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!
The complimentary Park House Rolls are incredibly delicious! They are served hot with yummy butter. The flaked salt on the top was yummy!
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
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.
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!
As we started to get our main courses, we got another surprise! Jordan sent around another dish: Winter Vegetables. This was a balanced dish.
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.
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!
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.
Overall, this was another knock-out meal. This restaurant is a MUST try!
Cheers,
Liz