Gramercy Tavern

In the news yesterday, I read that a group of New Yorkers (who else) is suing McDonald's, claiming that they became addicted to the food. Meanwhile, the food at Gramercy Tavern is so addictive that I fear this restaurant will fall victim to a similar lawsuit. (Incidentally, Gramercy Tavern's pastry chef is resigning in order to accept a position at Pret, the sandwich chain partly owned by McDonald's. Judging from the addictive nature of the pastries at Gramercy Tavern, she will be a good fit for her new job.)

The overarching feeling at Gramercy Tavern is one of warmth and a motherly attention to detail. Baskets of bright sunflowers greeted us at the front door, and when we were about to leave, our waiter arrived with individually-wrapped complementary coffee cakes. Now let me tell you about what happened in between.

Taking in the rustic, yet elegant ambience of the mahogany-accented dining room, we were pleased to notice that the zaftig couple next to us hadn’t left a molecule on their plate (always a good sign).

An amuse-bouche of pasta salad with a crispy parmesan tuile was duly inhaled by us. Then it was time for appetizers: hamachi with lemon vinaigrette and roasted beets, and spice-roasted lobster with green tomato chutney and bay leaf. The hamachi was four flavorful hunks of yellowtail sashimi garnished with lemon and fringed by a salad of microgreens, dill, and beets. The lobster was spicy and sweet.

My companion ordered the sirloin with roasted mushrooms, bacon and cranberry beans, which arrived looking like a free-form sculpture of a rose, with the red strips of meat aligned in a circular pattern. After munching on the crispy rectangle of salmon skin that topped my meal, I savored my two pieces of salt-baked salmon with chanterelle mushrooms and tender sugar-snap peas.

Not one scrap left of all that. Now it was time to sample from the large cheese menu. I should have taken a page from the zaftig couple’s book and allowed Mike, our astonishingly knowledgeable waiter, to choose our cheese! He arrived at the couple’s table with a large wooden block covered with wedges of about 20 kinds of cheese and lovingly described his favorites.

Notwithstanding our lack of his expertise, we still did well in the cheese department. Mike nodded approvingly as I decided on a Sottocenere al Tartufo (mild, sweet raw cow-milk cheese with truffles). I supplemented the Sottocenere with a Canestrato (salty, firm sheep-milk cheese akin to Romano) and a Humboldt Fog aged goat cheese. The cheese arrived with a plate of breads which we were too full to eat (shame on us!).

Although we were full by now, there was no way we were going to skip dessert. How were we to know that one dessert would become four?

A beaming waiter arrived with a dessert amuse-bouche: small dishes of silken panna cotta under a film of red wine gelee, topped with strawberry sorbet. Although I was disappointed to discover that the warm chocolate soufflé with black mint ice cream had just disappeared from the menu, I was placated with a warm chocolate tart served in an art deco configuration with a small chocolate malted and chocolate sorbet. My companion was very happy with his chocolate caramel tart with caramel ice cream. I decided that I could not pass up the special press-pot coffee roasted with cacao nibs and spices… truly some of the best coffee I've ever experienced!

We were about to explode when a plate of chocolate hazelnut and lemon meringue petit fours arrived. Yes, we ate the entire contents of the plate. Now we were beginning to feel like the protagonist in that Monty Python skit…

…when the aforementioned coffee cakes arrived. We had to draw the line somewhere, so I will be eating the coffee cake today: after I go to the gym!

Gramercy Tavern: 42 E. 20th St. (212) 477-0777.