Restaurant Week - Meal #6

Water's Edge

Important lesson learned - no need to leave Manhattan during restaurant week.

Water's Edge tag line is 'The only thing we over look is Manhattan'.

They are located in Long Island City, which is across the East River from midtown Manhattan. It reminded me of Club 33, but didn't have the cool factor of being a members-only club and it reminded Michael of a country club (yet again without the members only vibe).

The night started off with a longer than anticipated walk from the train station to the restaurant. It was really really cold outside and we were walking in to the wind. My face was so cold I couldn't really move my forehead, I decided that is what it must feel like after a Botox injection. Michael was pretty sure his face went numb. It's wasn't a good start.

Once in the restaurant there was a very bad smell, like a bathroom type smell. It was really strong and really unpleasant....we were both thinking the view and the food better be spectacular after this.

We checked our coats and were taken to a romantic table for two by the window. Across the water there was an amazing view of midtown Manhattan (Chrysler building, UN, Bloomberg building, Citicorp building were all visible) unfortunately the two boats owned by the restaurant were partially blocking the view. (wuh wuhhhh) To top off the obscured view, there was some kind of motion sensor activated light that kept going on and off (I think from the wind). It was a spotlight that was on the boat dock - it really was distracting from where I was sitting (on, off, on, off, on, off the entire evening). Michael did make one adjustment with some kind of deer bronze statue that was on a ledge by the table and that was a huge improvement, it blocked the trigger happy light almost entirely from my view.

After all of this the food was very tasty. My only criticism for the food was it felt like high end wedding food - it felt like everything was prepared ahead of time and in the kitchen they were just plating and serving.

We both started with the mushroom risotto. It was warm, creamy, and delicious. It was flavored with thyme - a very nice pairing with the mushrooms. For dinner I had the roast pork loin. It was tender and well seasoned. It was topped with an apricot chutney (apricot jelly with big chunk of apricot), it was sitting on top of a bed of tasty scalloped potatoes. Gravy and grainy mustard were plated around the outside of the dish. The grainy mustard was really good on the pork, added some spark. Michael had short ribs that were served with horseradish mashed potatoes and asparagus. The mashed potatoes were the highlight of both meals. The horseradish added a mild peppery flavor. Dessert was a white chocolate napoleon and apple tart tartin. Neither dessert was great, neither one was bad (it didn't stop me from eating both of them).

The whole experience was interesting, the quality of the food saved the night. We might go back in the summer...we'll see.