Park Avenue Café
(Contemporary American)
100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 644-1900
http://www.parkavenuecafe.com/
Public Transportation: Subway: 4/5/6 to 59th Street, N/R/W to Lexington Avenue, F to Lexington Ave/63rd St; Bus: M1/M2/M3/M4/M5 to 59th Street
Frequently, food lovers also love wine. It doesn’t always go the other way, where wine lovers also love food, but foodies love gluttony, and wine consumption can be gluttony. So transitively, an unlimited wine lunch at Park Avenue Cafe would certainly be gluttony which I love. This is where Wine Week (http://www.nationalwineweek.com/) steps in. One week each year, fifteen of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group’s restaurants pour 10 (give or take) wines each day with lunch for only $10. Actually, it used to be free (back in the good old days), and there’s talk that it might be obliterated (something political from what I gather), but since it was on this year, and it was only $10, I immediately made a reservation at Park Avenue Café on OpenTable (http://www.opentable.com/) which I'd wanted to try for quite a while back when David Burke was at the helm, and now because he was no longer.
When we arrived for our 1:15pm reservation at 1:10pm, one of the three greeters took our name and directed us to the cute, small bar to wait where another maitre d’-esque person poured us some sparkling wine while we waited. With its cute townhousey feel, simple decor and the sparkling wine, I started to love Park Avenue Cafe immediately. But then a few other groups arrived and were seated immediately. That bothers me. Our glasses were refilled, and we continued to wait. My husband asked about our reservation but was politely shooed back to the bar for additional waiting. My opinon was quickly waning.
We were finally seated just before 2pm at a comfortable table in the back room, and since it was wine week, gentlemen immediately rushed over with four different types of wine. I examined the menu and stared at food being served to other tables while sipping on a delicious Sauvignon Blanc (Spy Valley). As always, I was torn, since everything at nice restaurants always sound delicious, and finally decided on a ½ dozen oysters on the ½ shell and the East Side lobster roll; however, I made a last second change to get a better taste of the chef's style and chose a butternut squash and lobster bisque to start and a black sea bass in a gingered coconut broth over jasmine rice. My husband ordered the signature chopped salad and signature hamburger, which was perfect since I always like to try restaurants' signature dishes.
Imagine our surprise when the SIGNATURE salad was overdressed and wilted (as though it had been prepared and sitting out)... my husband wouldn’t even eat it! The flavors were good, similar to a Greek salad, but I knew it was bad when my husband said that MY Greek salad was crisper, lighter and better than this one. The bisque was good; however, there was little hint of lobster flavor and the lobster meat in the soup was tough. I started to rethink my last minute call... maybe I should have gotten the oysters... or the foie gras.
Entrees were similar. The burger was served with nine hand-cut French fries (yes, 9) and two red pepper catsups (one spicy, one not). We both would have preferred ketchup, and I don’t even like ketchup. The actual meat in the burger was very high-quality and tasty, but for medium, it was overcooked, with not even a tinge of pink in sight. The coconut broth that the waiter poured over my fish was incredibly tasty and exploded with flavors. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to counterbalance the rice, which immediately absorbed what broth there was, and the fish didn’t have a chance at getting any of that amazing flavor.
For dessert, we split their sundae, a fun dessert which reminded me of a sundae bar from a birthday party from my youth. Accompanied by whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate toffee and a berry compote, it allowed you to make your own creations with your ice cream of choice.
Surprisingly for wine week, we had to hound the servers for wine, and more often than not, the wines poured did not suit our meals. Normally a fan of unlimited wine meals (for example, Cite’s wine dinner), I wouldn’t recommend the hectic wine lunch at Park Avenue Café. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend lunch at Park Avenue Café; for the price, I could think of a dozen restaurants that I’d prefer.
(Contemporary American)
100 East 63rd Street at Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 644-1900
http://www.parkavenuecafe.com/
Public Transportation: Subway: 4/5/6 to 59th Street, N/R/W to Lexington Avenue, F to Lexington Ave/63rd St; Bus: M1/M2/M3/M4/M5 to 59th Street
Frequently, food lovers also love wine. It doesn’t always go the other way, where wine lovers also love food, but foodies love gluttony, and wine consumption can be gluttony. So transitively, an unlimited wine lunch at Park Avenue Cafe would certainly be gluttony which I love. This is where Wine Week (http://www.nationalwineweek.com/) steps in. One week each year, fifteen of Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group’s restaurants pour 10 (give or take) wines each day with lunch for only $10. Actually, it used to be free (back in the good old days), and there’s talk that it might be obliterated (something political from what I gather), but since it was on this year, and it was only $10, I immediately made a reservation at Park Avenue Café on OpenTable (http://www.opentable.com/) which I'd wanted to try for quite a while back when David Burke was at the helm, and now because he was no longer.
When we arrived for our 1:15pm reservation at 1:10pm, one of the three greeters took our name and directed us to the cute, small bar to wait where another maitre d’-esque person poured us some sparkling wine while we waited. With its cute townhousey feel, simple decor and the sparkling wine, I started to love Park Avenue Cafe immediately. But then a few other groups arrived and were seated immediately. That bothers me. Our glasses were refilled, and we continued to wait. My husband asked about our reservation but was politely shooed back to the bar for additional waiting. My opinon was quickly waning.
We were finally seated just before 2pm at a comfortable table in the back room, and since it was wine week, gentlemen immediately rushed over with four different types of wine. I examined the menu and stared at food being served to other tables while sipping on a delicious Sauvignon Blanc (Spy Valley). As always, I was torn, since everything at nice restaurants always sound delicious, and finally decided on a ½ dozen oysters on the ½ shell and the East Side lobster roll; however, I made a last second change to get a better taste of the chef's style and chose a butternut squash and lobster bisque to start and a black sea bass in a gingered coconut broth over jasmine rice. My husband ordered the signature chopped salad and signature hamburger, which was perfect since I always like to try restaurants' signature dishes.
Imagine our surprise when the SIGNATURE salad was overdressed and wilted (as though it had been prepared and sitting out)... my husband wouldn’t even eat it! The flavors were good, similar to a Greek salad, but I knew it was bad when my husband said that MY Greek salad was crisper, lighter and better than this one. The bisque was good; however, there was little hint of lobster flavor and the lobster meat in the soup was tough. I started to rethink my last minute call... maybe I should have gotten the oysters... or the foie gras.
Entrees were similar. The burger was served with nine hand-cut French fries (yes, 9) and two red pepper catsups (one spicy, one not). We both would have preferred ketchup, and I don’t even like ketchup. The actual meat in the burger was very high-quality and tasty, but for medium, it was overcooked, with not even a tinge of pink in sight. The coconut broth that the waiter poured over my fish was incredibly tasty and exploded with flavors. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to counterbalance the rice, which immediately absorbed what broth there was, and the fish didn’t have a chance at getting any of that amazing flavor.
For dessert, we split their sundae, a fun dessert which reminded me of a sundae bar from a birthday party from my youth. Accompanied by whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, chocolate toffee and a berry compote, it allowed you to make your own creations with your ice cream of choice.
Surprisingly for wine week, we had to hound the servers for wine, and more often than not, the wines poured did not suit our meals. Normally a fan of unlimited wine meals (for example, Cite’s wine dinner), I wouldn’t recommend the hectic wine lunch at Park Avenue Café. In fact, I wouldn’t even recommend lunch at Park Avenue Café; for the price, I could think of a dozen restaurants that I’d prefer.
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