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“Gramercy Tavern (Lunch)”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Lunch/Takeout New American Gramercy Moderate Off the Charts

Let me begin by saying that I’m a big fan of the civilized lunch. By civilized I mean any lunch that is not consumed over the keys of my MacBook, with one hand on fork, one hand on phone. I don’t usually treat myself to civilized lunches because (a) I can only afford to eat out once a day (financially and physically), and (b) I usually don’t have the time. It seems whenever I take myself out for lunch I pretty much say goodbye to an entire day of work. But then once in a while I say, “Andrea, you need a break from these four walls. You’ve been working moderately hard. You deserve a nice lunch out on the town.” And I treat myself. And last week was one of those times. I met a friend for lunch at the front tavern room at Gramercy Tavern to check out what new chef Michael Anthony (formerly of Blue Hill) is up to. I’ll be straight with you. I love what he’s up to. In particular, he’s behind two dishes that are truly life-altering experiences. The first is possibly the greatest meatball known to man (and woman) and second is the best lunch deal ever.
Let’s start with the meatball. Yes, it’s just one meatball ($17). But it’s made from grass-fed beef that’s ground in house, seasoned and fashioned into the shape of a softball. Then it’s stuffed with a center core of spinach and fontina cheese and fried and simmered, and served balanced on a hill of creamy potato puree crowned with a luscious tangle of caramelized onions. The lone meatball (it’s okay to sing On Top of Old Smoky) is presented sliced in half, so its molten cheese center just sort of oozes out into a hot puddle on the plate. It’s big and fat and silly and seems like something you might find at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory if he made meatballs. It’s amazing and it just makes you happy. (Or maybe it’s just me? I am a strange one, I know.)

The next great thing I discovered at GT was a braised short rib sandwich—the creation of one of Michael’s sous chefs, Joe Papach. He braises the short ribs in red wine and veal stock, seasons them with caramelized onions and red wine vinegar and then pulls the beef and tops the whole mess with caramelized fennel. (Both the meatballs and short ribs come from whole sides of Red Devon and Piemontese beef from Bev Eggleston of Eco Friendly Farms located in southern Virginia (http://www.ecofriendly.com/index.html). Michael buys ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in Gramercy :
+ Casa Mono/Bar Jamon   + Pure Food & Wine   + Parea   + Gramercy Tavern (Lunch)   + 15 East   + Tocqueville   + Irving Mill   + Bar Milano   + Irving Mill   + Maialino   + Asellina   + Corkbuzz Wine Studio   + Breads, by guest reviewer Tracy Weiss   


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