So naturally my parents saw my recent post lambasting their unwillingness to venture far from Times Square for meals, and when they last came to visit half of them wanted to try the amazing "Clams from God" while the other half complained that Canal Street was way too far away...I'm not naming names, here, I'm just saying...so instead I met them with a list of fabulous restaurants near their hotel, and they settled on Brasserie, on 53rd and Park Ave.
And I'll admit that the reviews I read of it said they had recently remodeled the space, and no one had anything nice to say about that part, but they all guaranteed that the kitchen staff hadn't changed, so it was supposed to be delicious. So we walked the few blocks, and in the middle of what I consider midtown hell, we found it. Located in the basement of an office building, looking like a cross between 1984 and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (OK, it didn't look anything like any of those movies, but for some reason it felt like a cross between those two movies...way too many video screens and oddly shaped wood panelling), it was exactly what the critics had said...ugly.
But, the food was way better than the space looked, and some how I had the chance to continue my culinary mollusk revelations. As many of you know, or at least now realize, I love seafood. Especially the kind that comes in shells...clams, mussels, crabs, shrimp, lobsters...all of them. Except oysters. I hate oysters, they're gross, really gross...Anyway, the menu had plenty of real food, brasserie staples, just with a fancy twist. And then they had moules frites...one of my favorite things in the world. And they had it with a choice of three different sauces, the standard white wine and garlic, the spicy tomato based sauce, and then one I've never had before: Pastis. Pastis? What? Isn't that an after dinner drink you sip on your terrace in Provence? Turns out to be a saffron and star anise based broth...and it turns plain ordinary mussels into "Moules de Dieu". They were amazing. Completely different from the Clams from God, but equally tender and perfect, swimming in a practically drinkable sauce. The fries were even good! They stayed crispy until I was done (seeing as sometimes it can take a while to eat a giant bowl of mussels), and seeing as Bloomberg took away or transfats, they were a little bit of heaven in themselves.
So there you go. Just in case you're stuck in midtown and you have a hankering from some divine mollusks, and are with people that don't want to go as far away as Little Italy, fear not! There is salvation even in the scariest of sky rise purgatories! And I promise, they'll even be so tasty you'll forget about the awful decor.
