Gramercy Tavern

I believe there’s a therapeutic value to having your water unobtrusively refilled, without needing to ask anyone. The knife you dropped that is swiftly replaced; the napkin that is neatly refolded when you return from the restroom; the single beam of light that misses you and falls instead on your soon-to-be-full plate, all have a similar soothing effect. Whatever chaos reigns outside, here is the kind of calming order that makes eating better.

Certainly the menu for the front room at Gramercy Tavern is nothing fancy–a pulled pork sandwich and lasagna are among the entrees–but the place does have a Michelin Star, and the front room offered a glimmer of hope of being more affordable than the posh dining room. The front room doesn’t take reservations so we waited an hour at the height of the Saturday night rush for a table. Time passed quickly enough. The tavern is a pleasantly unstuffy space, with ceiling beams evoking an 18th century inn, and a splashy mural of fruits and flowers lending brightness to the room.

After we were seated I ordered a single raw oyster, which our server brought in a bowl of ice, with lemon, diced cucumber, and cocktail sauce. I’d never eaten an oyster before, and had heard them described either in utterly delightful or completely repellent terms. I stabbed the slithery mass with a dainty fork and rolled it around my mouth a little before it slid down my throat, leaving a memory of butter and brine. It was gone too fast for me to pin any specific words to the moment, but I felt like I’d had an espresso shot. We ordered some more. I chewed the second one a bit in order to better taste it, but this time I got all brine and no sweetness. The difference in taste was intriguing since both came from the same place (Island Creek, MA). I could have had a few more but I was eager to get on with the rest of the meal.

My appetizer, the porchetta salad ($16) goes down as one of my all-time favorite salads. Cider vinegar lightly dressed escarole, fennel, radishes, parsley, toasted bits of buttered bread, and thinly-sliced roast pork. Porchetta can be overwhelmingly rich and fatty, but just a few slices layered with crisp vegetables were delicious. My crappy camera phone shot doesn’t really do it justice. I also tasted the fish croquette appetizer ($12), which was appealingly delicate, although our server couldn’t specify what kind of fish was in it. It was served with tasty heirloom white beans and arugula.

For an entree I ordered the meatball ($18). Yes, that’s a meatball–singular–for $18. But my god, what a meatball. It was, thankfully, enormous and served sliced in half, interlaced by strings of melting fontina cheese, atop a buttery smooth potato puree, red wine onions, and some pitch-dark, intensely beef-flavored demi glace. I tried a bit of the chicken entree ($19), which consisted of a perfectly moist breast and thigh with crisp skins, served with broccoli rabe, more heirloom beans and green beans. It was fine, but plain compared to the flavors and heartiness of the meatball.

I’ve been burned by many a bad dessert when eating out, but when a place employs their own pastry chef I make it a point not to miss it. We decided to split the butterscotch bread pudding with pear sorbet ($9), and our server brought an extra scoop of sorbet for us–a nice touch. The bread pudding was the perfect consistency, somewhere between french toast and custard. It was served with an orange sauce that tasted of citrus mellowed with honey, and a crisp almond cookie. The pear sorbet was refreshing and tart, and when you loaded all elements on your fork, you got sweet, tart, warm, cold, crunch and smoothness; more depth and flavor than I’ve had in a dessert in a while.

All-in-all we spent about $145 for two appetizers, two entrees, three drinks, a few oysters, and one dessert, including tip; but everything I had was very good, and the salad and dessert were excellent. I’m coming back for the dining room next time.

Gramercy Tavern
42 E. 20th St. between Park Ave and Broadway
Tavern hours: Sun-Thurs 12pm-11pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-12am