The Second Tuesday in May
An especially delicious Lunch on Friday x angel cake collaboration.
One of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to have more dinners with friends. More meaningful conversations shared over delicious food. More wine stains on tablecloths. More olive oil stains on a silk purple dress. (This happened last month at a dinner party.) In New York City, it’s become quite difficult to get a reservation at a popular restaurant on a popular night—or any night for that matter (see also: Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation). So when I received an invitation last week to cover this year’s Taste of Greenwich Village event, my answer was a resounding yes because (A) I love food, (B) I love Greenwich Village, and (C) I thought this would be a fun thing for Emily and me to write together! My mind immediately went to a text Emily had sent me a few months ago after we had enjoyed the most delicious post-work meal at Ci Siamo.
Taste of Greenwich Village is an annual all-you-can-eat-and-drink event that supports West Village nonprofit Greenwich House, which offers programs that benefit the arts, education, and social services in New York. The fundraiser boasts fare from various beloved restaurants of downtown Manhattan. I—a proud Greenwich Village resident—was elated to attend on a rainy Tuesday in my favorite city with my favorite collaborator. The following is our Lunch on Friday x angel cake recap of this delectable event. Bon appetit!
Emily: Community is at the heart of Greenwich House, and it was omnipresent at the Altman Building in Chelsea last Tuesday. The room was full of friendly faces (we actually ran into someone from work), welcoming strangers and friends to share empty tables and bond over the food we were all enjoying. The second we locked eyes with someone, they couldn’t wait to ask us if we tried the freshly baked bread from Lindens or the spicy wings from Bird Dog. With growling stomachs and excited energy, we began our journey.
Angelina: We both knew what our first stop would be: the table of Cowgirl’s famous margaritas. (For our Sex and the City fans, Cowgirl is the restaurant where Carrie and Miranda run into Steve and Aidan dining on the sidewalk with their new girlfriends. Season 3 Episode 18.)
Emily: One thing about me is that I- love Cowgirl and I love their margaritas. Something I learned throughout this night is that a good margarita pairs well with all types of food from dumplings to chicken wings. I think it may be the perfect drink…
Angelina: After whetting our palates with our favorite margaritas, it was time for food. We scanned our surroundings and quickly noticed Perry St’s table right next to Cowgirl’s. I have been wanting to dine at Perry St, a Jean-Georges restaurant in the West Village, for months and haven’t yet made the trip, so I couldn’t wait to try the black pepper crab dumpling they were serving at the event. I grabbed one for myself and one for Emily and brought them over to a high-top table we were sharing with two older women, Joan and Georgia. (In a way, I think they were us from the future. They were both very chic.)
We took a bite at the same time. Emily and I, who both talk a lot, have never been more speechless. The flavors immediately transported me to the Old Bay-seasoned crabs my family makes down the shore that I’ve loved since I was a kid. (Dare I say this was better...) I wanted to go back for seconds, but Emily and I agreed we would wait until the very end and make this our last stop.
Emily: There has not been a day since the event where I have not thought about these dumplings. They were the perfect amount of flavor without being overpowering—phenomenal. After washing down the dumplings with a Cowgirl marg, our new best friend Joan came over and told us we MUST go try the fresh baked rolls from Lindens. Angelina and I quickly beelined over. The rolls were toasted fresh in front of our eyes and given a fresh dollop of ramp butter (side note- when did everyone start eating ramps?). The chef noticed we were eyeing the rolls and wordlessly put a fresh one in Angelina’s hand. Is there anything better in that?
Angelina: The bread was divine. Next to the Lindens table was the Morandi table, where a man in a suit handed me two plates of bluefin tuna in ramp garlic and olive oil, and I accidentally spilled some of my Cowgirl margarita during handoff. Apologies to anyone involved.
The tuna was fresh and flavorful, but the ramp garlic was the highlight. Similar to Emily’s point, I don’t know when we all started eating ramps, but I am most certainly here for it. (If you’re not familiar with ramps, don’t worry – Food & Wine released a whole article about this in March under the fitting title Everything You Need to Know About Ramps.)
