Osso Buco-licous
Hi!
You're going to hear from two of us today. First from me -on the topic of food- and then from him - on the topic of the same food. And by food, we mean all that food can bring to the table. We've been liking the idea of writing dueling restaurant views for a while because firstly, well... when are two people, especially couples, ever on the same page about these kinds of things? It might be fun to see the differences in perspective. Generally, Matt and I agree on the big issues, yet it'd blow your mind to see a list of the "little" details that we completely disagree on, that is if we both even took notice.
Also, with both our histories in successful restaurants (he from the heart of the house and I from the front), may offer a unique prescriptive on what works in the places we visit and what does not.
(I think I'm talking myself into doing this more and more!) My third reason for thinking it's going to be a good idea is that Matt and I are just normal every-day people, who don't make enough money to live in NYC the way we want to, but think we do. So, we eat out all the time, busy ourselves with all these activities and sometimes think that stuff is more awesome than it really is because we've had plenty to drink that night. If not amusing, our buffoonery may stand a good chance at making you laugh.
Don't get your hopes up; tonight, we were pretty subdued. Osso Buco, thanks to a great voucher, was our first stop on this tour of local bars and restaurants.
::: HERS :::
We were 8 minutes late and we hate that. When you spend as many hours working in restaurants as we do, you inanely dislike yourself when you yourself are late, rude, difficult, etc. at someone else's restaurants.
We're on foot and it's cold outside, so we're kind of at a jog when we go to push inside Osso Buco. The couple entering before us had had the glass door opened for them and the staff member responsible was now standing in front of the door. He make eye contact as we moved to enter, smiled at us mischievously and blocked the door from opening. A jokester, eh? We're going to like this place.
The place at first was warmly dated, both in temperature and atmosphere. The walls are painted in reds and the lighting seems full and cozy. They definitely also had the heat jacked up.
The next set of staff members we encountered (the hostess and bartender) were both frumpy and uninterested in us, strangely enough. Within four minutes of being here, I had gone from "I'm going to love this" to "it's going to suck," and from the plates of rich smelling foods dropping on the tables, I could see that we'd be loving it again soon enough.
Once eventually seated at our table, we got to look through the menu our voucher allotted us. $55 for two apps, two entrees, two desserts, coffee and a bottle of wine for two people. Sweet, huh?
The menu seemed to offer the best of everything their kitchen had to offer and the portions were nicely generous.
For starters, Matt ordered the steamed mussels, which had him sopping up the sauce with the last of his bread, and I had the Osso Buco Salad, because who can say no to sun dried tomato?? The vinaigrette on my salad was delicious and though not quite as cold as I would have liked, was filled with big tasty portions of pretty fresh mozzarella, onions, tomatoes and pepperoncini.
For dinner, I didn't act fast enough and Matt claimed the lamb shank. I don't know why I feel as though I can't order the same thing Matt gets, especially when using a promotional deal like this. Its as though I feel like we need to experience as much of the menu as possible. Or maybe, I'm just embarrassed at what the waiter would think of two grown people ordering exactly the same thing. Whatever.
For dinner, Matt got the lamb shank and I did the Bronzcini with broccoli rabe. My dish had the same red sauce that came with the mussels, which could have been a little boring for Matt had he ordered unknowingly those two items, but was entirely thrilling to me, who was already wishing I had gotten more of that sauce before Matt had sopped it all up.
The portion on the lamb shank dish was incredibly big. His potatoes were really nicely roasted and he wouldn't shut up about how much he liked the sauce.
Out of the two wine options, we chose the Malbec (a 2011 no name something) over the pinot grigio, and it was actually pretty good even though it was light and forgettable next to the big flavors in our dishes.
At some point before all this the bread showed up with a plate of butter that looked as though it had been pulled off someone else's table and dropped off for us to finish. Can you see the roller coaster we were on??
Over a lengthy tiramsu, cheese cake and coffee course, we sat tucked away in the corner of this restaurant, talking deeply and forgetting that we'd at some point have to put our coats back on and head back out into the cold.
All in all, a pretty nice experience!
And I got to wear a new dress :)
Mano a Mano: Management, although very welcoming when they did touch the table, was not exactly as involved with the tables and staff as they appeared to be. The male floor manager who was visible all night and was clearly supervising the staff on the surface, either did not circle the floor enough or was simply not observant enough to see what was actually being brought on the table. That plate of butter, for example, should never have made it to us. If the server didn't know better, than management should have stopped it at the gate. Also, considering we were made to wait 10 minutes before our table was ready, it should have been fully set before we sat down. That speaks of professionalism. Also, the lady staff members there could stand to interject some more energy and personality -you'll get better tips!- and lay off the cell phones.
Keep the kitchen staff happy - they put out a good meal. Everything was cooked nicely and the flavor was there. I wish we caught our servers name. He was just attentive enough and never in the way. He timed it right for the lazy evening we were hoping to have. I doubt he knew that's how we wanted to pace things, but I don't doubt that he can pick up the pace if needed. Doing so, by the way, will help you flip more tables. The closers should easily be getting two turns a night in a place like this, especially on the weekends.
