Summer RW 2017 - Lupa and Irvington

Whatever happened to the good old days, when there was time in the summer to do things other than work?!  I've been so busy lately, I haven't had much time to blog.  I need to work on that.  So I'm combining two recent Restaurant Week experiences for your entertainment pleasure.  I'll also include another recommendation at the end of this post...

I don't know why I haven't been to Lupa before - it's been open for years and I do enjoy a Mario Batali restaurant.  Plus, Lupa specializes in Roman cuisine and we all know I love me some Rome. Maybe it hadn't been included in Restaurant Week before?  I don't know why it took me so long, but I'm glad I finally made it to Lupa. It's in a nice location in the Village and has two attractive seating areas - the more open front area and the secluded back room. I didn't even know there was a back room, so it was a nice surprise to be led back there to eat with my IHBB (and intrepid Italian adventures companion).

The Restaurant Week lunch menu was so good, it was hard to decide what I wanted.  Since it was quite warm outside, I finally decided to get the 'lighter' options, so I wouldn't feel so heavy wandering around NYC after lunch.  My IHBB ordered a completely different three-courses, so I'll include photos of his delicious choices at the end of this post.  Oh, and even though it sort of negates the $29-for-lunch-is-cheap aspect, I also ordered a cocktail.  But it was DELICIOUS and I could've had four of them, but I'm glad I stuck to only one watermelon margarita adorned with basil salt.  It was incredible and went very well with my lunch dishes.  

For my appetizer, I got the fluke crudo with the summer melon 'panzanella.'  It was light, refreshing and very yummy.  The fluke was very soft and tender, and the melon was nice and acidic.  The 'panzanella' portion were tiny little croutons and they were the perfect complement to the dish.  A little crunchy, a little salty, they added a nice kick to the rest of the dish.  My IHBB got the goat cheese sformato with pickled strawberries and boy was THAT a punch in the face of deliciousness!  Mine was airy and delicate, his was bold and direct.  Two really terrific starters.

For my main course, I couldn't decide between the octopus and the pasta, but then I figured I didn't want to have two fish dishes, so I got the tagliatelle with summer squash and burrata.  WOW.  Again, so complex and delicious, yet light and refreshing.  The squash was beautifully sauteed, so it had a hint of saltiness in the luscious pasta with soft burrata.  Loved it.  I also loved tasting IHBB's pork ribs agrodolce with charred onions. His was another mix of bold flavors and mine was more restrained, but both delicious.

I had ordered the espresso granita for dessert and was disappointed when the server told me they were out of it.  I almost ordered the ricotta with toasted fennel honey, but figured that would be a little too much cheese after the burrata, so I got the tartufino, as did my companion.  It was quite a tasty morsel of sweetness - chocolate ice cream, covered with a chocolate shell, and I think there may have been some fruit and nuts inside the ice cream.  It was lovely and the perfect end to a delightful meal.  I will definitely head back to Lupa sometime soon.  The service was very pleasant and the food was wonderful.  The rest of their menu looks equally good, so I'm ready to try more of it.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to try another new restaurant for lunch with another handsome friend.  I am indeed a fortunate girl to have so many handsome friends who like eating lunch with me.  :)   I had a meeting in the Union Square area, so I decided to find a restaurant nearby.  A new restaurant that I had never heard of popped up in my search, so my handsome friend and I decided to give Irvington a try.

Irvington is located in the W Hotel, I think in the space formerly occupied by Todd English's restaurant Olives, which I never tried.  It's nice and open, with today's apparent favorite decor, wood and glass.  But it was very attractive and the sound didn't bounce all over, which was great.  Our server was very pleasant and attentive and we had a lovely afternoon with lively conversation.

Again, I had trouble deciding which appetizer to go with, but I finally settled on the sweet corn arancini, because I'm a huge fan of fried rice balls and also a big fan of sweet corn. Score!  These were delicious!  Three tasty little nuggets of yummy fried deliciousness, but not greasy or heavy.  There was also some mozzarella cheese inside the arancini, which made the sweet corn taste even better.  The dipping sauce was a calabrian chili aioli, which was the tiniest bit spicy, but I enjoyed putting a dab on each piece. Thumbs up for a delicious starter.

Since I had a work event to go to right after lunch, even though my heart said 'get the burger,' my head said 'get the fish.'  So I obeyed my head and got the fish, a striped bass, with green apple, asparagus and sitting in an ajo blanco (a kind of white gazpacho). This was another deceptively light and elegant entree with a ton of complexity.  That white gazpacho was to die for and the fish was cooked perfectly.  I might've preferred the skin be a little crispier, but that's not a big deal at all. I enjoyed this dish a lot - the tart green apple added some crispness, which I appreciated, and the asparagus was nicely just-underdone.

For dessert, I chose the vanilla panna cotta, with fresh berries, verjus and a lemon cookie.  I ordered this because, hello.  Panna cotta.  I will always order it. And it was scrumptious - slightly sour, maybe from buttermilk?  The berries were plump and juicy, the lemon cookie was perfect, and the verjus (the pressed juice of unripened grapes, according to Wikipedia) was amazing - almost as potent as balsamic vinegar, but more mellow and sweet.  This was a fantastic dessert and the perfect ending to my fun meal. I'd definitely go back to Irvington again - the menu has a lot of dishes that look interesting to me and the vibe was casual and unpretentious.

panel discussion

So ends my Restaurant Week visits for the summer - I highly enjoyed all of them!  There are now so many restaurants on my special occasions list that I'll never get back to them all!  But I do still get a kick out of trying new places whenever I can.  Double bonus when they turn out to be good!  And the other recommendation I have is that I've been attending the Asian-American MixFest at the Atlantic Theater Company.  They're doing a whole festival of new play readings by Asian-American playwrights.  I've already been to a panel discussion and two readings and have enjoyed them a great deal.  There are more readings every night next week, so if you're into new work, you should check them out. They're free, but you have to RSVP on the Atlantic's website - hope to see you there!