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Praying For Another Visit To This "Church"

It’s not often that I am able to go to a restaurant and order absolutely anything and everything that I want. But, when that opportunity comes along, it is very important to take full advantage! And that is exactly what I did last Friday night. After spending many days and countless emails trying to decide where to go to dinner, CD told us that through one of her clients, we would be able to get a comped meal at Church Lounge in the Tribeca Grand Hotel. Done and done.

We were seated at a lounge table in the middle of the gorgeous space. It was so nice to be able to sit back and relax on the very comfortable couch and chairs, but it did make it a little hard to eat some of the non finger food. The DJ was playing great music and the atmosphere was somehow lively and relaxed at the same time.

After putting in our drink orders right away, we took a look at the menu and started calling out things we wanted to try…and ordered ALL of them! We started with a pizza and grilled skewers. The pizza had fontina cheese, cremini mushrooms, and my favorite ingredient in the world…truffle oil! The crust was paper thin and crispy, and let all the flavors of the toppings stand out without being overwhelmed by too much dough. The grilled skewers were a great assortment of meats and were a fun way to try a lot of different things: habanero shrimp, beef satay, lamb charmoula, and miso Chilean sea bass. All four were very distinct and tasty, and despite featuring flavors from different cuisines, somehow they all complimented each other very well.

Next we ordered one of the appetizer specials of the night, which were scallops wrapped in prosciutto served on top of white asparagus and baby carrots in a celery root puree. Then we ordered the grilled lamb chops and grand mac & cheese. The lamb chops were served with a tomato jam and cilantro chutney with a side of roasted fingerling potatoes. The grand mac & cheese truly was grand. It made with cavatappi pasta and black diamond cheddar, then baked to brown the top layer just slightly. I'm not sure how black diamond cheddar differs from regular cheddar, but it definitely made a difference in this dish! The whole time we kept eying the French fries on the menu, but it seemed weird to order that alone. So, what goes well with French fries? Tuna tartare of course! It was mixed with avocado, jalapeno and citrus soy, served with fresh homemade tortilla chips. The combination of the textures and flavors made this dish absolutely delicious.

And to round out an out-of-control meal, we ordered the hot chocolate cake for dessert, which was topped with pouring cream and served with vanilla ice cream. Any molten chocolate cake or chocolate soufflé is very difficult to bake properly. Bake it too long and you have plain chocolate cake. Don’t bake it enough and you have chocolate batter. But, when it’s baked properly, it is something worthy of savoring every single bite! Some of the numbers: 3 friends, 6 drinks, 8 dishes, 3 ½ hours. Pretty sure that adds up to one fantastic night! A meal like this doesn’t come around often, but I am praying that it happens again soon!

Church Lounge
2 Sixth Avenue
b/t White & Walker Streets

Posted by Miss Menu at Monday, January 25, 2010 Labels: Bar/American, Tribeca
 Suzee said...

Wow - sounds excellent! The only thing better than an amazingly fun night is an amazingly fun night for FREE :) Yay!

1/25/10, 9:20 PM