Payard Patisserie et Bistro

The first thing that comes to mind when I recall the meal at Payard is: SLUGGY SLOW. The visit to Payard for dinner started at 7:30pm and didn't finish until after 10:30pm. Possible excuses? It boggles the mind...

Now that I'm done griping (probably), with good company and good food, the minutes can pass much more easily. A couple of us ordered the Seasonal Carrot Soup, which turned out to be the best part of the meal! The only complaint is that there were too few of those slightly crispy, buttery croutons that came in the soup. YUUUUM. The Roasted Chicken was moist and satisfying, but is it really worth $27? That's still up for debate. Now, the original reason for choosing Payard was because word on the street is their desserts are superbly classic French. I won't argue that. The desserts were beautiful and tasty, but by the time the super sluggy slow service allowed us to choose our desserts, our options were limited to a mere five (as opposed to the gazillion we saw on our way into the restaurant)!













I think we need to make another trip to try more desserts and pick up some macaroons.

Payard Patisserie et Bistro
1032 Lexington Avenue
Between 73rd & 74th Street

db&d

Our second visit to this establishment, and it's still just as YUMMY as we remembered. Partaking in restaurant week this time, we took full advantage of their prix fixe menu items - especially the dessert! To the left is one of our four desserts - a mix of a chocolate shake + beer (yeah, who would've thought), with three of the YUMMIest little petit fours! The other three desserts consisted of a caramelized warm apple tart (always good), a chocolate mousse, and of course, their signature cheesecake lollipop tree!
As an appetizer, I got a boring ole salad, but everyone else ordered their YUMMY pretzel-crusted crabcake (shown below). For the main course, K & I both had the seawater-soaked roast organic chicken (with one of the best-tasting mash potato sides I've ever had), while C got the cavatelli & braised short ribs, and A got the hot-smoked wild salmon.


Oh, so did I mention that everything was YUMMY? :p

davidburke & donatella
133 East 61st St
(b/t Park & Lex)

China Grill

Apologies for the rather dim pictures. There was virtually no lighting inside save the single tealight on the table. The food was served family style and everything was tasty! The only gripe I have is that for the number of people we had, the plates were pretty skimpy. We started with the dumplings, lamb spare ribs, and fried tofu. For the entree, we had the wild mushroom pasta, the "drunken chicken", and vegetable fried rice. To finish off, dessert included chocolate layered cake and a variety of sorbet. Sadly, the chocolate cake (who doesn't like chocolate anything?!) was rather unsatisfyingly ordinary.













China Grill
60 West 53rd Street

P*Ong

P*Ong is probably best known for its studies in combining sweet and savories. The venue is small. The dishes are small. The prices are not. With that said, I still recommend trying this place at least once. There's lots to choose from, and the dishes don't disappoint. Everything is unique. Between the three of us, we tried the Peaky Toe Crab & Apple Salad (refreshing!), a Warm Mushroom Tart (flaky! beefy mushrooms!), Cod, Chocolate & Pinot Noir Braised Duck, Shortribs (moist!), English Stilton Souffle, and the famous Foie Gras Napoleon (must try-but you can only eat a little). For dessert, we tried the Chocolate Banana Cake, Pineapple Rice Pudding, and the Warm Date Cake. By the time we hit dessert, we were beyond full, but even these ordinary sounding desserts were no ordinary matter...

P*Ong
150 West 10th Street