ABC Kitchen, the Jean-Georges restaurant in the ABC store, was named Best New Restaurant of 2011 by the James Beard Foundation, so that should tell you how impossible it is to get a table. I had been for brunch right when it opened, but dinner is what really shines here, and we hadn't been able to get in. I heard a tip that if you go early you can get a seat at the bar and order the full menu. We happened to be in that neighborhood around 6:30 last Friday evening, and we scored two prime seats. It was amazing!
We tried:
Housemade chicken and pork sausage, warm potato and wholegrain mustard salad (yum)
Pretzel dusted calamari (double-yum)
Kasha and bowtie pasta, veal meatballs (meh, wouldn't re-order)
Whole wheat pizza with mushrooms, parmesan, oregano and farm egg (my husband was drooling over this)
But the star of the night was dessert:
Sundae with salted caramel ice cream, candied peanuts and popcorn, whipped cream, chocolate sauce
Really I never thought a sundae could be that good. My husband has asked me to replicate it twice since then, and I've done my best, but we'll definitely be going back and throwing elbows if we have to just to get another sundae.
All the reviews I read of this place said that a celebrity sighting would be a given, and sure enough, we saw Emma Stone and Freida Pinto, not together, although they did chat. I've actually had a big week of celebrity sightings... including Elizabeth Banks the day after the Met Gala, hiding behind dark glasses. I'm assuming I'm not the only one who put her on the Worst Dressed List. But the most major sighting of my week: Hoda Kotb in Central Park. Seriously, if I hadn't been in a hurry, I would have tackled her and forced her to call Kathie Lee to go day-drinking with me, because would there be anyone more fun to day-drink with than Kathie Lee and Hoda?
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