Big Meal Out at David Burke’s Kitchen

It seems like lately that I am all about the full course meals.  And the ritual monthly dinner with DC last Friday night at David Burke’s Kitchen was no different.  DC had wanted to dine there for a while now so we finally fulfilled her wish with JL’s company as well.  The restaurant was situated slightly below ground level in the James Hotel on the edge of Soho and Tribeca.  I knew this was going to be a whimsically fun dinner when we snacked on Pocky pretzel sticks dipped in a mustard oil at the bar.

We were presented a little tin basket full of breads, pretzels and baby carrots and radish.  All were delicious with the stick of butter that were served on a slab of salt as a tray.

There was a whole section labeled jars and given my affinity for these little vehicles, I had to put in an order, not for one but two.  The tomato, eggplant and ricotta jar was like a fresh burst of the garden while the chicken liver was whipped smooth and light.  We dug pretty far to clean the jars for every last bit of the content.

Ever since I first had escargot and bone marrow at M. Wells, I knew I had a new favorite.  With M. Wells now dysfunct, I am glad that David Burke’s Kitchen makes a similar dish equally well if not better, cutely named ants on a log.  These little “ants” sure tasted delicious on that “log” and I could not shove them into my mouth faster.

The pretzel crab cake wrapped up our appetizers and these utilized the Pocky pretzels cleverly as a crust.  The flavors were delicious but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed not to find jumbo sized lump crab underneath the sheet of pretzels.

The entrees came in full force and no, we did not spare our stomach by any means.  The portions were big and the flavors were equally impressive.  The pressed head-on shrimp pasta was presented with the head tableside and the waiter whisked it away to extract the head and make the sauce served over a heap of spaghetti.  And the short ribs were absolutely fork tender but I loved how light my plate of monkfish tail was.  The fish was nicely seared with the bone in and came with a lobster sausage which gave the mild fish a nice salty bite.

The tableside service continued with our dessert.  While we were all completely stuffed at the end of the entrees, somehow, our stomachs made room when we saw the dessert menu.  The monkey bread for two dessert really should read monkey bread for 5.  We were absolutely floored by the sheer size of the dessert when it was brought to our table.  The waiter diligently made each of us one giant spoonful of the monkey bread, topped with a caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream.  While the dessert wasn’t revolutionary, it was so classic that you really can’t do much better than an old fashion comfort dessert to end the night.  The best part was?  The monkey bread came in an oven safe tin that can be used to reheat the monkey bread for breakfast the next day.  Oh, and the attentive and friendly service was just icing on the cake of a beautiful meal.

David Burke’s Kitchen | 23 Grand Street, New York, NY 10013 | http://davidburkekitchen.com