Bobby Flay, like Emril Lagasse, Paula Dean and
Gordon Ramsay, has found success both in the kitchen and on screen. Flay has
truly reached celebrity chef-dom, with his recent divorce from his wife of 10
years (Law & Order SVU actress Stephanie March) making the pages of E! and
TMZ. He’s appeared on 13 Food Network shows and specials and acted as a
celebrity judge for a number of cooking competitions.
I’ve had the opportunity to eat at a few of his
restaurants- most recently, Mesa Grill in Las Vegas and Bar Americain here in
the Big Apple. His newest restaurant,
Gato, opened in March of 2014 to pretty good reviews and pretty excellent
Instagram buzz. I immediately added it
to my Bucket List, and every time my parents came into the city I would try to
get us a reservation (what, you think I could afford to take myself out to eat
here?) No dice.
Until finally, on a Wednesday night in April,
success! We got a reservation for 8 p.m. at Gato. My ideal dinner time!
I printed copies of the Immaculate Infatuation’sGato review since they are my most trusted source of foodie information. As my
parents and I enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the hotel bar, I talked them
through the strategy and let them read the review. A little much? I guess you
don’t know me.
It would be a mistake if I were to bury the lead on
this one - before we get into me saying,
“It was delicious” and “you should order this” a lot, let me just mention that
Bobby Flay actually works in
the kitchen at Gato fairly regularly and on this particular Wednesday night, he
was there.
My mom spotted him and immediately started saying, “It’s Bobby, it’s
Bobby!” While pretending to wave at him and saying hi. We agreed he looks much better in person. My Dad was equally
excited. I was totally chill, calm, relaxed, “whatever” about the whole thing.
Ok, not exactly. But it was my DAD who told the waitress, “My daughter has FOOD
BLOG can you tell Bobby to come over?” Hearing my dad say the word blog will
never not be weird. But once Peter agreed he would take the ultimate, “I’m star
struck and totally not playing this cool, can I have a picture?” picture – I anxiously
awaited my opportunity. As he was walking back to the kitchen we asked him if I
could get a picture and he said, “Come to the kitchen.” At first I thought he
said something about needing to go back to the kitchen aka NO but then I
realized he wanted me to follow him so everyone in the restaurant didn’t see he
was taking pictures and start forming a line.
So, there ya have it, Peter took
my picture with Bobby Flay in the kitchen of Gato and it was great and my dad
swears it’s because of this “food blog” that is influential and important to
the culinary landscape of New York City.
Now for the review.
First things first, we found Gato, situated inconspicuously
on Lafayette Street. Once we walked in, it was a lot nicer. The space was
larger than I expected, fairly open and airy, with awesome light fixtures. My
mom was a little critical of the flooring – it looked like pretty mosaic/Moroccan
tiles – but was actually a soft/corky material. Didn’t bother me, but my mom is
Mrs. HGTV so I figured her interior design critique was worth mentioning!
It was crowded around the bar, but we found a spot
to stand and took a look at the cocktail list. It’s really no surprise that I
opted for the Lorenzo – gin, St. Germaine and muddled cucumber – some of my
favorite cocktail ingredients (although gin, St. Germaine and grapefruit is my
all-time favorite combo). I was a little concerned that there was also sherry
in it, but it turned out to be delicious. Plus people sometimes call me Lorenzo,
so it was destiny.
We sat down
and our waitress was great, giving us suggestions and letting us know what some
of the most popular dishes are.
First up were the bar bites, a great deal that lets
you pick 3 for $17. These were smaller than I thought, and not the easiest to
split among 4 people but c’est la vie (true story: my alarm every morning is C’est
La Vie by B*Witched. I am a true child of the 90s.)
Now without further ado, the bar bites:
Lamb Tenderloin, salsa verde – thinly sliced, super
tender, full of flavor. I love lamb, sorry Lamb Chop!
Chorizo Crepinette , apricot mostarda, pickeled
brussels sprouts – tasty, but I think I liked the things around the chorizo
more than the chorizo!
Eggplant, manchego, oregano, balsamic – I am a
veggie lover, but even the meat lovers agree that this may have been the best
one!
Normally, I
would skip pizza on any menu unless I was out specifically for pizza. But the
dudes over at Immaculate Infatuation promised that, “You’ve
never had anything like it, and you’ll want it again.” So we ordered the
Pizza with Lamb Sausage, tomato jam, mozzarella and mint. It was good, but I’m sad to report
that I didn’t lose my shit over it, and I wouldn’t order it again, especially
when it meant foregoing appetizer options like the popular Scrambled Eggs or Roasted
Octopus. Too bad, so sad. But, it was probably the best appetizer to split
between 4 people, and since the bar bites had only provided teensy bites to
each of us, we were in need of some apps.
I had also
heard tons of great things about the VEGETABLES at Gato. My favorite! There was
no doubt that my first choice were the charred carrots with parsnip chips,
harissa, mint and yogurt. I think one day I might turn INTO a carrot. I eat
them pretty much every day. These carrots were delish and I loved that they
came out looking like real, full carrots!
The second
vegetable side we picked was the crispy potatoes with poached egg, smoked
paprika and parmigiano. They were definitely crispy! This was that dish on the
table that I didn’t need, I didn’t love, but yet I kept picking on them and
ending up eating way more of them then I intended.
Alright
ENTRÉE time!
There was never really
a question as to what I was going to order for my main meal: Kale and Wild
Mushroom Paella with crispy artichokes and EGG. Adding an egg on top of
anything automatically elevates it to another level. The waitress confirmed
this was one of their most popular dishes, and the Immaculate Infatuation
deemed it another “must order.” It’s the dish featured on the “Menu” page of
Gato’s website. And it’s all over the ‘gram. I’m so glad I jumped on the
bandwagon with this one. The rice was incredibly crunchy in a great way and the
flavors mixed together perfectly. Did I mention the server patiently waited for
me to take my picture before scrambling the egg in for me? Now that’s what I
call service!
While everyone else’s
meals had lots of spice and an somewhat overabundance of seasonings, my meal
was flavorful but mild and relied mainly on the already delicious flavors from
the veggies, with the rice adding more texture than anything.
Immaculate Infatuation
claims the paella is the perfect size to split between two people. Quitters. I
finished every last bite by myself.
My mom has always said
that when she goes to a Bobby Flay restaurant, it’s too spicy and there’s too
much happening – and after trying everyone else’s meals, I would have to agree
with her, especially if you’re like me and like trying a lot of different
things/sharing during the course of a meal. If you got one dish and that was
all you were having, it would be different, but we had tried 4 appetizers plus
an entrée and my taste buds were going a little crazy.
While Flay uses a lot
of spice, even for things that you would never expect to by spicy, the flavors
are still usually very good. So while the spice doesn’t overpower the flavor,
it’s not really necessary or adding anything except a burning in your mouth and
maybe a runny nose.
I digress.
Peter ordered the Duck
Confit with fregula sarda (huh?), delicate squash, mustard greens and
pomegranates. The addition of pomegranate seeds to any dish is a personal
favorite of mine – adds some sweetness and a fun little “pop” of texture.
Mom ordered the Orata
(it’s a type of fish) with piquillo pesto, roasted lemon olive oil, pink &
black pepper. Doesn’t sound spicy, but
somethin’ in there was!
Dad got the Red Prawns,
meyer lemon & garlic, gigante beans and thyme. The shramps were delish, and
surprise surprise had a kick to them! The gigante beans came in a side dish and
were weirdddd man.
When it was time for
dessert, we each received a free shot of Sherry (OK, so maybe it was for
sipping, not taking a shot)as well as complimentary chocolate, pine nut and
pistachio biscotti that tasted exactly how they should. We also ordered a scoop
of Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato (I’m not the world’s BIGGEST Nutella fan, but I
fell in love with this gelato!), Fromage Blanc Cheesecake with burn orange and
pinenuts (again, not a huge cheesecake fan but loved this dessert) and the Pear
Crostata with fig gelato(the pastry to pear ratio was skewed – a little too
much pastry in my opinion).
I didn’t realize until
I just typed that all out what a sweets addiction Peter and I have. Haha just
kidding, I’ve definitely realized it. But I don’t think it’s going away any
time soon. The dessert section of my Bucket List grows by the minute and it’s
officially ICE CREAM SEASON.
Overall, it was a great
night, a great experience, great food. But you’ve been warned – don’t go to
Gato to sample everything under the sun. Stick with an app and an entrée or an entrée
and a side of vegetables. And seriously, order the damn paella, just because it’s
vegetarian doesn’t mean it’s not amazing!
