Sunday supper with Lauren. Restaurant? Northern Spy Food Co. I've been coming here a lot in the last month...dinner, brunch, lunch. I love it because the food is excellent, and the prices are just right. Entrees in the teens, sandwiches and salads in the tens, and all desserts $6. It's hard to find prices like this with food this wonderful. AND it's super close to my apartment. There is little to complain about!But even at these prices, there are deals to be found. Every Sunday evening, the restaurant showcases a Sunday Supper special. The menu goes up around 4pm on Sunday afternoon, posted on their twitter account. Here's the deal: $20 for three courses. Appetizer/Salad, Entree, and Dessert. For $20!!
Last week's menu started with beets and Dunbarton blue cheese, then an entree of fried chicken and warm potato salad. Dessert was Chocolate cake sundae. Ohlala indeed.
This week's Sunday Supper started with a celery root and arugula salad, a tangy vinaigrette, and a trio of fried nettle fritters...they sort of look like falafel, no? ;) Super light, and not the least bit greasy.
Then we moved onto the Coq au Vin with chunky mashed potatoes, skin and all. The maitake (aka 'hen of the wood') mushrooms were an extra special touch. First time I had maitakes were in April 2008 when Don included them in his roast chicken dish. I remember that meal distinctly, those mushrooms so robust and glorious, earthy, soaking up the juices.In dreamland, my lover would whisper sweet nothings of "maitake, maitake" in my ear, while feeding me those same meaty mushrooms, sautéed in plenty of butter. Oh so much butter! Ahh, dreamland indeed.
Every time I see bread pudding on a dessert menu, I like to pretend that they put it there just for me. Because. Bread pudding is indeed my most favourite form of dessert. It's quite popular in Hawai'i, but I feel like bread pudding just hasn't "caught on" or whatever here in New York. Oh well. This is why when I see bread pudding on a Manhattan menu, I run towards with a flopping, eager belly and open arms...I LOVE BREAD PUDDING. At Northern Spy, the portion was generous, bordering on massive. Lauren and I looked at our bowls and was like, oh man, no way we can finish this. But go figure, oh yes, we both finished the dish. Licked it clean in fact.The pudding was supple and warm, equal parts custard and bread, just how I love it. Plump raisins and cuts of apples for variety, a sweet burst of fruit here and there. But it was the unbashfully creamy, vanilla bean-flecked semifreddo that rounded the dish together. It's the same semifreddo that comes with their apple pie. And if they sold it by the pint, I would be waiting at the door to purchase one for today and one for tonight and maybe one more for tomorrow.
Northern Spy Food Co.
511 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10009
(212) 228-5100
