Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Cookshop Visited 6/17/2016 4 Forks

Cookshop  156 10th Ave., New YorkNY 10011



I was a bit dubious when I booked Cookshop for dinner on Friday because what kind of good restaurant in NYC has multiple openings on OpenTable for 8pm on Friday?  Don't let that fool you because my dinner at Cookshop was damn good AND it was totally crowded.  I had heard about Cookshop for years but primarily as a brunch place but it's a great dinner place too.  Holly and I were at Gallow Greens earlier for drinks (it's a wee bit douchy but also lovely at the same time) and were starving by the time we arrived at Cookshop.  

The menu is high brow Americana food - a pasta, scallops, burgers, roast chicken, duck and whole fish type of menu.  We started with the deviled egg tasting ($7), waygu beef skewers ($9), and the Vermont Burrata ($15) while for a main I got the beef ribeye tartare ($18) and a side of crispy potato chimichurri ($8).  I'll admit that I was drunk and hungry so everything might have tasted good to me, but in all honesty I think the food would have still been great if I wasn't 3 drinks deep. 

I started with the deviled egg tasting - I can't remember what the different kinds were (not pictured) but honestly who the hell doesn't love deviled eggs in any form??  I could have easily eaten another full tray of eggs on my own.  Next I moved on the the beef skewers and they were great - tender and delicious.  Also fantastic was the burrata.  While I'm not cutting out carbs, I try not to eat a lot of bread when I'm out and that went totally out the window with me slathering this creamy goodness all over buttery pieces of yummy sour dough bread.  Amazing - definitely get this dish.  Knowing that I was noshing on a lot of appetizers, I thought I would keep it "light" by getting the beef tartare for my main.  For those of you who know me well, know my love for a really good beef tartare.  This one was excellent.  It had an wonderful balance of beef to onion, shallots, salty capers and anchovy mixed in with a gorgeous guinea hen yolk and served again on the addictive sour dough bread.  The dish was perfectly executed and delicious on all dimensions.  Equally as addictive was the crispy potatoes - they were crisped to perfection and chimichurri just makes everything taste better.  I had a bite of Holly's Handkerchief pasta and it was lovely combination of pocket shaped pasta filled with leek ricotta and English peas.

Somehow we managed to save room for dessert and we got the ice cream sundae ($11) which was just screaming my name.  I normally don't do sundaes but this one was a classic with brownies, fudge and nuts covered with whipped cream.  It hit the dessert craving right on the nose.

The reason I don't give this place a slightly higher rating is that the service was pretty spotty.  Our waitress was nice enough but after our food came out, she was no where to be found.  Granted the place was packed to the gills but we had to practically chase her down on the way to the bathroom to pay the check.  Total bill:  $69/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

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