Restaurant Review: GOTHAM BAR & GRILL NYC

New York City Restaurant Week is probably one of the best weeks in the city. It happens twice a year and over 350 restaurants participate. For a fixed price of $25 for lunch and $38 for dinner, you can indulge in a three-course delicious meal. Being bargain savvy college students, my friends and I decided to take advantage of this offer and go to Gotham Bar and Grill.

Gotham has consistently placed high in the Zagat Restaurant Guide & has maintained its Michelin Star rating for multiple years. Although the ambiance is not upbeat and trendy like restaurants such as Buddakan or Tao, it is calm and perfect for a professional business lunch or elegant evening dinner.

Since it was restaurant week, we ordered from their special prefixed menu. It was great because they offered a variety of options for each course. For the appetizer, I decided to go with a basic mixed greens salad because I wasn't really feeling the smoked salmon dish or the pumpkin creme. My salad was super good and it had a delectable vinaigrette dressing with some tossed nuts and cranberries up in the there. I did try some of the pumpkin creme and salmon from my friends and it was extremely good as well. The salmon tasted really fresh and it was served with a delicious aioli sauce as well as some greens and the pumpkin soup was perfection. 

For the main entree, I ordered a roasted chicken breast which came on top of a bundle of savory vegetables in a sweet barbeque-like sauce. The chicken was so tender and it was probably one of the best chicken breasts I've ever had. It was as if the chicken was bred on an organic diet in some hidden mystical fantasy land.

At last, the desert came and we were all blown away! The desert options were: flavored sorbet, flourless chocolate cake, and a pear parfait. We each choose something different so that we could try from each others plates. I selected the raspberry sorbet and words cannot describe how good that was. It was as if the raspberries were hand picked from Narnia or something! The rich fruity taste reminded me of the times I had sorbet in Italy. IT WAS THAT GOOD. I am not a big cake fan but I decided to try my friends chocolate cake anyway. Thank god I did because it was the most exquisite chocolate cake I have tried. I don't know if it was the flourless aspect of it, but even though the cake seemed like a solid piece its texture was that of a soft mousee. It literally melted inside my mouth and I was completely okay with that. It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream which really went well with the cake. Last but not least, my friend's parfait was probably the best decorate plate and very tasty as well.

Check out the desert pictures below:

Overall, it was such a great experience and the service was impeccable. I definitely recommend!

Price: $$$

Rating: 9/10

Coat Check: Yes

Location: 12 E 12th St, New York, NY 10003 (steps away from Union Square)

Thanks for reading, Sebastian

MY FIRST BLIZZARD EVER

To be honest, I've actually had multiple blizzards before...the Oreo ones from Dairy Queen that is. The delicious ice cream so cold that the worker behind the counter flips it upside down before they hand it to you just so you can see how cold it is. Although I love Dairy Queen's blizzards, those aren't the ones I'm referring to.

Moving to New York, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to avoid the harsh winters and *ahem* snow. Growing up in a tropical climate like Miami, winter was a foreign topic for us. When news broke out that a blizzard was coming to the North East I was pretty excited. Most of my friends who are blizzard veterans kept telling me not to be because it wasn't all that and that I would hate it soon enough.

The day came and regardless, I was excited that there was actual snow falling from the sky. It was an entirely new concept to me and I decided to go outside and play with it. After taking countless pictures and, of course, snapchats (sebascintron) for my family and friends back home I went back to my dorm room and hibernated the rest of the day. The snow was fun for like 5 minutes and then it was annoying because it kept hitting my face and melting instantly. Not just that, but trekking through the snow was extremely difficult especially since I was unprepared and did not wear snow boots. 

One of the perks of having a blizzard and over 3ft of snow was the fact school was getting cancelled for the day. To take advantage of the situation I decided to head over to Central Park and make the most of the snow day. Let me just say that the blizzard turned Central Park into a literal winter wonderland! Everything was so white and so clean it was incredible seeing everything completely covered with snow. It was a nice moment of realization for me soaking in the fact that I live in New York now and I'm able to experience the beauty of a snowy Central Park! Walking around just admiring the picturesque scenery was great.

Here are some photos I took of the park:

In addition, I filmed a vlog about my whole Central Park experience! Watch it here & don't forget to comment, like, & subscribe!

Thank so much for reading!

-Sebastian