2 Happy Friends

One Tuesday night, two friends found themselves at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Grove Street for dinner at TV’s Friends‘ apartment.

Ok, I lied.  Maybe we didn’t quite have dinner at Friends but we did dine at Little Owl, located right below the building where the likes of Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Ross, Joey and Phoebe supposedly were able to afford in the middle of West Village.  Oh how TV glamorized living in New York in your twenties.

Anyway, onto our story.  8.15PM on the dot last Tuesday night, I was in my seat by the large lofty windows of Little Owl’s dining room.  There was only a sliver of the setting sun left in the dining room and that left a few moments later leaving only flickering candle lights and soft lamps to illuminate our meal.

I only really had a second to worry about the poor lighting for pictures because the old roomie and I were ready to dive into the menu.  Gravy covered meatball sliders and crispy soft shell crab to start please!

Gravy Meatball Sliders and Crispy Soft Shell Crab

The meatball sliders are made with veal, pork and beef and pecorino and come with generous portion of sauce.  They were really delicious little bites with a slightly crunchy exterior and a soft tender interior.

“Did you know you can add another one if you wanted?”  I mentioned wistfully as we begrudgingly split the third slider between us.

After the sliders were gone, I turned to the second appetizer.  The soft shell crab came actually recognizable rather than the usual fried mess.  Mine was perched beautifully on top of a refreshing watercress, cucumber and shallot salad.  Summer is truly beautiful.

Pork Chops and Sauteed Skate

And here come the entrees.  Now, I never proactively order pork chops just purely because I didn’t grow up eating such a hunk of meat whole on the bones.  Nevertheless, I was told that if I were to try one, the one at Little Owl would be the one to try.  So here we go.

“Mmmmmm”  That’s all I could really say when i took my first bite.  It was so well flavored and spiced from the cumin and herbs rubbed on the outside.  At the waitress’ suggestion, it was cooked to a medium rare – a wise choice by the way for that juicy tenderness in a piece of meat of such thickness.

The sauteed skate was also nicely cooked, paired with a lobster and spinach salad.  A great second choice for an entree and pairing with the pork chops.  Neither were heavy or overly greasy, a good thing in the continuing heat wave we are facing.

We didn’t and hadn’t really planned on having dessert so we left our lovely meal at that.  To end our night, we were given a pen and a little sketching notebook with our bill.  I really loved that we were able to leave a little bit of ourselves at Little Owl.  The next picture summarized our meal together perfectly.

Art By YG and SB

Little Owl | 90 Bedford Avenue, New York, NY 10014 | http://www.thelittleowlnyc.com/