I recently negotiated a settlement to long outstanding issue with a key vendor of ours. To celebrate, the vendor wants to take me out to a dinner when we meet sometime soon in NYC (to discuss more and new things). I warned him not to offer me such a temptation since I am not a cheap date. He did not seem worried in the slightest. What's even better is he is a newly budding wine-o.

So, where should I have this vendor take me to dinner? He says it's my choice.

Now, just to limit my choices, there are probably a few places I want to save my first experience at for going with Mrs. TJ -- like Daniel and possibly a few others. But give me your top three choices, and, if you think about it -- why.

1) Gotham Bar & Grill- because it is a classic.
2) Eleven Madison Park - because it will be a classic.
3) Grammercy Tavern - because I've never been and want to know if it is really a classic.

jb

1. La Cote Basque- my favorite restaurant in the world. Outstanding French food and a wine list to match, with many wines surprisingly fairly-priced.

2. Le Bernardin- great French seafood and a wine list to match.

3. Sparks- the best steak in Manhattan, with other food prepared extremely well. My wife orders the Sea Bass all the time. They also have a great wine list.

Some I have always wanted to try but will live vicariously thru your good fortune:

AZ
Gramercy Tavery
Chanterelle

The above choices are all excellent. I'm not sure what places you are "saving" for Mrs. TJ, but here are some more suggestions:

Jean Georges
Chanterelle
Nobu
Alaine Ducasse (If price is REALLY no object).
Peter Luger (Not a wine destination, but a "manly" place that maybe Mrs. TJ wouldn't appreciate.)

Craft
Washington Park
Bouley

What other city would have such a wealth of great places to try - I mean would you look at all those recos?? I love NYC.

What they said with an addition -

Babbo - great Italian food and wine. You would be an expensive date indeed!

Late to the party so I am not even going to bother. There are enough names here that are ALL very worthy. Cannot go wrong with any of the above...

Okay, I have a reservation for Lunch at Washington Park on Friday (May 2nd). Two questions:

1). Does one need to wear a coat?
2). Should I get the 1998 Marcassin Three Sisters pinot or the SQN Veiled?

You don't have to but I would. I would go with the Marcassin although you would not be disappointed with the Veiled either.

TJ

1. The ultimate culinary experience is Babbo. The tasting menu (there are two differant ones) with the wine paired by the sommelier for each dish is unbelievable. A friend said if he knew he was going to die tommorrow, Babbo is where he'd have his last supper!

2. Union Square Cafe is still a great choice with a great wine list.

3. Del Frisco's for steak is outstanding and has a great wine list.

Gotham Bar & Grill, Tribecca Grill or Gramacy Tavern are also outstanding.

I am actually going to end up at Veritas, after nixing a number of places due to my deciding that I wanted to experience them (first) with Mrs. TJ.

There are so many great places to eat in NYC, it almost came down to picking a name out of a hat.

I downloaded their wine list (60+ pages) and it is a very extensive list, most of it very overpriced.

I will report back once I go (Wednesday night I go).

In defense of Veritas, I think they have some of the best prices around overall. When you start looking at the truly great stuff on their list, the do a great job of not marking up. I know in many instances they are working on 40-50% markup. Of course it is on $1000 bottles, but still it is kinda nice.

Well sure, I'd expect the really expensive bottles to be marked up less. That is usually the case with most restaurants.

I will report back within the next day or so, but my experience at Veritas was great. Recommended (especially on someone else's nickel!). Had two great wines.

Veritas in NYC -- Recommended

On Wednesday night, a vendor I deal with pretty regularly treated me to dinner at Veritas in NYC.

Veritas is a great restaurant. Somewhat small (40-50 seats and a small bar), modern decor and tastefully appointed. The staff is very accommadating without being smothering. I hadn't yet checked into my hotel, and they took care of my bags for me without me even thinking about it.

Veritas offers only a prix fixe 3 course menu, which really is five if you count the amuse bouchee (large for this) and a course between the main course and the dessert. Nice menu choices and I could have eaten them all. More on that later. I had fun with the very extensive and wee organized wine list. I'd scanned the list on line, but they had already updated the list a few times since the one published on the site, o some things were gone and other new things were there....

I ended up selecting the1999 Kongsgaard Chardonnay Napa and the2000 Kislter Cuvee Elizabeth Occidental Vineyard Pinot Noir as the wines of the evening. Both of these wines were excellent and paired well with the food we ordered.

I can't remember what the other guy had, but here's what I went with--

Course 1
This was the amuse bouchee, but I considered it big enough to call it a first course. It was marinated calimari with pimentos, olives and chive oil. Nice, light and with many layers of deliciousness in it.

Course 2
For me this was seared foie gras with rhubarb compote (I am quickly becoming a fan of rhubarb), hazelnuts (I think lightly roasted) and a black pepper gastrique. This dish was great. I might have chosen the sweetbreads for this course, but it has an artichoke mash or something with it and I knew it'd ruin whatever wine I was having so I avoded it.

Course 3
Duck breast over melted shallots & some potato, sprinkled with foie gras cubes and embellished with capers and a nice reduction sauce (I forgot to write it down, but it was so good I asked for some more of the tuscan bread (one of three varities they offered, the other two being a rosemary and something bread (which I did not try) and a fennel and raisin bread which was wonderful) to sop it all up with. This course was perfect with the Kistler. As in omigod good.

Course 4
This I expected to be a cheese course, but it was really a pre-dessert course. It was Almond Panna Cotta sandwiching a raspberry compote swirl in the vertical glass topped with candied lemon zest and a citrus sauce. Yum

Course 5
This was the 'official' dessert course. I was sorely tempted to get the Orange Cake with orange-buttermilk panna cotta, but it also included some chocolate where the panna cotta was inserted in to. So I decided to go with what my gut was telling me all along and I ordered the one special dessert of the day, which was a flight, a trio of creme brulees -- caramel (good), vanilla (even better) and cinnamon (omigod that was amazing). Finished this off with some pretty good coffee.

This was a great dinner, my only regret is that Mrs. TJ was not with me to experience it.

I would definitely recommend going to Veritas while in NYC, on somebody else's nickel or your own. You will be pleased with the atmosphere (it never got noisy, even as the dining room got full), the service is great, the food is wonderful and the winelist is very extensive (it should also be noted that they have a very good 'Market' wine list (ie cheaper generally) in the front part of the main wine list).

TJ: How much was the Kistler? That is a 99pointer from Parker. And, going for about $300.00 on Wine Commune.

$225 off the list, but I wasn't paying

TJ, may I ask the pre-fixe dinner cost/person ex. wine? Also, did you note the corkage fee?

TIA.