One muggy Friday afternoon – the Friday afternoon, actually, where Delgado hit a grand slam right before my very eyes, and in total, scored 9 RBIs – COUNT THEM THAT IS 9 RBIs!!! – while my boyfriend and I sat on the field at Yankees Stadium for the very last [regular season] Subway Series game ever to be played at the current Yankees Stadium – sorry I know this is a food blog but it was a simply amazing game!!! – anyway, after the game, we headed down to Chelsea to take care of some business, but found ourselves hungry and in unfamiliar territory. We could have randomly picked any of the places we walked by, and taken our chances that way (the only restaurants I knew offhand were those by Chelsea Market – which we did stroll through, with the vague notion I’d cook, until I realized just how muggy and disgusting it was and me with no AC – and those are mostly not the types of places you go while you’re dressed for a baseball game and all sweaty and sticky from sitting outside for 3 or 4 hours).
But, just the Sunday before, I’d picked up two of the City Shuffle Diner’s Deck – one for all of Manhattan, and one for Downtown as that is not just where I reside, but where I work and play as well – both in Union Square. I’d had the good fortune to meet and chat briefly with two of the people who created City Shuffle – they were friendly, informative, and great salespeople as you can see, since I bought two of the decks! It didn’t hurt that they were selling them for a slightly discounted price from the website’s prices – $20 a deck instead of $30, since the year is half over – and each card of each 52-card deck is a $10 gift card off the restaurant it describes! Seriously, that’s a good deal. Even if you only use a couple of cards, it’s totally worth it.
I whipped out my Downtown Deck and flipped through it quickly. Since it starts off organized by neighborhood (and you can then mess it into any sort of order you’d like, haha), I easily found Chelsea, the neighborhood in which we were standing, and from there, a place that we both agreed sounded good (inexpensive, close by, and BF had just said to me “I want ravioli” even though in humid, sticky weather, the last thing I want is pasta… whatever, to each his/her own!). This is spontaneity meets meticulous planning, a great combination for both BF and I (can you guess who is the spontaneous eater versus the planned eater?).
I have to say here that if you read the above card – I don’t think I’ve ever read such a spot-on description of a restaurant. The place looked tiny and I worried about being bumped and jostled (I really don’t like being touched, and while I’m eating, it’s almost unforgivable), but once we sat down, the place felt like it opened up. The almost floor to ceiling windows in the front, flung wide open, really made the place feel airy.
Following the card’s advice, we started off with the buffalo mozzarella and tomato caprese. Lucky for me, BF only wanted mozzarella, so I got to eat most of the wonderfully juicy grape tomatoes and all of the basil scattered around. Unfortunately, the mozzarella was of the unsalted kind, and hadn’t been graced with a sprinkle of such on top, though we were offered freshly ground black pepper when the dish arrived. We added salt and were happy, though I do wish the salt had already been added for us (I am not a huge fan of table/iodized salt; would have preferred kosher).
Though I didn’t snap a picture of it, it’s worthy of mention – they brought bread to our table, along with a small dish of olive oil. The bread wasn’t memorable – nothing offensive but nothing oustanding, either – but the olive oil! it was super fruity. The flavor of the olive oil came clearly through, singing its notes. Lovely… though I note here, they did not use the same olive oil for the above dish, which I thought interesting.
True to his word, BF was more than thrilled when he saw that there was ravioli on the menu. He ordered that, and was even more thrilled with the ravioli. Not being much of a ravioli girl myself, I tried a piece and thought it wasn’t bad, but I don’t know what made this one stand out in his mind. He marveled at how soft each pillow was, filled as it was – but not overfilled, he explained to me – with cheese and “something green, I don’t know, spinach?” were his words. His final thoughts were: “I am REALLY impressed with this dish, babe. I didn’t expect it to be so good!”
Continuing to follow the card’s advice, I opted to order the veal scallopini prosciutto piselli (explaining to BF, after he asked, that scallopini is just a fancy pants way of saying “pounded thin” [and coated in flour before being sauteed]). I had no idea what piselli meant, though I did vaguely think “peas?”
When this dish came, I was surprised to see it had potatoes with it and broccoli. Both were negligible in taste or interest.
The veal, however… oh my! Sorry for the blurry pictures, but in case you can’t tell, each piece of veal is covered with more than one slice of prosciutto. The salty creaminess of the prosciutto complemented the sweetness of the peas and sauce so well. I insisted BF try some, which I almost never do (I’m kind of selfish and if he doesn’t want to try a bite after I offer once, then whatever! more for me!). He said it was good but he could see himself getting tired of the taste, which admittedly, I did start to feel it was too salty by the last bite. But initially, the flavor combination just blew my mouth away! So freaking delicious! I finished all of the veal and ignored most of the potatoes, but valiantly ate some of the broccoli just to get my nutrients in.
The service was attentive but not intrusive, and our plates were whisked away when we finished. I was pleased with everything overall, but we were too stuffed to eat dessert (though the tiramisu was SCREAMING my name… been so long since I had some, boo).
And the check? We’d each gotten sodas, and the damage came to a whopping $42 and change. But! what’s this? Each Diner’s Deck card is a $10 gift certificate, so I handed the waiter $40 and my card (photographed above right after we ordered), and we were on our way. No hassle, no questions or sneers, just “Thank you!”
My kind of place… and to think, I’d never have discovered it if, the Sunday prior, I hadn’t happened to be walking along Union Square after brunch after soup kitchen, and happened to stop to look at a table selling these cards. City Shuffle’s base idea – to invite spontaneity and meticulous planning to live in harmony – at its best. I have to say I was extremely pleased overall.
Yvo says: I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for this place, but I was extremely pleased with the dishes we had. It’s a great neighborhood joint to stop by and relax with some good comfort food and just enjoy.
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