On Saturday in NYC it was about 80 degrees and super nice outside.  We had spent the day at the Met and went on a really nice walk in Central Park (we had never done that before).  After walking around the better part of Manhattan for the day we were nice and hungry as we grabbed a cab and headed over to Cafe Boulud. 

We were greeted by nice hostesses with legit French accents! Thank goodness for "Open Table", I got reservations earlier in the week and we were seated straight away.  Service was more than a bit attentive as there were about 3 different people attending to our needs from wine to entree's.  I started off with a Yellow Corn/Pork Tamale complete with three different types of dipping sauces (salsa, braising sauce, lemon yogurt) and it was SOOO yummers!  I had a glass of the Pino Gris.  For dinner I had a "Peeking Duck"…it was really good, though the marmalade glaze combined with the wine was waaay too acidic.  It was accompanied by some potatoes and saute'ed vegetables.  Good stuff!  Steph had goat cheese ravioli in a savory pea sauce (VERY delicate).  For desert, Steph had the Artisanal cheeses while I had the Grilled Pinapple coconut/carrot cake.

Overall Impression:  I felt that the food was very good at Boulud with the exception of dessert.  The pineapple was super thick and difficult to cut.  The combo of the wine/marmalade was very rough on my throat.  Service was very very good…very attentive and always around whenever we needed anything.  The ambiance on the other hand left a lot to be desired.  Noisy and cramped we were forced to listen to this horrible woman tell her 15 year old daughter how 'fat' she was and how she should start skipping desert (the girl wasn't fat at all).  It was too well lit, and bright…which was too bad as they had some really nice art work.  All in all, I think that it had a lot of potential as the food and service was really good, but I wouldn't be going back there any time soon. 

P.S.  Back to cooking tomorrow…promise!

Pix from the market: