Spies Like Us

You're not exactly incognito when you walk into a 25 seat restaurant with a group of nine. Even less so when the owner expects your arrival. But such is the life of a NYU Food Writing student. It's funny though, the perspective it provides with which to review. You learn a little more about what a restaurant values which, in some ways, is almost as important as the food they serve.

I've been to Northern Spy Food Co. once prior to this visit, for Brunch in March, on the advice of a friend. "Try this cool little place that just opened up on 12th" he said. I followed his advice and enjoyed a delicious meal. Slow cooked eggs and a home made biscuit. From that experience I learned that the folks and Northern Spy and I share a common value - it's important not to try too hard. Good food doesn't need to be dressed up and paraded around, it requires only thoughtful preparation in order accentuate it's tastes.

Yet as the tenor changed from lunch to dinner, so did my appetite. Brunch is my "light" meal, dinner is where I do my eating. Being such a large group and attempting to manufacture an paralleled eating experience, we were served family style. Two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts for the table. First up - gnocci and a market salad. I was looking for a hearty, dense meal and these choices seemed a perfect fit. The salad I found to be a bit too dressed up. The bitterness of the arugula lost in a sea of oversized vegetables and a slightly overpowering yogurt vinagrette. Arugula preparation should follow one basic principal: KISS (keep it simple stupid). The gnocci, on the otherhand, was very much to my liking. Charred on one side, swimming in a creamy tomato sauce, colored up with green peas. The main courses - Freekeh Risotto and Cod - were next. Both dishes had an inviting freshness to them. The risotto tasted less like a traditional, almost-too-dense risotto, an unexpected surprise and one I can attribute to the creative use of Freekeh in the dish. The Cod itself was good, if not exciting, but the vegetables sitting below made for a dish I'd eat again. And last, but certainly not least, was dessert. Plum cake with basil ice cream and cherry pie with caramel ice cream. Was it something new? No. But not every experience of the palate has to be new, just exciting, and this definitely was.

Where we failed as spies, we succeeded as diners. Leaving not a trace of the food that was placed in front of us.