Shariq’s Département

Amidst the winter woes of restaurant disarray in NYC, a bright light shines on Bridgehampton transplant “Almond” in Gramercy, which has filled in the old “Borough” space.

The restaurant, although large, was so crowded on a Saturday night that we had to wait for 20 minutes even though we had a reservation.  This is a testament to to tasty and well-priced food available at the restaurant.

Management was extremely apologetic for the delay and sent a free seafood platter to our table immediately to try and make amends (picture 1).  The platter included a spicy scallop and fennel ceviche, marinated octopus and curried mussels - all very delicious.  We immediately returned to a good mood, encouraged by a very tasty and well-priced Minervois wine from the Languedoc region of France (picture 2).

Among the appetizers, my duck confit with lentils was amazing (picture 3).  The duck was crispy and tasty.  H.’s salad of arugula, beets and roquefort was well received (picture 4) as was L.’s salad of field greens and warm chevre (picture 5).  P. very much liked his appetizer of salt cod croquettes (picture 6).

For mains, I ate steak frites (very classic and nice) with au poivre sauce (picture 7).  P. ate cavatelli pasta (picture , while L. ate mussels (picture 9).

Desserts were simple, yet delicious: chocolate mousse (picture 10) and creme brulee (picture 10).

All in all a very satisfying meal with terrific atmosphere.  We’ll be going back soon - but make the reservation for 15-20 minutes before you really want to sit down to eat!