole lot of money and time in the formal portion of the restaurant, I opted to dine at the tavern room.
Oddly enough, I spotted Executive Chef Michael Anthony sitting with another person about for about half of my stay there. The Tavern is still busy as is usually is, with diners, mostly regulars and some visitors, walking past my table and the conversations around are lively. I’m just the odd ball being the solo, quiet diner wanting to be alone with my food and take pictures of it with my large camera. Continue reading “Lunch at the Tavern in Gramercy Tavern” »
I’ve remembered reading from The Feedbag about the insane line that people had to wait in order to get in during Restaurant Week. Well, I became one of those nut jobs except the good part was that the line wasn’t that long (I was the third person/group seated) and yes, I did get some hot cider about three minutes prior to the actual opening. At least it made my insides a bit warm after standing out in the fairly cold weather for 15 minutes. Frankly, I was expecting worse. Continue reading “Dealing with the Crowd During Restaurant Week – Gramercy Tavern” »
If you remember several weeks ago (or several posts ago), I went to Gramercy Tavern with Giulia for Restaurant Week and we received gift certificates for a future lunch. We set a date on when to return and keep perusing their website if the dining room menu changes after RW. But, they didn’t. They kept the same dishes but put in a la carte prices which defeats our purpose of trying out Gramercy Tavern’s full potential. So, we opted for the tavern room and we created our own tasting menu by splitting everything we’re going to order.
The Tavern Room & Bar
The tavern room is casual, handsome, dark wood interior and exposed wooden beams, with the splash of vibrant colors along the top of the walls surrounding this room. It reminds me of an interior of a country home but it’s classier with a touch of funk from the colors. Me like. Continue reading “Our Own Version of the Tasting Menu at Gramercy Tavern” »
When it comes to Restaurant Week, I have learned, after participating nearly four years or so, not to have high expectations whenever I eat out at a RW restaurant. If I did, then I would be disappointed and felt robbed. But Gramery Tavern was the exception when I went there yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon with Giulia.
When we arrived there five minutes prior to our reservation, there were a lot of older matrons who surrounded the front door. Strangely, the doors were locked and it seemed like they’re not ready yet. Eventually around 12 PM, we we all lined up and go in to get seated.
Dining Room Interior
