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Saturday, June 11, 2011

Birthday Eve at the Boathouse

Leigh Ann's birthday was Saturday, so on Friday night we had dinner at the Boathouse in Central Park. Naturally, this was another recommendation from our cruise directors in absentia, Neil and Nate.

Neil noted it's one of those places you'd think would be a tourist trap serving overpriced, average meals. Instead, it's exactly what you'd hope -- a unique, picturesque atmosphere with delicious food. We experienced it on a perfectly balmy summer night.
Travis joined us for dinner and entertained us with behind-the-scenes tales from his adventures on Jeopardy years ago. (He was a five-time winner and made it to the Tournament of Champions. He used some of his winnings to go to Harvard Law School.)
Travis and I both had beet salads. Mine had pears and burrata cheese.
Instead of getting an entree, I got two starters: beet-cured salmon with tomato, cucumber, pea shoots and wasabi caviar (must have been a clearance sale on beets this week) and steak tartare. The latter was delicious, but it was a lot to eat by myself, and everyone else at the table found the faux hamburger patty presentation rather unappetizing.
Leigh Ann adores crab cakes; the entree portion wasn't on the menu, but when she ordered, the waiter asked if that was what she wanted. They were perfect!
Mom had striped bass with roasted endive, and Travis had salt-crusted branzino with asparagus.
We split two desserts, but the baba au rhum was a big disappointment. It was soaked in pure rum and screaming for some whipped cream or ice cream. Not even worth a photo, y'all! They took that one off the bill for us. The warm chocolate dulce de leche cake with mango caramel sauce, on the other hand, was amazing.
A perfect summer dinner and worth every calorie. However, when I got up for 8:30 a.m. spinning the next morning to burn it off, I was glad we limited ourselves to one bottle of Spanish Albarino!

2 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

I have always wanted to go to the Boathouse. I've done Tavern on the Green and wasn't overly impressed.

sherry said...

Nate took the family to "The Boathouse" to celebrate his sister's graduation. Lovely spot. I loved the view as much as the food...but of course,the company and the occasion were the absolute highlight for me.