The Plaza Food Hall, by Todd English
Soon it'll be Midtown season again in New York City, that time of year--call it November, December, much of January--where, with or without out-of-town visitors, we seem to wind up on that stretch of Broadway, Sixth, and Fifth Avenues, from Times Square up through Rock Center and into Lower Central Park, a whole lot more often than is our custom, or desire. Think: the Tree, FAO Schwartz, TKTS, Top of the Rock, Lego Store, Tiffany's, Wolman Rink, etc., etc. Not that we don't love the crowds of tourists, of all shapes and sizes and bank accounts (they're as much a part of our beautiful city as everything else), but there's really only so much slow walking and gawking we can take.
The good news: there's a new, crowd-pleasing place to refuel right in the heart of one of the area's most famous NYC landmarks, the Plaza Food Hall, by Todd English. Yes, we were skeptical too--the concept screams tourist trap--but it turns out the Plaza Food Hall, if you order with a little care, is both reasonably tasty and relatively inexpensive, not to mention more than a bit of a goof, to dine in the basement of the recently-renovated, still-grand iconic hotel. Here's how the Food Hall works...
The Plaza Food Hall--Chef Todd English gives his name to the venture, and undoubtedly "consulted" on the menus, but it's not as if he's here, flipping sliders--is divided into at least eight different stations, each ringed with stools and counter-top seating. At the Grill there are burgers and chicken and such. There's a Sushi counter, a Pasta kitchen, a Dumpling and Noodle bar, a raw bar at the Ocean, a Pizza oven area, as well as a fairly long plain-old booze bar. No matter where you sit you'll be able to order from any station, and the menus come in a stack attached to a clipboard. If you're an indecisive sort, or are not sure what you're in the mood for, be prepared to flip through these things a hundred times, only to wind up sharing a turkey slider/yellow tail roll/butternut squash ravioli meal with your companions.
We've been to the Plaza Food Hall twice now, and ordered from five stations, with a surprisingly high rate of low-priced winners. Take the Prime Rib Sliders, for example, a trio of not-that-small (say, five- or six-bite) sandwiches, piled high with buttery beef, topped with a nicely sharp and gooey fontina cheese sauce, served on a soft onion brioche. Even at $16, this is a bargain. Also very good was the $11 Artichoke Cacio e Pepe, a generous serving of al dente tagliatelle, topped with a rich cream "artichoke silk" sauce, plenty of pecorino and black pepper, and four fat and flavorful grilled artichokes hearts. And the sushi was good, too--especially the Dragon Roll, made of eel, cucumber, and topped with thin slices of perfectly ripe avocado--and competitively priced.
There were some misfires as well. The Chilled Soba Salad, nicely priced in the single digits, the noodles chewy, the veggies all fresh and crunchy, the cilantro and chilis doled out with generosity, was all nearly undone by way too much of the way-too-sweet dressing. But the worst thing we tried was also by far our more expensive, a Grilled Lobster Salad for $21, the barely-there chunks of crustacean smothered by new bay butter and mustard dressing, sitting amid a few gloomy greens upon a sodden slice of brioche. This dish was everything we feared the Plaza Food Hall would be--bad food at rip-off prices--but, thankfully, for the most part, is not.
The Plaza Food hall is located downstairs in the Plaza Hotel. Any entrance will get you there, but the quickest route is via the doorway on 59th Street, where Trader Vic's used to be. The Plaza Food Hall is open on Sunday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday until 11:00. The large room is also a gourmet grocery of sorts, though there's no reason for New York City residents to pay, for example, $7 for a jar of Bonne Maman Strawberry jam. Those baked goodies sure look good. And if you're going with children, be sure to show them the portrait of Eloise (with Weenie and Skipperdee) upstairs in the lobby.
Posted at 11:20PM Oct 07, 2010 by Scott in Families |