I was lucky enough to be in NYC during restaurant week and managed to book a table at Colicchio & Sons for a delicious Friday lunch. All the lunch sets at participating restaurants cost USD24.07 while dinners set you back USD35. Definitely good value considering the caliber of restaurants and quality of food we experienced - very unlike the subpar "restaurant weeks" we get in HK...
We tried the salmon tartare and house-made mozzarella for starters:
 |
| salmon tartare |
The salmon was delicious and I liked that it was prepared with a distinctly Asian twist. The daikon slaw was a nice accompaniment, making this dish a perfectly light appetizer for summer. I thought the miso vinaigrette had a tad too much vinegar, but that was my only complaint.
 |
| mozzarella |
This one blew me away though. It may possibly have been the best "caprese" salad I've had outside of Italy. The house-made mozzarella was so fresh and soft and creamy, and the cherry tomatoes super flavourful. It came with panzanella, basically small pieces of bread soaked in olive oil and vinegar. No complaints :)
For mains we ordered the hanger steak and duck confit:
 |
| hanger steak |
We ordered the steak medium rare and it was grilled perfectly. While hanger steak is notorious for being tough, this one was actually quite tender and not too chewy. I loved how flavourful it was, accompanied simply by a small dose of bone marrow butter. The potato puree and tuscan kale were both delicious as well. Definitely a winner :)
 |
| duck confit |
Duck confit used to be my favourite dish but these days I find it way too salty. Still, I continue to order it in hopes that I find one as good as I remembered them to be - probably a tall order as I'm sure it's just my changing taste buds that have made me less of a fan in recent years. Colicchio & son's version veers on the salty side and parts of the meat were a little tough but once you get down to the bone (and away from the skin) the duck meat was super tender and not too overpowering on the salt. I really liked the wheat berries and roasted mushrooms that came with it though, and ended up eating more of that than the duck itself! Oops!
 |
| panna cotta |
Whenever panna cotta is on the menu, it's my go to dessert. This one was topped with blackberries (slightly sour) and honey graham crackers ice cream (delicious). A great end to a fantastic meal though :)
I was pretty impressed by everything we tried and especially the huge portion sizes. The ambiance is great and the waitstaff very knowledgeable and attentive. The only minor gripe I had was that the jasmine tea I ordered after the meal (thinking it was included in the prix fixe) ended up costing us USD15... For something I get free at yum cha restaurants, it was a bit much...Still, even with the tea included the whole meal was very reasonably priced and I would definitely return the next time I'm in the city! Plus, it's right next to the High Line so you can take a nice stroll after lunch to work off all that food.
---
Colicchio & Sons
85 10th Ave
New York
