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“Tocqueville”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Gramercy	Break the Bank	Off the Charts

MY DINNER AT TOCQUEVILLE

I've always dreamed of having a house. I've got bigger dreams too-write the great American novel (I already wrote one, but I am pretty sure it's not great), travel the world, right the injustices of our time. But this house thing is one dream that I actually hope I can realize. I can picture it in my mind because my dream house is very similar to the house we used to go to during the summer as kids. It was my Grandmother's beach house in Rye, up near Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. It was an old white clapboard A-frame with a wrap-around porch furnished with wicker rocking chairs, and hung with a sort of hammock that my father called a glider. It had a big backyard where a peach tree grew on an angle so that it banged against the kitchen window. The house was walking distance from the ocean, so the air often hung with a ripe salty humidity that left a kind of dew on your skin. My dream house is similar to that old summerhouse. But it would have a room that our summerhouse didn't. It would have a big dining room. A really nice one with an old farm table where I could invite at least a dozen people over for dinner.

Here in the real world, that house near the beach with the dining room does not exist; I have a studio apartment that is not near the ocean and has neither a porch nor a peach tree. But the dream lives on, and will live on until I find that dream house (and the cash to buy it with).

Until then, however, I'd like to nominate Tocqueville as a substitute space for my formal dinner parties. (Casual dinners already take place at Five Points, Tia Pol, or Public.) The restaurant, which was built from scratch just steps from its former location down the block, begs for a festive occasion to celebrate. And we were in the mood for a celebration the other night because Craig's parents were visiting from New Orleans for his mother's birthday. The last time they were in the city we all went to A Voce (which was spectacular), but we could barely hear ourselves think in that dining room, so this time I wanted something a little more serene. Tocqueville was the right choice.

The dining room, reached through a civilized ante room with a long marble bar and cozy lounge seating, is sumptuously decorated in cream and gold, with vaulted ceilings, warm amber lighting from overhead chandeliers, great acoustics and deliciously soft chairs that tuck into tables dressed in layers of heavy white linen and accessorized wit ... [more, click below]

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Posted: May 14, 2007

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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