The Lunch Tasting Menu at Gramercy Tavern
We’ve long had Gramercy Tavern on our list simply because it’s a part of the Danny Meyer/Union Square Hospitality family of restaurants that includes Shake Shack, The Modern, and formerly Eleven Madison Park. With the Shake Shack burger being my favourite in NYC and Eleven Madison Park my third-favourite restaurant in all of NYC, my expectations for the $58 lunch tasting menu were high and were met both in the food and the service.
fluke tartare, tangerine, peanut and fried shallot
So citrusy, with a highlight of celery and a little crunch from the kohlrabi and fried onions.
ruby red shrimp, carrots, quinoa and coconut broth
So tender, with the crispy quinoa for contrast. I eat a lot of quinoa because it acts like a grain without actually being a grain, but its use here as a texture element and broth-thickener was one of the best I’ve seen. Despite the heavy flavor of the coconut broth, this was so well-balanced that everything from the shrimp to the bok choy came through.
halibut, barley, shiitake mushrooms and parsnip lobster sauce
A hearty fish preparation, with chewy barley and mushroom, that thick halibut steak, salty caviar, and the flavor that made the dish for me, onion. The sauce had just enough lobster flavor but not enough to drown the halibut.
bull knife
roasted duck breast, lentils, hazelnuts and king trumpet mushrooms
Salty and black peppery, with a crispy-skinned duck, slightly al dente lentils, and that meaty, chewy mushroom. The whole dish had a rich, umami flavor where even the celery puree had notes of earthy lentils in it.
palate cleanser: tangerine panna cotta
Sour notes, with fresh tangerine, creamy panna cotta, and the crunch of pomegranate seeds and meringue. I love overly-tart desserts, but my boyfriend, who does not, loved that this was more balanced than the palate cleansers we’re used to.
chocolate pecan coconut cake, butter pecan ice cream
We loved the light, moist coconut layer in the center of this dense, rich cake. The toasted coconut marshmallows and salty butter pecan ice cream with caramelized nuts added extra-sweet and savory-salty notes.
bonus dessert!: peanut butter semifreddo, chocolate macaron and hot fudge
Super-intense peanut butter flavor! The semifreddo was like a mousse in texture but with the temperature of ice cream. We loved the overall saltiness, the crunch of the caramelized peanuts, and the chewy macaron. Regular macaron filling without the hot fudge to dip it in won’t compare after this.
mignardises
Coffee chocolate, coconut-cardamom macaron, cinnamon cookie.
We ate this lunch the day after our lunch tasting at Babbo, and I was left wondering after Gramercy Tavern why we aren’t lunch-tasting all of the time. $58 each bought us some really well-composed, really delicious plates of food, and everyone else seemed to be there for business lunch, so the staff doted on us as we talked about celery and butter pecan instead of exit strategies and being proactive. The restaurant has a very relaxed, American feel while looking like a room in a Medieval castle, and the servers’ attitudes match the vibe. With the way Chef Michael Anthony and the kitchen at Gramercy Tavern seem to know just the right little touches to complete a dish–crispy quinoa here, onion there–I’d love to go back for the full tasting at dinnertime.
42 East 20th Street
New York, NY 10003 (map)
12 Comments
Erin
It never fails that I am reading one of your reviews right before lunch time, which makes me starving, so then I go eat my disappointing lunch. This place looks so good.
donuts4dinner
I love that I’m getting you at lunchtime and the rest of my readers in Ohio right when they’re hitting their need for a 3 p.m. carb injection. Time zones!
Serial
I want that. All of it.
(But instead I went to a place by the airport today called Joe’s Diner, and it was stuffed with locals. Best chicken fried steak I’ve had in a long time, a side of pickled beets and a biscuit plus banana pudding that was clearly not from a box. So THERE.)
donuts4dinner
I’ve never had a chicken fried steak! I didn’t even know what that was until a few years ago. This is not a competition, dear Ellie, but that all sounds amazing.
Kim
That peanut butter-ice-cream-but-not will plague my dreams. I need it.
Why do you use the British spelling for “favourite” but not “flavour”?
donuts4dinner
I’m fully available to lunch on that any time with you. Since all I can afford are lunches now.
It’s all subconscious! I had no idea I wasn’t flavouring.
Smiling Lion
This looks way better than my dinner there last year, but then for some inexplicable reason I went for the vegetarian menu, so maybe that’s not a fair comparison.
donuts4dinner
Vegetarian menus are a great test of a restaurant, I think. Beef basically tastes great no matter what you do to it, but if you can make me feel the same way about beets, I’m impressed. I’ll have to go look for your review.
Jessica R.
I would go for that peanut butter macaroon and all the wine, but I’m glad to hear all of it was great!
donuts4dinner
No shrimp and quinoa for the lady?
Jess + Garrett
So much coconut goodness. Also: so many great photos. We had dinner there several years (and cameras) ago. All our photos look like blurry yellow lumps.
donuts4dinner
Thanks! I’m so embarrassed about my early reviews (and, you know, some of the recent ones where the restaurant didn’t care to properly light my table for the photoshoot), but I guess it’s fun to see your growing pains. Aren’t you tempted to edit all of your old pictures and see what you can do with them now? I realize I’m going to want to do that in another five years to everything I’m taking now, too.