Ok- that's enough from me. According to Matt, I've been writing this for an hour and a half. ;)
You're going to hear from two of us today. First from me -on the topic of food- and then from him - on the topic of the same food. And by food, we mean all that food can bring to the table. We've been liking the idea of writing dueling restaurant views for a while because firstly, well... when are two people, especially couples, ever on the same page about these kinds of things? It might be fun to see the differences in perspective. Generally, Matt and I agree on the big issues, yet it'd blow your mind to see a list of the "little" details that we completely disagree on, that is if we both even took notice.
Also, with both our histories in successful restaurants (he from the heart of the house and I from the front), may offer a unique prescriptive on what works in the places we visit and what does not.
(I think I'm talking myself into doing this more and more!) My third reason for thinking it's going to be a good idea is that Matt and I are just normal every-day people, who don't make enough money to live in NYC the way we want to, but think we do. So, we eat out all the time, busy ourselves with all these activities and sometimes think that stuff is more awesome than it really is because we've had plenty to drink that night. If not amusing, our buffoonery may stand a good chance at making you laugh.
Don't get your hopes up; tonight, we were pretty subdued. Osso Buco, thanks to a great voucher, was our first stop on this tour of local bars and restaurants.
::: HERS :::
We were 8 minutes late and we hate that. When you spend as many hours working in restaurants as we do, you inanely dislike yourself when you yourself are late, rude, difficult, etc. at someone else's restaurants.
We're on foot and it's cold outside, so we're kind of at a jog when we go to push inside Osso Buco. The couple entering before us had had the glass door opened for them and the staff member responsible was now standing in front of the door. He make eye contact as we moved to enter, smiled at us mischievously and blocked the door from opening. A jokester, eh? We're going to like this place.
The place at first was warmly dated, both in temperature and atmosphere. The walls are painted in reds and the lighting seems full and cozy. They definitely also had the heat jacked up.
The next set of staff members we encountered (the hostess and bartender) were both frumpy and uninterested in us, strangely enough. Within four minutes of being here, I had gone from "I'm going to love this" to "it's going to suck," and from the plates of rich smelling foods dropping on the tables, I could see that we'd be loving it again soon enough.
Once eventually seated at our table, we got to look through the menu our voucher allotted us. $55 for two apps, two entrees, two desserts, coffee and a bottle of wine for two people. Sweet, huh?
The menu seemed to offer the best of everything their kitchen had to offer and the portions were nicely generous.
For starters, Matt ordered the steamed mussels, which had him sopping up the sauce with the last of his bread, and I had the Osso Buco Salad, because who can say no to sun dried tomato?? The vinaigrette on my salad was delicious and though not quite as cold as I would have liked, was filled with big tasty portions of pretty fresh mozzarella, onions, tomatoes and pepperoncini.
For dinner, I didn't act fast enough and Matt claimed the lamb shank. I don't know why I feel as though I can't order the same thing Matt gets, especially when using a promotional deal like this. Its as though I feel like we need to experience as much of the menu as possible. Or maybe, I'm just embarrassed at what the waiter would think of two grown people ordering exactly the same thing. Whatever.
For dinner, Matt got the lamb shank and I did the Bronzcini with broccoli rabe. My dish had the same red sauce that came with the mussels, which could have been a little boring for Matt had he ordered unknowingly those two items, but was entirely thrilling to me, who was already wishing I had gotten more of that sauce before Matt had sopped it all up.
The portion on the lamb shank dish was incredibly big. His potatoes were really nicely roasted and he wouldn't shut up about how much he liked the sauce.
Out of the two wine options, we chose the Malbec (a 2011 no name something) over the pinot grigio, and it was actually pretty good even though it was light and forgettable next to the big flavors in our dishes.
 |
| how cute is he? |
At some point before all this the bread showed up with a plate of butter that looked as though it had been pulled off someone else's table and dropped off for us to finish. Can you see the roller coaster we were on??
Over a lengthy tiramsu, cheese cake and coffee course, we sat tucked away in the corner of this restaurant, talking deeply and forgetting that we'd at some point have to put our coats back on and head back out into the cold.
All in all, a pretty nice experience!
And I got to wear a new dress :)
Mano a Mano: Management, although very welcoming when they did touch the table, was not exactly as involved with the tables and staff as they appeared to be. The male floor manager who was visible all night and was clearly supervising the staff on the surface, either did not circle the floor enough or was simply not observant enough to see what was actually being brought on the table. That plate of butter, for example, should never have made it to us. If the server didn't know better, than management should have stopped it at the gate. Also, considering we were made to wait 10 minutes before our table was ready, it should have been fully set before we sat down. That speaks of professionalism. Also, the lady staff members there could stand to interject some more energy and personality -you'll get better tips!- and lay off the cell phones.
Keep the kitchen staff happy - they put out a good meal. Everything was cooked nicely and the flavor was there. I wish we caught our servers name. He was just attentive enough and never in the way. He timed it right for the lazy evening we were hoping to have. I doubt he knew that's how we wanted to pace things, but I don't doubt that he can pick up the pace if needed. Doing so, by the way, will help you flip more tables. The closers should easily be getting two turns a night in a place like this, especially on the weekends.
Ok- that's enough from me. According to Matt, I've been writing this for an hour and a half. ;)
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