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“Ditch Plains”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Seafood	West Village	Moderate	Good

squo;t say a thing about the roasted oysters other than keep the cardiologist on call—these are wet with the sea and served like escargot topped with herbs and puddles of melted drawn butter over crusty bread ($15). They’re your yearly allowance of butter in one shot.

Another night when I headed over for a late dinner with friends after seeing An Inconvenient Truth (a must see), we started out with fried green tomatoes—silver dollar slices in a cloak of crunchy breading served with a homemade Thousand Island dressing that brought me back to meals at my Dad’s apartment as a kid. (His idea of salad was a bowl of iceberg and a turned over bottle of Thousand Island dressing.) The spicy crispy calamari salad ($12) was just also quite good—crunchy rings of squid tossed over mixed greens with a hot and spicy peanut dressing.

The Ditch Plains burger was just what you want in a burger—a full flavored patty, similar in heft and style to Shake Shack, on a soft bun topped with leaf lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles ($12). While it’s not ideal for summer, I also loved the chicken potpie ($17)—filled with tons of butter-tender pulled chicken and vegetables and capped with a flaky buttermilk biscuit crust.

But the waves crashed down on top of us when we got the lobster roll ($23)—it was just a wipe out. While there was a lot of meat in the roll, it was so flavorless as to be on par with tofu salad. The roll was soggy, the mayo was sort of runny and could barely contain limp cubes of celery. It was oddly bad. Hopefully, it was an aberration, not the rule.

But my friend’s omelet was light and fluffy and stuffed with spinach, tomatoes and smoked mozzarella cheese ($9). The rosemary and bacon mussels ($14), which were listless and flavorless on one visit, were quite good on another visit: plump and savory and set in a rich aromatic broth bobbing with lovely smoky lardons (but please sir, can we have some more lardons?). Fries ($6) were crispy and golden and while there were enough for four, I hogged the basket and may have eaten them all. (BAD GIRL!) I tried to redeem my fry-fest with a healthier main course, the grilled fish of the day—a luscious slab of artic char, grilled so its skin was like a crust and its flesh was pink and mo ... [more, click below]

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Posted: June 11, 2006

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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