Lemon marinated Branzino Carpaccio served with chilled homemade Tagliolini, American Caviar & Chives

Barolo Wine braised Beef Cheeks, Savoy Cabbage & Semolina Gnocchi

“Uovo” Soft Egg Yolk-Filled Raviolo with Truffled Butter

Pannacotta, Balsamic Vinegar Reduction, Strawberries

Tiramisu, Espresso Sauce

SD26, Restaurant Week 2012

Restaurant Week has officially commenced in New York City, buzzing foodies’ pockets with estimated budget of $24.07 and $35 respectively for three-course lunch and dinner at the city’s most sought after eateries. Regretfully, I haven’t been the most active participant in this event. But it is never too late to recuperate! So here it was, dinner at SD26.

Verdict

Interestingly, SD26 engineered its menu quite differently from other restaurants, letting us choose two courses from one column while dessert was separately listed on the bottom. Small portions of SD25′s dishes allowed us to enjoy every bite with ‘mm’ and ‘ah,’ having us leave the restaurant happily full.

Lemon marinated Branzino Carpaccio served with chilled homemade Tagliolini, American Caviar & Chives
Tagliolini was a wee bit oily, but lemon marinade and freshly prepared branzino leveraged the overall grease. It was yummy.

“Uovo” Soft Egg Yolk-Filled Raviolo with Truffled Butter
Oozy egg yolk will burst out of this delicately crafted raviolo, adding a little bit of a surprise to this super buttery italian cheese bed.

Pannacotta & Tiramisu
Desserts came out oddly fast, but I must say Pannacotta and Tiramisu were the perfect finales to complement SD26′s light dosage of heavy Italian dinner. I’m fairly new to trying balsamic vinegar reduction with Pannacotta, but it was a delightful discovery to learn that such ingredient can give life to this particular dessert.

While we were dining, the owner Tony May stopped by at our table to give us his thoughts on food photography. It wasn’t hard to figure out who he was, he’s the cover of SD26′s website!  Men under SD26 roof were nothing but vivacious and congenial. Whenever we were done with our dishes, a cheerful man said, “Finito?” And the jolly beings we are, we replied, “FINITO!”

19 E 26th St
New York, NY 10010

On a personal note

I was so happy to share this experience with Jieun in New York, especially due to the fact that we never had such quality times like this since I moved from Seoul to the States back in middle school. I share memories with her from Kindergarten and on, and I hope to create more in the future filled with laughters and (hopefully not, but inevitably) wrinkles that will come along with upcoming years we’re going to share.