NYC: Friday Supper: Gramercy Tavern

Sweetbreads and Squash

Friday night supper with Monsieur P. Gramercy Tavern is our go-to restaurant when it's just the two of us and we crave something more upscale than our affair with Otto, but nothing fancy.

We often take advantage of the $38 three-course dinner, offered every evening after 5:30pm, but this time around I went the a la carte route while Monsieur P did the three-course menu.

I started with an appetizer of Sweetbreads (pictured at top), served with summer squash, shishito peppers on a base of creamy, earthy mushroom pur�e and then had the Mushroom Lasagna as my entree. Do you remember the very first time I had this pasta? April 2008! The dish, most thankfully, has not changed at all. A classic.

The three-course menu gives you a pick from three appetizers, three entrees and anything off the dessert menu. Lamb Pappardelle is our favourite of the appetizers and seems to always be one of the three options. The pasta is made in-house, wide, supple ribbons tossed with a lamb ragu, black olives, lemon confit and swiss chard.

The Roasted Hanger Steak is also a mainstay as one of the entree options. Accompaniments to the steak change with season, and for the fall it comes with fingerling potatoes, red Russian kale and killer bourbon sauce that we proceeded to wipe clean with the bread.

And for dessert? Though there were pumpkin sweets on the menu, I can never pass on Nancy Olson's Apple Pie, a generous wedge of tender apples neatly tucked into the buttery crust. I like to chip off the entire crust edge first, spoon some cinnamon sour cream ice cream over the crust, and get it all in one big bite. Oh, the pleasure! And yes, that goes for the base of candied walnuts as well ;)

There were a few minor service mishaps (the waitress forgot what we ordered - multiple times throughout the meal), and the kitchen graciously sent out the Chef's Selection of Farmstead Cheeses. From left to right, Cremont, beautiful and perfectly ripe, all oozy right beneath the rind, a goat and cow's milk from Websterville, Vermont; Maidenhead, a raw cow's milk from Lawrenceville, New Jersey; and on the right Ewe's Blue, a sheep milk cheese from Old Chatham, New York. Monsieur P was too full by this point, so I gladly had all the cheese, almonds & honey, and bread on my own.

Then. Close to midnight, it was back out into the cold and wind after an incredibly satisfying meal. A 10-minute search for a cab before diving under the covers at home, hot tea on the nightstand and heater on high. It feels like winter already!

Gramercy Tavern
42 East 20th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 477-0777