Wonderful lunch during Restaurnat Week!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
..Unlike some previous recent reviews .our Restaurant Week lunch was SPECTACULAR!! I'm a big fan of JGVs places so I've been looking forward to dine here for awhile despite the mixed reviews well.. the only bad part of the experience was trying to find parking around that neighborhood..but right before we were about to give up and use a garage..we lucked out BIG TIME and found a spot we could squueeeze into on Perry Street less than 50 yards from the restaurant. The hostess was very friendly and checked our coats and found us a nice table near the bar. The room is a Calvin Klein sleek with beige, brown, and white tones. There are beautiful free standing banquettes that must be fun with a large group. The Winter Fest menu was $24 per person and included choice of two dishes plus dessert. My friend and I both had a delicious crusted tuna first course seared-cooked perfectly although the crumbs used to dress the tuna were a little large. It caused too big a crunch and was a bit distracting, yet, it did not over-influence the flavor of the dish. The service was well orchestrated. Out main waiter Ian was very cordial and he was backed up by no less than four other assistants. We ordered a bottle of FIJI water that came in a matching square decanter. The staff always replenished our bread plate, reset napkins if you stepped away from the table, replaced silverware, and kept the water glasses filled. They also brought out food in teams and placed the plates down in unison..a nice touch of room sweeping. For the entree I had a delicious beef tenderloin with a yummy savory side of butternut squash dumplings. My friend had the red snapper entree which she devoured almost as fast as I ate mine. During this course we ordered a nice glass of Brut champagne at a reasonable $9. Dessert was the standard but "heavenly" baked chocolate cake with the warm molton ganache center accompanied by a rich, creamy vanilla bean ice cream. Two thumbs up! Total bill was $83 before tip.
Pros: stellar service, impeccably prepared dishes.
Cons: difficult parking.