The recent takeover of the historic ESSEX House Hotel in NY City at 160 Central Park West (between 6th & 7th Avenues) can only be a welcome takeover. Gourmets can still enjoy the elegant, if expensive, makings of ALAIN DUCASSE, while there are more reasonable prices available at the Cafe Botanice (their "Quick Choice" Luncheon allows the choice of two a la carte items from a soup, salad and sandwich menu for $19.00 (not incl tax and tip) daily between Noon-230PM, not to mention a view of Central Park from many of the tables.
Last night, I found myself in JOURNEY's LOUNGE, a cozy warm bar and lounge (no smoking allowed in NYC!) in the middle of the hotel where the drink prices might be high, but the drinks are huge, and truly great. My FRENCH KISS at $17.00 was a monster martini glass with Grey Goose Vodka and a splash of Champagne which cut the intensity of the alcohol and gave it a slight winey flavor; I liked it. The munchie bowl includes mild crunchy wasabi peas, some crunchy grain-like wafers that did have a spicy bite and the traditional mixed nuts.
After a while, we decided to stay for "dinner" and order some plates. The plates were huge, and table was barely big enough for three of them. The SHRIMP COCKTAIL was traditional, but they offered up five or six or more huge Tiger Shrimp. I decided to try the GRILLED SUGAR CANE SKEWER which was several skewers of several of the same huge shrimp, but here grilled with a fabulous spicy remoulade underneath and served with a medium size salad of micro and field greens. DELISH! I also had the TRIO OF BURGERS, combining three mini burgers on buns of salmon, chicken and sirloin. The first two, each with a mild sauce) were super, and the only fault with the sirloin was that it came a bit past medium. This plate came with a lattice of eight or so gigantic french fries and another salad!
I headed off to THE COLOR PURPLE, which I enjoyed very much, very sated and ready to head back to a new bar and lounge scene at the new JUMEIRAH ESSEX HOUSE very soon.
