Monday, November 12, 2007

A Night at the Opera






A little late with this one, but Friday night the missus and I headed in to Manhattan to see Carmen at the New York City Opera. It was the first time I was seeing Carmen - Mick's third - and it was an absolute blast. Sure, the champagne was overpriced, but the seats were good and the performance was fantastic.

We had planned on coming back to the Hill for dinner, specifically so we could try a new restaurant and blog about it. Unfortunately, the skies opened up and we were caught in a downpour and unable to find a cab. After taking a quick, stupidly expensive pedicab ride a few blocks, we ended up at Serafina on East 58th. We initially just stopped in to dry off and grab a drink, but we were both starving and the food looked good so we decided to bail on the 'nabe and just eat there.



We started with a pair of appetizers, splitting the bruschetta and the carpaccio malatesta. Both were good but not exceptional - basically exactly what we expected. We were hungry enough that neither plate was long for this world.



For our main course, I had the wild mushroom risotto, which was a special. Risotto is easy to under as well as overcook, but this was perfect and really enjoyable.



Mickey had the gnocchi "Di Mamma," which was a very basic potato gnocchi with cherry tomatoes. Again unspectacular, but not bad, and again swallowed almost completely whole in a matter of minutes.



We didn't stick around for dessert or coffee, as the rain had stopped and we were getting pretty sick of the service. Maybe it was just the night we were there, but our waiter had a real attitude and they screwed up our drinks more than once.

Still, the food was pretty decent and it wasn't terribly crowded for a Friday night, which was nice. With all of the restaurant options in the city, I'm not sure I'd go back, but nor would I purposefully avoid it. How's that for a nondescript opinion?



Information:

Serafina
38 E 58th St.
New York, NY
212.832.8888
http://www.serafinarestaurant.com

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