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Full disclosure: at
the time of writing this review I am neither a member of AARP, in
a geriatric living facility or six feet under. Even at the fresher
end of life, that puts me a good 40 years younger than the average
patron at this classic Upper East Side eatery. This is why I generally
try to chow down south of 14th Street when I'm opening the wallet
wide and spending Hipster Jr.'s inheritance on an indulgent night
out. Apparently the space here was becoming as aged and decrepit as
the customers so they rehabbed the place a few years back. I wouldn't
designate it as opulent per se, but it was certainly rich-feeling
in a Lex Luther kind of way. We first sat out front sipping drinks
at low tables while we waited for some other suckers to vacate our
space. Looking around, and judging purely by my surroundings, I realized
that the tasting menu was going to be way out of my price range. When
we were finally lead to our banquette table around the outside rim
of the somewhat round room, Hipster Mom wrinkled her nose and gave
a look to the maître d’ that said, "How dare you
disrespect me, my husband, my daughter-in-law and my movie star-looking
son with your insulting, but random, divvying of tables!" It
turns out, unbeknownst to me, that now we were the suckers taking
a suckass table. Who knew? Apparently in a big room like that the
banquette tables are the worst, as two people sitting there have to
stare at a wall all night. Hipster Mom is very knowledgeable about
such things, but didn't raise a stink, as she knew I would freak out
and we'd have to wait quite a while for another spot. So once we got
that straightened out, I had a trio of hamachi for my appetizer, a
duo of beef for dinner and some sort of brownie thing with mascarpone
for desert. It was all quite delicious, although pretty simple and
not particularly inspirational in any way. I'm honestly not sure what
it is I'm looking for when I go to a very expensive dinner, but for
one reason or another it seems I'm disappointed when there's not something
shocking or ridiculous on my plate. Sushi and steak, while prepared
beautifully, just didn't raise my blood pressure (in a good way).
The overall experience was a good one, although the best part was
when Hipster Dad threw down the credit card at the end of the night!
[MF]
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