Every year I try to visit at least one restaurant during NY's Restaurant Week. Some places (like the Danny Meyers' restaurants) make a great effort to please the customer during this promotion, others less so (the worse case scenario being the very few places like the Terrace in the Sky near Columbia where they treat you as a second-class customer). But overall I've been pleased with my lunches and dinners. And I was pleased yesterday at Aquavit Cafe.
Nice modern setting (Betsy said the chairs looked like ice cream cones). With my $20.12 lunch I order the $12 wine tasting sampler- I always think it's fun to see what chef thinks matches. For appetizer Betsy got the cold tomato soup. Excellent refreshing soup- I think it had some fennel in it for a little zip - with a dollop of good chevre and some asparagus. I got the herring sampler. Quite an amazing plate- ample (say at least a heaping tablespoon) portions of 4 kinds of herring - a basic pickled herring with pepper and horseradish, dilled herring with salmon roe, curried herring, and another I never quite figured out- a green herb in sour cream. All quite tasty, served with a potato with sour cream and a small wedge of Vasterbotten cheese. The wine they chose was the 2004 Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough). Mango and gooseberry fruit, a bit of sweetness and rather round for a NZ SB. Not much in the way of jalapeno, complexity, or character. Not an awful match with the herring, but I would have preferred off-dry German Riesling or maybe a cava. B- for wine, B- for match.
For the main course Betsy chose the hot smoked salmon. Great fish, with a frothy sauce (cream with maybe a hint of horseradish?) on a very good celeriac/apple puree, with cherry tomatoes. I got the Swedish meatballs (as good as I've ever had, and healthy portion - maybe 10 meatballs). Served with a typical cream sauce with excellent mashed potatoes and lingonberries. The well-matched wine was the 1999 Cold Heaven Bien Nacido Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara County). Not a producer I knew. Great nose of cherry fruit, earth, and brambles. The palate was a bit simpler, and maybe a tad on the thin side. But the good acidity was a good counterpart to the richness of the cream sauce, and the earth raspberry/beet flavors complemented the meatballs. B/B+ for the wine, A- for the match.
I don't eat dessert, but as it's part of the meal of course ordered, so Betsy could try both the dessert offerings. Betsy got a dense chocolate cake, topped with coffee/hazelnut ice cream. I ordered the Artic Circle -a hollow goat-cheese parfait (Betsy said it tasted like chevre-cheescake) filled with passionfruit and topped with blueberry sorbet. The wine they offered with the Artic Circle (and I think with the chocolate cake, from observing nearby table) was the 2003 Marenco Brachetto d'Acqui. Typical Brachetto grapiness-meets-cherry flavors, light petillance, moderate sweetness. B
Overall while I thought the choices weren't inspired, good value for $12. And they were served in the restaurant series Riedel stems, with the waiter presenting bottle before he poured each time. Nice meal, nice place. After our big lunch we didn't have dinner till quite late last night. Betsy made chicken thighs with escarole in garlic, onion, olives and herbs, served with potatoes. The cooking wine was the 2003 Castelvero Cortese (Piemonte), and it was pressed into service as the dinner wine. Moderate acidity, although when it warmed a bit it was rounder and almost off-dry. Light apple, citrus and floral flavors - clean if a bit boring. But I think this was $7, so ok QPR. B
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency