Riverpark

Last night for my grandmother's birthday, I ate at Riverpark: A Tom Colicchio Restaurant. It serves New American food, and is located along the East River in Kips Bay.

Because we had a party of 14, we had a customized menu in which I ordered the mushroom consomme, seared scallops, and beignets with a cranberry and vanilla custard dipping sauces.

Other choices for first courses: lobster and artichoke sala, short rib ravioli

Entrees: Rack of lamb, steak sirloin
Desserts: Hazelnut financier, chocolate torte

The mushroom consomme's broth was very tasteful, but the large crouton on the bottom got soggy too quickly. The lobster was fresh, but could've used more artichoke. The short rib ravioli was really good. The sauce tasted like liquid braised short ribs. However, they were a bit too heavy for a first course, especially if you were going to follow it with meat.

The lamb chops were very well marinated and cooked very well. Seared scallops were not as fresh as the lobster, but still tasted great. It was accompanied by some sort of chutney that had very strong flavor and was only edible in nibbles. The sirloin was the least popular, and it came out a bit rough, though the juice/sauce was good.

The beignets were such a surprise. Such a simple dessert can send back so many memories of zeppolis or funnel cakes, and was a favorite among both adults and children. The hazelnut financier was a pleasant compilations of layers of hazelnut cream, cake, and ice cream. The chocolate torte was made of a dark chocolate ganache and drizzled with salted caramel --a very rich and comforting dessert.

Here are some pretty horrible pictures of my meal. (Taken from my Blackberry.)

Riverpark
450 E 29th street
New York, NY 10016