The Birthday Dinner. Living up to the Hype

Aah the anticipated birthday dinner.

Union Square Cafe

21 East 16th Street

Friends and family have talked about this restaurant for years. My brother calls this his best meal he's ever had. My cousin who works for Mr. Danny Meyer (soo cool!) used to manage here. Needless to say, it's gotten a lot of PR amongst my family.

Lucky for us, we got a reservation.

This is Danny Meyer's flagship restaurant which I think means it's his first one he opened. They use local ingredients from the farms at the Greenmarket and change their menu out daily.

I went with the "lighter" fruitier appetizer-

Sliced Cara Cara Oranges, Fennel Vinaigrette, Toasted Pine Nuts, Mint and Ricotta Salata

These oranges were a cross between oranges and grapefruits. The ricotta was shaved on top and my only qualms was I wish it was a bigger (or even a scoop?) of ricotta.

Mr. Broad went the hearty route.

Crispy Chicken Livers with Greenmarket Beets and Gorgonzola Dolce

Fried chicken livers. Wow. What a delicacy. Not exactly the chicken liver grandma makes. And definitely not the meal to eat before a cholesterol test. The gorgonzola made the chicken livers taste like wings. Fabulous.

Grilled Lamb Chops Scotta Dita, Potato-Gruyère Gratin and Wilted Insalata Tricolore

Our waiter recommended this entree and I was easily convinced. Comparable to lamb "lollipops "that some people serve at weddings (eh hmm) just so much bigger. And let's not neglect the potato-gruyere gratin. I don't know the adjectives to describe it just have to give it a shout out.

Grilled Smoked Shell Steak, White Beans, Escarole and Salsa Verde

Mr. Broad has now declared that all steak should be smoked.

Anson Mills Mascarpone Polenta with Gorgonzola and Toasted Walnuts

Okay so we weren't going to order any sides but let's just say I had a bit of menu envy seeing other people order it so with our waiter's help we ordered a half side of this and spinach. No pic of the spinach, it was great but this deserves much more of the photography love.

Creamy, cheesy, creamy, and possible grit like but creamy, and with some walnuts in there. This really was the icing on the cake for me.

While Mr. Broad and I don't normally order dessert when we go out (hello, waistline) but it was my birthday. And we WERE at Union Square Cafe.

Warm Dark Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, Framboise-Plumped Dried Cherries and Whipped Cream

I don't normally go for bread pudding but the normal chocolate dessert I'd go to didn't look as good...

Complete with candle on top. And pump cherries. Plenty good but really I think I was too stuffed to really finish it.

Review

Oh Union Square Cafe. You didn't disappoint. Thank you for living up to all the hype and stories I have heard about. Thank you for (even though it's in season) not having turnips and root vegetables. We loved you. And thank you for letting us wear jeans opposed to your counterpart (which is fab but I'm just saying). Lastly, thank you for packing up every morsel of our meal into doggie bags so we could have our second best meal the following day.

Rating: 9

Probably would be a 10 but we sat next to these really loud Jersey stock brokers. "Which bottle of wine should we go with? This is $100 cheaper than the Bordeaux but let's go with the other one" Eww.