'Tis the Night After Thanksgiving

My family was in town and while not ready to hit the leftovers (and to relieve my Aunt of some dishes) we hit the city...

Eating out with my parents can sometimes be a challenge since there are more palettes to please.

Other things we had to consider before we went with a restaurant:
-Table for 8 so we must have reservations
-A Jewish mother who doesn't understand that price doesn't always reflect size of portion
-A brother in his 20's that eats based off of quantity and not quality
-Kosher relatives that will need vegetarian/fish options
Sounds easy eh?
After calling numerous restaurants we got into Cookshop.

Cookshop
156 Tenth Avenue (at 20th Street)

My foodie cousin had been here before and highly recommended it. And our handy dandy Zagat guide said that it's a foodie haven. Check!

Side note- taking my parents on the subway was quite a scene as they struggled with the metrocard (what, no token?!) and reflected how the E train had quite the same skeeviness as it had when they used to take it 30 years ago (likely).

The place was bustlin' and was loud but not too loud that you couldn't hear your neighbor. There were 8 of us which makes this a post with LOTS OF PICTURES!

Unfortunately for this blog, the restaurant changes their menu everyday so when trying to describe everything on it and after consulting the menu online, there are several new items and others that no one had seen before. SO. We're going layman's terms right now.

Enough with the small talk, on to the food already... Everyone either started with either an appetizer or a salad.

Some highlights:

Something with arugula, crispy shallots and pecans and other stuff that made it less of a healthy salad and more of a sweet concoction.

Dandelions, with fried capers- a pretty poor picture but in case you were interested what dandelion looks like. Outside from those weeds you had on your lawn. (My father obviously made that joke). Looks like lettuce, eh?

Buffalo Wings- these were great and had a bit of kick

Fried Rabbit liver (shared by who else but Mr. Broad and my father). Their critique: was okay- a bit dry.

Now for the entrees. I wasn't annoying here or anything and made everyone take a picture of their meal. Pass the camera around!

Swordfish

Sturgeon (it is possible that the picture below is actually the swordfish and the sturgeon is above, but they are both fish and my aunt and uncle proclaimed they were both tasty! So I think that's the point).

Herb roasted chicken- ordered by my mother. She was surprised at how juicy it was and how crisp and tender. Actually I think she commented that it was the best chicken she's ever eaten. (Really? Over the costco rotisserie??)

Rabbit- ordered by Mr. Broad. I think after the previous week's showing at Irving Mill where he ordered chicken he felt the need to go a bit "different." His verdict was that it was good but really he had more food envy over what I ordered. I think he was a bit underwhelmed with his entree.

Breast of veal- now this one I tried (ordered by my cousin, brother, and father)... It was awesome. Very juicy, rich, and smooth.

Tasting of Lamb- AAAH THERE IS NO PICTURE?! I swear I took a picture of this one. Somewhere along the way my camera decided to delete on it's own because I would NEVER DELETE A PICTURE of this caliber. It consisted of 4 (?) different types of lamb including a lamb sausage, something that tasted a bit like smoked lamb and other flavors I couldn't identify. I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I do not have a picture of this because I feel like it was the real winner of the night. That or the veal. You know what I'm talking about- when you order the best dish out of everyone and you won? Anyway. I won the order.

Dessert was impressive and after seeing the menu no one was going to pass...
At our table people either got:
Cookshop Candy Bar- Devil's food crunch, gianduja crunch, praline ganache, frozen peanut nougat and chocolate shell.

Get all of that? Check out the layers! These were great!

Root Beer Sundae- root beer sorbet, vanilla ice cream, salted crumble, caramel syrup, sarspilla cream.
Mr. Broad (and my brother) barely looked up as they were eating this. Actually I think the only time Mr. Broad did look up was to have a bite of my candy bar dessert. This was very innovative dessert as it didn't involve any root beer soda and had a nice sweet/salty combination
Housemade of Chocolate Chip Cookies- what's not to love? (sorry, picture did not come out)

Selection of 3 Ice Creams

Review
Aah, dinner in the city with the fam. We had a great time actually. The restaurant was nice, there were numerous things on the menu making it hard to decide what to choose! And the food was awesome. Everything on the menu has a very organic/local/seasonal feel but not in the- in your face- "it's winter so we serve turnips!" way.

Everyone's meal was great and with 8 dishes sharing ensues. I loved my dish so much that I am giving myself the award of the "best orderer" of the night (cause you know how sometimes you feel like you have to congratulate yourself for that?)

The menu changes constantly so guess I'll have to go back!
Grade: A (Mr. Broad thought it was a B but that's because he didn't order correctly)