Another Fabulous Meal at The Gander
I met up with Christine last week for a truly wonderful meal at The Gander, one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. Earlier in the day, the restaurant competed in a Bloody Mary Competition and ended up featuring a special drink that evening. It was a clarified Bloody Mary Martini. The process of clarifying it removed the color and texture from the vegetable juices and left a beautiful translucent liquid. The cocktail was balanced and had a nice pickled vegetable taste to it - yummy!
Clarified Bloody Mary Martini
The complimentary Park House Rolls are incredibly delicious! They are served hot with yummy butter. The flaked salt on the top was yummy!
Parker House Rolls
As an appetizer, I ordered the Sea Trout Tartare. It is such a delicious reinterpretation of a classic dish. Using the crispy Trout skin as a type of spoon was fun and quite tasty
Sea Trout Tartare
CLOSE UP
Jordan, one of the managers that I've gotten to know over the past months, sent us over a Crispy Calamari Salad. It is served with snap peas, grapes cashews and ranch dressing. It is an interesting combination of flavors that results in a powerful taste profile.
Crispy Calamari Salad
Christine got the Hamachi Crudo with Beef Tendon, Lemon and Habanero. She really enjoyed it! I was too busy stuffing my mouth with Sea Trout and salad!
Hamachi Crudo
As we started to get our main courses, we got another surprise! Jordan sent around another dish: Winter Vegetables. This was a balanced dish.
Winter Vegetables
We decided to split two pastas. The Tubetti with Duck Confit, Duck Yolk, Crispy Duck Skin, Citrus, and Black Pepper. We also got the Spaghetti & Clams with Bisque, Guanciale and Fennel. We should have ordered half-sizes of the pasta. Each is incredibly rich! I can't rave about them enough though, so yummy.
Duck Tubetti
Spaghetti & Clams
For my second drink, I got the Cider '75, with Rye, Honey, Lemon, Allspice Dram and Hard Apple Cider. The cocktail was light and citrus forward - very pleasant!
Cider '75
For dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Custard which is a reinterpretation of an Egg Cream with Malt, Toffee and Nibs. It is so unique and satisfying! Jordan also sent over one final item - the Brown Butter Date Cake, served with pumpkin, pecan, pepitas, pear and Chai Tea.
Chocolate Custard
Brown Butter Date Cake
Overall, this was another knock-out meal. This restaurant is a MUST try!
Cheers,
Liz