The Stanton Social
99 Stanton Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets (Lower East Side)
NY, NY 10002
(212) 995 0099
http://www.thestantonsocial.com/

My New Year’s resolution for New York City restaurants is, “Please someone, feed me.” I always thought New York City was the trendsetter city of all restaurant cities in America. How come the small plates concept has been hot for two years in San Francisco, but it’s now catching on in New York City? Who, besides restaurant owners trying to make money, ever thought conning diners into getting tons of small plates instead of two to three decently sized plates was acceptable? Actually, I have a new, New Year’s resolution for New York City restaurants, “Please leave small plates for tapas.”

It was a Wednesday evening and yet another large dinner with friends on the Lower East Side. It was ten of us on the second floor of the restaurant, next to the bar, and the place was only half-crowded. Since The Stanton Social is a small plates restaurant, we decided to split the table in half, five and five, so that each could get a reasonable portion of each plate. The restaurant also creatively allows you to order additional pieces in a plate, which we found out after ordering unfortunately, but we implemented our new knowledge during our second round of orders.

We started with the edamame with spicy miso and ginger which someone at the table (who had dined at the restaurant previously) exclamed was excellent. The grilled edamame comes topped with a thick sauce that is tasty albeit salty. Overall, though, it was much too messy for a food that is shared by a group of people and shared by numerous hands. The chicken and waffles was unpleasant although no one else at the table agreed or disagreed. It tasted burnt and the syrup, which came on the side, didn’t add much flavor or moisture. Two friends didn’t even see the syrup it came with. I tried it with and without syrup. Both were serious let-downs. You can’t name something chicken and waffles and do that to me, c’mon! The wood grilled pizzetta was simple and good, yet uninventive. It’s a fun addition to the meal considering there’s so little food on each plate, you need to carbo load somehow. Which brings me to the french fries. They were yummy but the servings were even smaller than Core 191 (could things actually get smaller than Core 191?). As a result, the fries don’t help you in your grand scheme to carbo load. Shucks.

The hanger steak was unremarkable, which at that point, didn’t surprise me much. The meatballs and manicotti were fine – again, unremarkable. The best additions to our table were pierogies that were not outstanding but tasty and easy to eat, share, and enjoy and the charred squid lettuce wraps. The lettuce wraps were very good, fun, and interesting. They were, by far, the best dish we had ordered.

For dessert, we shared a chocolate tasting which came with ice cream – too spicy, pudding – delicious, raspberry chocolate cake – decent but dry, and peppermint patties – a cheap addition to the dessert that we only ate out of sheer hunger.

The ambience of the The Stanton Social made up for what the food lacked. Sound level and lighting were well managed on the 2nd level (however, who’s to say what the other floors are like). In addition, the restaurant catered to a group of 10 quite well. Overall, the food was not earth-shattering but was dependably fine. A couple of decent dishes amongst some real snoozers. Perhaps next time, I’ll go to The Stanton Social (to order the lettuce wraps) after eating at Bereket.