Emily: Around this time, we were both craving a vegetable, and as luck would have it, La Bontaniste, a plant-based restaurant in Soho, was serving an incredible coconut curry with kimchi and steamed greens that hit exactly the right spot. As we were enjoying, we were reunited with our friend Joan and started talking about one of our favorite topics: New York City neighborhoods. Joan lives on the Upper East Side and joked that she never comes downtown because it “requires a passport.” God, I love New York.
Angelina: Vegetable course was amaze. After the coconut curry, we continued our health kick with the chilled pea soup from Market Table. This was one of my favorite things that we had. On top of the gorgeous, bright colors in the soup itself, this was simple yet bursting with flavor—I wish I could pack this in my lunchbox every day.
We decided to take a lap and see what we were missing and came across the mortadella sliders from Trattoria One Fifth, which is Marc Forgione’s restaurant above Washington Square Park. (As I'm writing this, I’m wondering if I should order from here for dinner tonight.) The slider was... insane. Photos do not do it justice. Emily and I both were feeling full and almost denied the mortadella slider, but we said ‘why not’ and shared one. I took the first bite and went nonverbal. Emily could tell by the look on my face that it was good—I simply handed it to her to find out for herself. The kick of pistachio pesto was not what I was expecting. Delightful. Marc Forgione, you’ve outdone yourself.
Emily: I never thought I would find a mortadella slider poetic until Tuesday night… a seemingly simple looking sandwich turned out to be the highlight of our culinary adventure. Sometimes the things that look the simplest are ultimately the most impactful. (Literal) food for thought!
Angelina: Both feeling satiated after the “sleeper slider,” as we deemed it, Emily and I looked at each other and had the same thought: our time there was complete—but not without returning to the Perry St table for one more dumpling. We waltzed through the room, dodging the now-drunk-and-full-and-happy New Yorkers, on a mission to once again relish in the flavors of black pepper crab and sugar snap peas and sweet soy sauce. I led us to the table and stopped in my tracks when I soon realized there were no more dumplings. “You’re all out?!” I blurted, looking at the chef. He started laughing and I brought myself back down to Earth to say, “The dumplings were our favorite item this entire evening! We must come to Perry St.” He graciously thanked us and handed us a business card for the restaurant. We got to talking, and he shared some of his experiences working there for many years. He told us that there are couples who dined there for their first date and are now married. There are customers who have been coming to the restaurant regularly since it opened in 2005. There are guests who dine so frequently at the bar that when the kitchen staff sees the order come in, they can tell exactly who it is. In essence, it’s the sense of community that makes Perry St so special—a common theme Emily and I both noticed throughout the event that night. We thanked the chef for his time (and his talents) and went to retrieve our coats.
Still lightly raining outside, the street in front of the Altman Building was sparkling and we felt so happily nourished—both by the food and the conversations—that we didn’t want the night to end. It was only 8:30. “Should we have one more drink at the Chelsea Hotel?” I asked Emily. We walked up five blocks to 23rd Street and entered the historic hotel’s expansive bar area just as two people were getting up from their seats to leave. The timing could not have been more perfect. We ordered a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and a cocktail each and debated what the term “nightcap” means to each of us (more on that later) and talked about our favorite parts of that special Tuesday evening.
The evening felt more substantial than just the food—it was held together by the undeniable sense of collective altruism that the Greenwich House has been cultivating for the past century (!). We both agreed that Taste of Greenwich Village was a testament to the community of the neighborhood and its restaurant scene, and what so many of these establishments offer is more than just a badge of getting a reservation. It’s their dedication to feeding their neighbors and a shared love of food that make them an integral part of New York and the experience of living here. Fin!
More photos from the event, courtesy of Eva Woolridge
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I love reading about YOUR New York. Have to go find out what ramp means in the food world now!