And so it begins.....

Yes, folks, it's that magical time of year. The time where New York restaurants open their doors to the poor, the tired, the soon to be unemployed (like me), or at least those of us who have at least $35 to spare (plus tip). If you don't know, it's New York City Summer Restaurant Week! That means that lots of restaurants (ones that would usually be pricey) put out a pre fix lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35. You get an appetizer, entree and dessert.

I started off the week (ok, it's two weeks, mon-fri of this week and next) by having dinner with Zack at Butter. Butter is a place that is known more for Lindsay Lohan sightings than the food, but I'd never been there, so I decided to check it out (okay, and it was also on Gossip Girl. I'm pathetic, I know).

We got seated downstairs in the Birch Room, the "more casual" room. Not quite as fancy as the upstairs which I'll show you now:


I started off with a passion fruit bellini. I'm a sucker for anything with champagne. It was very nice - light and bubbly. The waiter recommended the warm goat cheese salad, so that's what I got. I was a little disappointed - there was nothing wrong with it, but it was basically like every other breaded goat cheese salad that you can get anywhere. Oh well. Zack had a clam chowder that was very creamy and tasted faintly of curry. He liked it a lot.

We moved on to Braised Short Ribs (him) and Grilled Pork Tenderloin (me). The pork came with delicious potatoes and handmade pancetta - there also were some crispy mustard greens that I liked quite a bit. Zack's short ribs also tasted of curry - weird coincidence? Maybe.

We both had Dark Chocolate and Creme Fraiche "Sandwiches" with Vanilla Bean ice cream. The ice cream was nice and reminded me of a marshmallow. The sandwich was a bit much - neither of us could finish it.

Overall, it was a perfectly nice evening, but nothing overly spectacular. The ambiance is better than the food, but the food is solid. I felt very trendy, which can be fun every once in a while.