Restaurant roundup – 1

Since the parents are in town, I’ve been eating out more so than usual, and experimenting with new cuisines. We went for an Ethiopian dinner last night at Awash in the east village – which was, as expected, delicious. Today we decided to try the chowhound hyped croissants from patesserie claude in the west village, and they were great. I wouldn’t call them amazing, and they kind of lacked the “shatter” effect that comes with the crispiness of the kind of croissants that I like, but they definitely tasted delicious.  Of course, there was no line at 10am on a Sunday morning (is there ever a line?) so we got to enjoy a nice quiet capuccino and croissant while watching the world go by – which was absolutely delightful.

We had dinner at a local Italian restaurant on the recommendation of a friend, Portofino Grille. A tad bit expensive, but was good on the whole (I’d probably give it a B-). The Branzino (?)   and canollis were disappointing, while the ravioli and profiteroles were good (not spectacular, though) . Relative to what I ate last week at this delicious italian place on 81st or 83rd between park and madison (I know I should be shot for not remembering the name). The carpaccio was divine, as was the panacotta and the tiramisu. I also realized that when someone else is picking up the tab, carpaccio is not the wisest choice when you’re hungry.

~ by becharagrad on June 4, 2007.