01.22.08
Review of Spice Market, Monday November 2007
403 W. 13th St. and 9th Ave, 212-675-2322
Great for: dates, Asian-French fusion, getting hammered in a civilized fashion, impressing out-of-towners, pre-club wallet lightening
The Boyfriend and I had a friend visiting from England, and thought Jean-Georges’s take on Asian street food would be a nice New York-y place to take him. We’d had dinner elsewhere separately so we just did drinks and appetizers. The times I’d been here before, the food was quite good, and this time was no exception.
We got the pork satays, beef skewers with lime sauce, salmon sashimi and spicy chicken wings. The wings had a bit too much sauce, unlike the way I remember them, but were still yummy. The fish was really good, as was the pork, and the beef was my favorite. I also couldn’t stop eating the spicy chips with hot sauce that come in lieu of bread. They remind me of papadoms, a kind of super-thin baked Indian thing that looks a bit like a tortilla chip.
The cocktails are great. Between the three of us we had several beers and the pattaya, Saigon cosmo, mai tai and East India cocktail. They’re all delicious; the East India, made of Courvoisier VSOP, Cointreau, Angostura bitters and pineapple, was my favorite.
I love the way the place looks. It’s dark and romantic but also good for a bunch of friends. It’s pretty upscale for street food, although I’d expect nothing less from Jean-Georges. We had great service as well. Our waiter was clearly very busy but managed to be there every time we needed new drinks, plates cleared, etc. It’s also not as difficult to get a reservation as it used to be, which is nice. One time I went with two girlfriends and their guy friend, and it took him a $100 handshake to just get past the bouncer, then another $100 to persuade the hostess to believe his lie that we had a reservation. This time, we were able to walk in and get a table right away, although it being a Monday night at 9:30 probably helped. Overall, I like the place a lot. It’s definitely one of my favorites in the meatpacking district.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $130 for drinks and appetizers for 3 people
Noise level: medium, and there are lots of private nooks
Chances of walking in: low.
