03.30.08

Review of The Orchard, Saturday January 2008

Posted in American, Lower East Side, New York City, New York City Reviews, rated 9 to 10 at 01:15 by Dominique

162 Orchard St. #G & Stanton/Rivington, 212-353-3570
Great for: romantic dinner (especially with a foodie), quick service, large parties, amazing food

This is one of my new favorite places.  It was excellent food with really good service and little fuss.  Plus, it’s a beautiful restaurant.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, as I love its nearby sister restaurant ápizz.  They both have that combination of cool blond wood and inviting atmosphere plus wonderful cooking.

The Boyfriend and I were happy to start our meal with the crispy garlic (?)-flavored strips, which we had to ask the busboy to take away since we couldn’t stop eating them under our own power.  The menu is divided into flatbreads, first course, second course and dessert, which I think might be a clever ruse to get diners to order an extra course of flatbread before the traditional app-entree-dessert.  It worked on us – our waitress told us that if we got a flatbread to share and then our own dishes otherwise, it wouldn’t be too much food.  It was certainly not a meal for the anorexic though.  We went for the braised short ribs flatbread with marinated cherry tomatoes and sweet horseradish cream.  I was very happy to find the bread wafer-thin.  One of my pet peeves is sandwiches with thick bread – I try to avoid eating bread, & find myself tearing excess chunks out of sandwiches, pitas, etc.  Here it was crispy, thin, and a perfect backdrop for the meat and vegetables.  I even liked the tomatoes!  (I generally hate their taste and texture.)

This yummy goodness was followed by crispy lobster empanadas stuffed with celery sticks with creamy cocktail sauce and yellowfin tartare with crispy tostones, guacamole and whipped red onion crème-fraîche.  The empanadas were the only disappointment in the whole meal, because they were just good compared to the excellence of everything else.  The tartare, on the other hand, was fantastic and Boyfriend almost smacked my hand because I kept sneaking little nibbles of it.  We thought the combination of flavors and cuisines was creative, interesting and delicious.

For our main course I had the paella of Manila clams, mussels, black tiger shrimp, chicken, chorizo and carnaroli rice in a fresh white clear sauce that reminded me of the ocean.  It was very simple and wonderful.  All the seafood was fresh and the rice was that wonderful al dente texture that is just a joy to eat.  Boyfriend’s sliced lamb tenderloin with mint crème-fraîche orzo and red onion-jalapeño relish was great, with lovely tender lamb.  They were generous with the meat, too, which is always nice.  The orzo sounded like it would taste strange but it turned out very well.

We had to skip dessert after all that food – in any case, our cocktails were enough sweetness for us.  The purple passion mojito with passion fruit and blackberry, the Orchard martini of honey vodka and ginger with a splash of orange juice and the pomegranate bellini were all good.  The last came in an absolutely gorgeous flute that, the hostess later told me, they buy a few blocks away.  I’m sorry to say I’ve forgotten where – some place with Chef in the name, I think.

The dishes come out surprisingly fast for such a busy, good-sized restaurant.  We had a 7pm reservation and the place was pretty much full when we got there, so the kitchen is definitely to be commended.  The service is just as lovely as the food.  We may have had an exceptionally good (and pretty) waitress, but everyone we interacted with went out of their way to be friendly or help us with things.  Despite getting busy later, everyone we spoke to still had time to smile at us.  I like the way it’s decorated too.  It looks a bit Scandinavian, with the blond wood and dim lighting that are romantic without being sappy.  I can’t wait to go back and try everything else on the menu.

Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $180 (2 cocktails each)
Noise level: noisy happy
Chance of walking in: low.

I think they change the menu a lot. I visited again in July 2009 with my friend DJ SWF and we managed to get completely different things from my last time. I couldn’t stop devouring the steak tartare flatbread with red onion, chives, Dijon potato cream and arugula – luckily she doesn’t eat meat.  She thought her Mediterranean flatbread filled with hummus, edamame, baby lima beans, celery, frisée, lemon vinaigrette was terrific, and for a wonder I agreed with her.  (I usually hate vegetarian food with a passion.) The celery was a nice contrast to the starchy veg.

Her drunken goat cheese salad with romaine hearts, cherry tomatoes, herb croutons and creamy red wine vinaigrette was also a lovely composition. The cheese is slightly spicy and didn’t taste drunk to us, but then we were well on the way to that state ourselves. I loved my shrimp ceviche – take note, Rayuela and Lima’s Taste. The shrimp, perfectly plump and cooked, was just tangy enough. I know it’s ceviche but the citrus taste has to have a limit, and they nailed it. 

AW loved her lemon sole filet in white wine, citrus butter over a vegetable hash with pan juices. We were amazed, first that it came in two filets, and second that it was grilled to perfection.  The wild crab pasta with tomatoes, peas, scallions, farfalle and pink cream sauce was fantastic, a nice balance between creamy and light.  We enjoyed our $42 bottle of Trebbiano, lugana, ca’lojera as well.  Still 9 / 10.

Permalink