This review makes me sad because I really did want to like this place and support the chef, Floyd Cardoz but it just wasn't that impressive and then on top of it the prices of some of the dishes were down right offensive - even for being in hoity toity Tribeca.
I ended up here for a client dinner with a publishing friend and upon walking in I was impressed with the space. It's quite large, spacious and felt very high brow. It seemed like almost everyone else here was on a corporate account too (otherwise, I really don't know how else would come here and pay for it on their own). We all started with cocktails and wanted to nosh on something while we reviewed the menu and tried to order the burrata flatbread to start. But we were told that the chef prefers us to order everything at once, so he couldn't put our order in for us. Um - ok, way to accommodate your customers. I've never heard that before and we all looked at each other like "waaa?" So fine then, we decided to order everything at once then so that we wouldn't keel over and starve. We got the burrata flatbread ($23) to start and we also shared the duck fries ($14) and Brussels Sprouts ($15) for the table. Yes, you did not mis-read those prices. They charged almost $15 for a side of fries - that is borderline offensive. As for my main dish, I got the glazed short ribs of beef ($37) and the rest of the table got the fish dish and Borami got the octopus and beet appetizers.
We were all particularly excited for the burrata dish but when it came out it was nothing like what any of us thought. When you hear burrata, what do you usually envision? A nice soft moist mozzarella-like cheese right? What we got instead was a pizza with melted burrata cheese on it and then topped with arugula. Totally underwhelming and by melting the burrata, they made it flavorless and bland. We were all disappointed by this and at first I wondered if we mis-read the menu but nowhere on there does it say that it's warm or like a pizza. Next came our main dishes. The short rib was served with oat risotto, horseradish, and shoe string potatoes. The meat was excellent and fell right apart with barely my fork touching. This dish was really the only thing that kept me from giving this review anything lower. The duck fries were ok - not $14 worth and I realized that they were actually the same fries that Floyd used to serve at North End Grill which kind of annoyed me for some reason. The Brussels Sprouts were good but not better or worse than what I've had elsewhere.
We managed to still have room for dessert and got the sticky toffee pudding ($12) which came with creme fraiche sorbet, pecan macaroon and coconut tuille. I usually find sticky toffee pudding too sweet and this one was no different.
Despite the uninspiring food experience, I do want to say that our server was excellent. He was very kind, knowledgeable and made the experience quite pleasant. All I can say is that if you aren't paying for dinner, this place may not be so bad, but if you're coming on your own, you're much better off going to some of the other places in the area that's just as good and more affordable. Total bill: ~$500 for 4 with tax, tip and lots of drinks
Photo Credit: Yelp
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