I miss you Gin Lane

No, no I do not.

I do not if anyone remembers the short-lived Gin Lane, but it really was not very impressive. Now, maybe it is because I had a serious love for the Village Idiot (http://www.clubplanet.com/Venues/71760/New-York/Village-Idiot) which closed because it could not afford the increasing rents, or maybe it was just because I love food...

I was going to name this post "The Seemingly Elusive Scarpetta". That is because even though I live very close by, I never once walked by randomly for a drink or snack at the bar. In addition, it took be about three months of trying to get them to say that they had any reservations at all on any decent night of the week. Has anyone been to Opentable recently? It’s like a free for all on that site now. Therefore, I got a reservation for 8pm this past Sunday. Pretty decent for those of us who like to drop $125 for dinner (No Drinks) for two on a Sunday, when they should be sharing a $10 pizza.

As for the food, it was actually good. I had nearly given up on this spot. As you may have gathered from earlier in this post, I didn't really like Gin Lane. The food was terrible and the clientele a little douchy (no offense to the many people I know who invested in it...) I just remember having the worst seafood tiered platter ever.

Ok, back to Scarpetta. There were two of us. We shared the Scallop tartar, which paled by comparison to the amazing scallop dish @ John Dory (best) and the wonderful scallop app @ Union Square cafe. We also shared the Beet and Goat cheese salad. Anyone that has ever eaten with me ever knows I love these two foods, and the combo is even better. Although the beets were nice, I could swear that one piece of cheese on the plate was Goat and one was something else... not good. For my meal (yes I was still hungry) I had the Black Maccheroni. This was excellent. The pasta was tender and tasty, it wasn't overly oily and the mussels (minus one or two random weird looking ones) were good. It wasn't too much food either, so I didn't feel overwhelmed or like a heifer when I finished the entire dish. My wonderful date had the Pancetta- Wrapped Veal Loin. Now, I am a pescetarian so it’s tough to give any feedback on the Veal, other than it looked icky. I have seen a lot of Bacon or Pancetta wrapped food in my time and this just looked totally unappetizing.

The atmosphere was nice. The back room, as always, has a roof that looks like it can open up, although I do not believe it does. The decor is nice and the service was excellent. One thing, if you continue to read this blog you will notice, that I often focus on at restaurants is how many times I get my water filled in a seating. I always give a big thumb down to a place that never comes by to fill my water. My poor waiter @ Scarpetta must have filled my water 7 times. I like.

I haven't decided how to rate yet, so I'll just say that I think Scarpetta is definitely worth a try. It is one of the least stuffy and less pretentious of the Meat Packing restaurants. It’s good for a date and if you have to wait for your table, the bar area is expansive and welcoming. As for big parties, we did sit across from two groups of 8, who seemingly had enough room for everyone to eat and share plates. The only issue was that all the big tables were put directly next to each other and sat at the same time. There was mass chaos for a while. I'm sure this place gets crazy on a weekend night.

Ok, since this is my first post, I'm going to leave it at that.

Visit Scarpetta @ 355 W 14th St, New York 10014At 9th Ave http://scarpettanyc.com/ (weird shot because it’s actually a lot bigger than the website makes it look)