Park Ave Winter...

*sigh*. that's all I'll say about...the context of this dinner. *wink!* i'm half joking. It was the Gossip Girl promo @ Park Ave Winter wherein you get your entire meal comped (1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert, 1 sides per 2 people, and 2 rounds of drinks per person!) if you...wore...garbs...resembling...plaid skirts, button ups...etc. O.o hehe

ANYWAY...so since there were 12 of us we were able to dabble in most of the menu in all categories. (see pic of the bill at the end! :D we ran them dry)

Wouldn't have this been a nice shot if I had managed to hold still?

They were carving up and moving about rather quickly, and people kept on effin' walkin' past my shot and I kept seeing asses blocking the meat carving and multitude of hands serving so much -.- ANYHOO...

For appetizers, we got the calamari salad (salty--i very very much liked over some others), the Park Ave Winter open faced scallop sandwich with brown butter and bacon with...some other stuff, sashimi of hamachi, the Nantucket Bay scallops in some..sweet sauce and what I remember as panko crumbs?

No venison tartare :( we were sad. I think our other table got salmon tartare, but I don't remember anyone getting butternut squash soup (which i love! esp as a drink w/ palernum & rum at Tailor's hehe) or the porcini mushrooms (very sad to not have tried that one =/).

And here you see my Nantucket Bay scallops. Was thrown off by how sweet it was--made even sweeter with the thick cream. Not sure...how...I feel...about that! Otherwise, perfectly cooked :)

SiDES!! BROCCOLI and CHEESE! I don't...understand, but eh. yum. VERY yum were the brussel sprouts w/ apples which--can't make what the sauce was but it was buttery and savory :D Also had the creamed spinach and parsnip puree since the Crispy Cauliflower was actually in tempura batter =/ EH.

Entrees! Had to hurry it a bit w/ taking photos b/c the ladies were ready to dig in and with my--obsessive shooting things would er...get cold and whatnot :) hehe Opted for flash, kinda wish I edited some more but...OH wellllzzzzz. :) Miso glazed lobster with citrus fennel salad, John Dory w/ brioche encrusted poached egg & black truffles,

Filet mignon braised short ribs w/ root veggies, Dover Sole filet with herbs & brown butter (there was even a brown butter pecan ice cream! they lurves their brown butter...and so does the rest of the word ^_^)

Seared yellowfin tuna w/ avocado, grapefruit & ginger--and I think someone got the Organic scottish salmon w parsnip puree blah blah...Can we do more pics of lobster? mm surely!...

DESSERTS! - Chocolate flourless cake w/ Kentucky bourbon and peanut brittle mousse, Pistachio brown butter cake with red wine pears & Bartlett pear sorbet, Preserved plums with Ricotta custard, polenta crepes and pignoli...and THE CUBE! :) Chocolate cube with caramel mouse and chocolate cake bits inside, with what I remember as a coffee/chocolate-ancho ice cream on top of a meringue. Desserts were HUGE. :)

I really liked what they did with the sugar components in a few of the dishes--I mean nothing extraordinary in terms of flavor but made it quite memorable and enhanced my experience with the desserts--just...threw in some edge and complexity in it!! :) I mean honestly--kind of gimmicky but it really displayed a kind of mastery and playfulness u usually encounter when people are more than capable at what they do so it frees them up to play around with what's 'basic'! :) love love!!

B/c I'll never post if i have to discuss at length--everything was SCRUMPTIOUS. If I could afford it I'd eat here on the regular. Entrees are on average ~$40 bucks with appetizers and desserts clocking in at ~$15-20 each. This...is worth it. Butter--similar pricing, maybe a little less--more of a scene...food was WHATEVER. Can't wait to see the other seasonal incarnations of Park Ave Spring/Summer/Fall!

And this be our bill...notice on top the Gossip Girl promotion :P HEHE...miscellaneous items not listed in order of....order...-.O And then somewhere in the 6.50 tax. HEHE. I guess for that capuccino (was not included in the comping)...Needless to say, we left quite a tip.

A lil' shout out to Juan Carlos--our baddass and cheeky server with lovely suggestions to ensure we maximized our fun potential--and foodie potential!--at Park Ave Winter! A rare break in the lack of people appearances in the blog...but well deserved and noted :P This was only our table. Not gonna post the other ladies on here cuz that just might be weird to have ur face blasted on the interweb no? :)

I am conveniently absent since I'm taking the picture :D ANYHOO...The staff was extraordinarily nice and accomodating. A smidge cheeky, as I prefer it :P, all in good fun sorta spirits and helpful. Everyone was really nice and jocund--I'd say 85-90% of diners were 'school girl's including what I can tell was a mid-50's yr old woman in super pig tails. ROCK ON. reappropriating the whole trope as a sort of...empowerment...foodie thing! :)

Oh, and featuring the fellas from www.brokeassstuart.com who partook in such revelry :) Enviable gams, gentlemen!