Colicchio & Sons Visited 2/19/2011 3.5 Forks

Colicchio & Sons 85 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011

 I have always been a huge fan of Top Chef but yet never made it to any of Tom Colicchio's restaurants.  So when Colicchio and Sons came up for Restaurant Week I was excited to check it out.  But I forgot that Restaurant Week participants don't do Saturday or even sometimes Sunday meals.  But it turns out Lav and I decided to go for brunch so it really didn't matter if we had a Restaurant Week menu or not because the brunch dishes were generally cheaper and better than the $24 prix fixe deal.

My first reaction was that the decor was the restaurant was beautifully designed. There is the Tap Room in the front, which is where we sat, and then a more formal dinning room in the back for dinner.  The space is a very sleek open concept.  But at the same time it was a really comfortable place to have a meal. 


The menu had a bunch of items that were breakfast-y but with a more upscale twist.  I was deciding between the johnny cakes with duck confit, the goat cheese and squash omelet with truffle vinaigrette, or the BLT with pork belly.  In the end, I decided on the duck confit ($14) because it came with poached eggs and a side of cheddar grits ($6) while Lav got the Ricotta and wild mushroom frittata and a side of potatoes.  I wasn't really sure what a johnny cake was but when it came out it looked like a flat cornbread.  The dish came with 3 large pieces of johhny cake, smothered with duck confit, and 2 poached eggs.  As many of you know, I am a nazi when it comes to having my eggs poached correctly.  While most places overcook their eggs, the eggs here were too watery.  It felt like they were almost not fully cooked yet.  Tom Colicchio would not be happy with how they turned out.  The johnny cakes were a bit dry and 3 was too many, I could barely finish 2.  The duck confit was good but there wasn't enough of it on the plate but that makes sense.  The cheddar grits were fine but in all honesty the ones I get in Jimmy's Diner are better and half the price.  What has kept me from giving this place fewer Forks was that I tasted Lav's frittata and it was really good.  The mushrooms were delicious and there was tons of ricotta spread on top of it with a nice helping of arugula on it.  The frittata was actually pretty big and it can almost be too much egg for 1 person.  Lav's potatoes were also salted just right with a nice topping of caramelized onions.  So this made me realize that the other dishes could probably be really good too.  The service was very attentive but not overbearing.  Total bill was $40 without tip.