NYC's CASA CRUZ, costly but good (3-29-25)

 Last night we took Samuel and two of his friends to dinner at Casa Cruz on the Upper East Side. The address (61st @Park Ave) already had me seeing dollar signs, and on arrival, all this and more was confirmed. We were escorted past a curtained door into an elevator and whisked up to a dining room on the 3rd floor that was quiet, elegant and plush. Menus arrived and an i-pad with the wine list and there was pretty much nothing under $150 on that! Some of the dishes were in the $100+ zone to boot! We ordered a bottle of Domaine Barruad 2022 Pouilly Fuisse 1er Cru "La Marechaude" which was quite nice and went superbly with the Yellowfin Tuna Carpaccio with Bergamot Orange, Acacia Honey & Baby Arugula. Other dishes were a creamy (but vegan) Butternut Squash Soup as well as Scallops that looked delish. Portions were good-sized but not huge or overbearing.

I do have to comment on the wine glasses as they were the same as the water glasses, short and stumpy and did not serve the wine well at all. For these prices, decent crystal is really important. Our red was a superb Poggio Antico IGT "Madere" 2020 from Tuscany that again was simply ideal with my Colorado Lamb Chops (cooked over Marabu Charcoal) with Grilled Artichokes, Thumbelina Carrots and Nicoise Olives. I cut into the meat, and it was pretty past medium, so it went back and was replaced by perfectly medium rare chops very quickly. The meat was tender and the seasoning perfect. Grilled Branzino and Ora King Salmon were the fish choices which got raves, and the Black Truffle Fettucine was indeed smothered in truffles and tasted superb.

The weather outside during the day was very warm (80 degrees) and it really chilled down to 50 when we got there, but the room was quite chilly, despite being such a cozy setting, the warmth evaded me.

The Dark Chocolate Souffle was cooked perfectly and served with a yummy White Chocolate sauce that was a foil to the dark chocolate. The Charcoal Grilled Apples with Sage Gelato and Olive Oil Melba was declared "creepy" and indeed was a very bizarre combination of flavors that should be avoided.

We left happy, but with an emptier wallet for sure!