Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Great Expectations

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While we don’t blog about our day jobs, this foodie crew pays our restaurant bills by working in PR. And, while we often trust, discover and sometimes agree with reviews from the likes of Sam Sifton (New York Times), Adam Platt (NY Magazine) and fellow foodies on Yelp and Twitter, sometimes the hype can lead to disappointment.

The Dutch, a new Soho restaurant, “inspired by local cafés, country inns, corner taverns, neighborhood bistros, seaside shacks, roadside joints, old school dining halls and the same mix of cultural influences that make New York City great,” was getting glowing reviews from all the usual suspects but mediocre reviews from ‘civilians.’ We ventured to the venue wondering who was right.

The interior, predictably, looks like every other new spot in NYC with a ‘bistro-like” flair (see my bitching about this in my Goat Town post) but the food was very eclectic and DELISH.

First, try the Asian White Boy Ribs under the snack section. This hearty slab of ribs in a mouth-watering sweet Asian sauce was finger licking good (disclaimer Anne thought they were chewy but I adamantly disagree). If I only ate this, I would have walked away a happy camper.


For our main courses, we had a lamb tagine, my personal favorite. The lamb was served in a clay pot and was falling off the bone, and the pork chop (both Anne and Christa’s fav) was perfectly cooked. We weren’t keen on the quinoa salad, as it lacked its namesake quinoa and the flavors didn’t come together, but do order the brussel sprouts with pancetta, served in a cast iron dish that it was obviously prepared in.

Now, I am not a dessert person but the special banana crème pie thrilled my taste buds. The fresh bananas and cream whipped so light it was floating slighting above the dish were paired perfectly with a salty, sweet crust was the just the right way to end the meal.

So Sam Sifton and Adam Platt, you got it right on this one!

PS - The Dutch was named in the Platt 101 and was one of Sifton's Top Ten New Restaurants of 2011

The Dutch
131 Sullivan St (At Prince St)
(212) 677-6200
http://thedutchnyc.com/