And We're Back!

Irving Mill
116 East 16th Street

Last Friday afternoon Mr. Broad and I were emailing back/forth trying to figure out where we wanted to go to dinner. Reading through our fave foodie blogs and figuring out who had reservations available still at a decent hour ("Our earliest we can seat you is 10:45") we came to Irving Mill in Union Square.

The room is a lot bigger than your typical NYC restaurant which is nice so you don't feel like you are eating with the strangers next to you (who's food always looks better, doesn't it?). Anyway; Mr. Broad and I surveyed the menu and after great debate (I lost) we started with the "small" charcuterie plate. It was huge.

Items on the platter included, from top, counter clockwise:
Mini Boudin Blanc (white sausage), Salt and Pepper Ribs, Mini Boudin Noir (red sausage), Terrine Tete de Cochon (aka Pate), Crispy Pig's Feet, Fried Pork Belly, Glazed Pork Shoulder (in the middle), Pickled cabbage (underneath the whole thing)
Not pictured: Fried Potato & Creme Fraiche, Violet Mustard and Whole Grain Mustard

In a word. Intense.

My favorite on the platter was likely the ribs or the white sausage. Mr. Broad coaxed me to try the pig's feet, so after making a predictable joke that if I get a toenail it's over... I tried it. And. Definitely not to my liking. At. All. I swear I had some gummy cartilage. Anyway. It was a great and a diverse platter regardless.

Dinner:
For some reason I have been on a gnocchi kick. And by "kick" I mean I may have had it 2x in the past 2 months which probably doubled my lifetime gnocci intake to date. So after a past restaurant success with gnocci (yes I know, I'll write it up soon.) I tried it again--

Gnocchi with Poached Rock Shrimp and Meyer Lemon

It was awesome. It was not a cream sauce (can't stand that) but more of a light lemon sauce that was nice and refreshing with the shrimp. And the gnocchi? Like little bombs of goodness that explode in your mouth. Yum. There was a lot of gnocchi and shrimp in here and yet it felt like something was missing- maybe something in the green family?? Suggestions to le chef: scallions, broccolini, asparagus...?

Mr. Broad ordered the: Herb & Parmesan Chicken with Artichoke Barigoule and Black Olives

I know what you are thinking. After reading all these other posts in the past... AND we started with pig's feet for the night. He gets. Chicken? Actually we said that to the waiter too. But after a conversation with him, he convinced us that it was one of their best dishes.

That and we heard you can tell a lot about a restaurant based off the chicken dish. So here we go.

And how was it?

Awesome. This was no Costco rotisserie chicken here (are my parents the only ones who get this?). The skin and the meat were extremely juicy and really just tasty! The olives/artichokes were a bit "weak". It had 2 small olives which was fine by me I don't like olives but was that really necessary to mention in the description then when it looked like it could have been garnish?? I'm just sayin'...

Review:
Irving Mill. For a last minute reservation we had a great time. It is very "taverny" in that NYC "your-meal-can-cost-a lot-of-money-depending-on-what-you-get" way. The food was great and there was definitely some nontraditional items that I was surprised Mr. Broad didn't go for (Bone marrow or rabbit liver anyone?). We both had great meals and were satisfied with what we ate yet Mr. Broad said afterwards that something felt like it was missing. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't any pig.
Grade: B+