Restaurant Week, Part Deux

It is a tradition that every time Restaurant Week rolls around, L will make the journey from Hoboken into the City to dine with K1 and I. This winter we chose China Grill as our rendezvous point and we had a delightful evening together. L and I got there a little early, so she ordered a glass of red and I had the China Grill Cosmo that had a sweet, but not syrupy black cherry flavor. When K1 arrived, we were seated in the front of the Asian-fusion restaurant, which is located in the CBS Black Rock building on 53rd and 6th. The place is impressive, with 30-foot ceilings and an open kitchen in the middle.

The portions there are family style, so with a party of three, we were instructed to order two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts. We decided on the Spicy Beef and Scallion Dumplings, Crackling Calamari Salad, Sweet Soy Marinated Skirt Steak, Sake Marinated "Drunken" Chicken, Homemade Sorbet, and Hazelnut Chocolate Torte. And then, just because, we decided to add a wine pairing to each course for just $15 more. They were blends for the most part and were pretty decent, but nothing mind blowing. The appetizer white wine option, however, had a pretty great name: Luna Freakout.

So, onto the food: the dumplings were not overly spicy and sauce was so good that we ate it by the spoonfuls. Our salad was light and flavorful, with perfectly fried pieces of calamari. I'm not a huge steak eater, but this one was very good, with juicy small slices and sauteed lo mein noodles. When I go out to eat, I very rarely order chicken because, quite frankly, it's really boring. But tonight, the selections on the RW menu that did not involve a supplement charge were limited, so it was either salmon, mushroom pasta, or chicken...and salmon is the one fish that I do not enjoy and mushroom pasta? Eh. Long story short, the chicken turned out to be pretty good - really moist and tasty with lots of crunchy onions on top. Our dessert was yummy too, especially the fruity and fresh sorbets. Since the options for our dessert wine pairing were two not-so-good reds, our waitress was kind enough to bring us each a glass of Ice Wine/Eiswein and it really concluded the night on a high note.

All in all, a great Tuesday night: good food and even better company, and we left with a happy buzz. If it wasn't for work the next morning, that buzz may have escalated a bit...

Zai Jian!