The Park

It's feeling more like sleepless in Seattle than summer in New York, the skies scattered with all those thunderstorms keeping us up during the night this wet June. The weather Gods have prevented us from enjoying first picnics in central park to the al fresco dining all us New Yorkers look forward to come summer. Ta Da! The Park restaurant/lounge seemed like the perfect place to go,despite the crummy weather.

Designed by Eric Goode & Sean McPherson, the minds behind The Maritime, The Bowery, The Waverly & Lafayette House, this restaurant/lounge houses a beautiful indoor garden, appropriately called "The Garden" decorated with real trees and vines of Wisteria.

Yet, The Park not only houses an indoor garden but other rooms as well. It houses other enchantingly named areas: The Atrium, TheRed Room, The Penthouse & The Main Room, each with its own theme. The Penthouse even features a hot tub... Ha! weather Gods, take that.

I gravitated toward the garden area of the establishment. I was seated in some wooden folding chairs, very parkish. The cocktail menu was fun and delightful. My friend and I settled on the "Sexy Bitch" and the "Menage à Trois"what a sexy way to start off the evening!

Before the apps and main dishes arrive, we were given a hunk of delicious rustic looking rosemary and onion bread to dip into some extra virgin olive oil. The bread, which comes complimentary, is enough to send me back!


Next up, we ordered the cheese plate. The cheese plate comes packed with cheese, roasted almonds, honey, mini crostini'sand crisp seedless grapes. It could feed four. But us hungry gals, gobbled it all up!
Along with the cheese, we ordered their rosemary infused french fries. That beautiful marriage of rosemary and salted fried potatoeswas heavenly. Before the fries even arrived at our table, we smelled the strong rosemary fragrance. It was placed in a cute lil' brown paper bag, again complimenting the whole rustic theme. I was quite full after the cocktail, cheese, fries and bread.


Guilty of our carb feast, we both decided on a salad for dinner, after several recommendations by the waitress. She had reccommended a filet mignon on arugula salad. The salad was the only thing that dissappointed me. The waitress did not ask how I liked my meat cooked, so therefore the filet mignon came out almost rare. Plus, I had to ask for tomatoes additionally because the salad only came with meat, which you could imagine did not look so pretty.
We do eat with our eyes first don't we?
The tomatoes spruced it up a bit but I barely put a dent on the salad. If it wasn't for the appetizers, this might've been a bad review.But... I still dream about that cheese plate, bread and those fries.

The lesson here is: get sexy with the cocktails, indulge in the appetizers, preferably in cheese & bread, and leave the salads alone! The Park has enough greenery to enjoy with the eyes and not with the stomach. and if you've still got energy & a party spirit.. stay the night and mingle with others in the lounge!