Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • Around the World Trip Report
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Gramercy Tavern (New York City)

May 7, 2014 by Jennifer Che 1 Comment

_DSC4985
This is the third post in the New York Thanksgiving series. Other posts in this series include Momofuku Ssam Bar and Momofuku Ma Peche.There are some restaurants that just get it right.
I have heard about Gramercy Tavern since seemingly forever ago. This should not be a surprise.
After all, it’s been open since 1994 and has won numerous awards since then. Zagat gives it a 28/30, which is extremely impressive considering the competitive New York market. For reference, consider the fact that Michelin three-star restaurants get similar scores: Per Se, Daniel, and Eleven Madison Park all similarly scored 28; Le Bernardin scored 29).
Gramercy Tavern also boasts one Michelin star as well as a three star rating from New York Times.
_DSC4983-2
It’s always been on my list, though for some reason I never made it out until that blustery, November Thanksgiving weekend last year when Bryan and I braved freezing temperatures to stand outside and watch the Macy’s Parade.

_DSC4981 _DSC4977
The decor is cozy and comfortable. The front area, called the “Tavern”, is bright and sunny, due to the huge windows at the front of the restaurant. The Tavern does not take reservations (walk-in only), and offers a la carte dining.
_DSC4963
The inside area, the Dining Room, is darker and more cozy and romantic. The Dining Room offers tasting menus and fixed price menus, as well as a la carte during lunch. Here’s the view from my seat, where you can see the Dining Room on the left and the Tavern on the right.
_DSC4957
We went at lunch to the Dining Room, and were pleasantly surprised at the reasonable prices considering the quality of the food we were getting. I started with this beautiful lobster dish served with diced apples and multicolored cauliflower over a beautiful parsnip purée.
_DSC4959
Here’s another view. Overall the dish was lovely – subtle yet everything was perfectly balanced and well seasoned. The lobster had perfect texture and the creamy parsnip puree was not too sweet._DSC4962-2
Bryan ordered the homemade parpadelle dish with smoked duck, Brussels sprouts, and hazelnuts in a gorgeous duck jus sauce. It was excellent. The sauce had a beautifully rich umami flavor and thick ribbon pasta had the perfect al dente texture.
_DSC4966
I absolutely loved my entree, which was a vivid green risotto made from barley in a green arugula oil sauce. Although it was just a tad oily it had a beautifully deep, rich mushroom flavor as well as tons of umami. I also really enjoyed the al dente texture of the barley._DSC4970
Bryan got the lamb, which was beautifully cooked (look at that lovely rare meat!). It came with nicely charred sun chokes, a whole grain mustard that wasn’t too spicy, and mushrooms. Overall the dish had excellent flavor._DSC4971
We decided to share one dessert -the one called “Apple”. It had many components of apple, including an apple “gel” tube on top, compressed apple, and thin slices of fresh apple. In the middle was a lychee rice pudding (with basmati rice blended within) on top of a black sesame crust. The overall dessert was quite light, and you needed to take pretty big bites to taste the whole complex realm of flavors. It was good.
_DSC4975
We are so happy that they “forgot” and accidentally brought us an extra dessert, the Pear. I loved this one. I found it to be my favorite by a long shot. This dessert came with cubes of compressed pear, dried pear “chips”, and a pear creme brûlée in the center. These were paired with a delicious caramel and a crumble “deconstructed” crust sprinkled throughout. I loved the complex mixture of flavors, textures, and even temperatures. It was excellent._DSC4976
The desserts were a tough act to follow: maybe a bit too tough. I found the mignardises to be too sweet. Maybe I should have asked for some coffee. From left to right: nougat, macaron w/ poppyseeds, and a chocolate truffle filled with fruit._DSC4978
Despite being slightly sweetened out at the end, I still left the restaurant extremely happy with my meal. The food was excellent, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. Appetizers range from $12 to $18; entrees range from $21 to $25; and desserts are $12 each. You can also get a 5-course tasting menu for $58.
_DSC4979
Dinner tasting menus start at $92 for three courses, with special tasting menus costing either $120 (seasonal) or $102 (vegetarian).
_DSC4956
The Tavern menu, which we did not try, has similar prices as the Dining Room lunch menu, but is available at night as well. They offer a fun looking 4-course dinner tasting menu for $48, which comes with an optional $20 beer pairing (fun!).I was very impressed with the food and would not hesitate to come back again. I am especially curious to try the Tavern menu, which looks pretty exciting. In general, I see Gramercy Tavern as the type of place where you know that anything you order will be very good – designed with thoughtful creativity and executed with precision. It’s the type of place I could totally imagine visiting regularly if I lived in the area.Highly recommended.

Gramercy Tavern
Gramercy/Flatiron
42 E 20th St
New York, NY 10003
Gramercy Tavern on Urbanspoon

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Michelin, Michelin1, New York, New York City, Restaurant, Review Tagged With: American, Travel

« Sushi Taku (Tokyo, Michelin)
Scarpetta (Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas) »

Recent Posts

  • Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong April 29, 2022
  • Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai March 22, 2022
  • Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong March 17, 2022
  • Petrus Hong Kong March 8, 2022
  • Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong March 6, 2022
  • James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong March 2, 2022
  • Birthday at Roganic Hong Kong February 23, 2022
  • Caprice Hong Kong – Four Seasons February 19, 2022

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. Frances Fung says

    May 7, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    Even though you were not there, you still made a nice little post, interesting. I never get bored of sushi either, or any Japanese cuisine (well, except funazushi). Didn’t think it would be possible to make last minute reservation at such high establishment sushi-ya, amazing. Will add Sushi Taku to my to-go list for future Tokyo trips while making my way through the Michelin and Tabelog list … Looking forward to your next “Bryan food post” … very curious of his “best dish of his life.”

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

Summer Palace Hong Kong Iconic Wine Lunch

Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong

Lucciola The Hari Wan Chai

Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai

beef quesadilla

Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Ichiran Hong Kong Ramen

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong

Roganic Hong Kong

Birthday at Roganic Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong – Four Seasons

Majordomo Los Angeles – David Chang’s Foray into the West Coast

Playa Amor Los Angeles

France!

Restaurant Le George Paris
Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
logo
Food Advertisements by

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

logo
Food Advertisements by
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress