Just like David Burke and Telepan, they offered their whole menu for restaurant week and had just a few select dishes that required supplements. There was a great selection of appetizers to choose from, and they had a few pasta dishes that you could choose to be either an appetizer or a main course. I usually tend to order a regular salad as my appetizer, but I decided to be a little more adventurous and I opted for one of the pasta dishes. There were a few that looked good, but I got the Bigoli pasta which came in a light tomato sauce with heirloom tomatoes, lemon verbena, and a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top. My sister got the avocado and hamachi salad which came highly recommended by the waiter, and my mom got the baby lettuces & greens salad.
The bigoli pasta was really fresh and delicious! The pasta itself was pretty thick and al dente, but I liked that it had a nice bite to it. The sauce was really light and had a nice tomato flavor, but the cooked heirloom tomatoes were the best part. They were really juicy and tasted local and fresh. The lemon verbena also added a nice touch to the dish because it had an interesting and distinct flavor that paired well with the pasta and the sauce. My sister really liked the avocado and himachi salad, and my mom thought that the salad was ok but nothing special so she didn't really eat much of it.
For the main course, I went with my usual dish of choice, the grilled chicken. For people with a more adventurous palate, they offered a really diverse range of dishes including rabbit, scallops, trout, lamb, steak, and pork chop to name a few. My sister ordered the scallops, again based on the recommendation from the waiter, and my mom got the pork chop which the waiter said was their signature dish.
The grilled chicken was cooked perfectly, and was moist and delicious. It came with some roasted tomatoes, which again were one of the highlights of the dish, in addition to freekeh and a delicious sauce. Even though I loved the dish, I actually liked my mom's pork chop even better (which is weird because I NEVER order pork chop). It came with collard greens, grilled peaches, sauteed onions, and was topped with the best part of the entire meal--candied barbecue pork belly, which tasted like deliciously sweet pulled pork. I had never had a pork chop before, but I tried a bite and it tasted like a spare rib and was actually really good. The sauce that it came in was also delicious and paired nicely with the pork. The collard greens were way too spicy for my taste, but the grilled peaches were a really nice touch. But, like I said before, the best part of the meal was the candied pork belly on top. At first we weren't sure what it was, but after I took the bite I just knew that it tasted like the best pulled pork I had ever had. When the waiter told us that it was candied, it sounded even better. Since this is their signature dish, I am hopeful that it will still be on the menu for the next time that I come back and I will definitely order it. But, to be honest, my sister and I both agreed that we would be happy to just order a bowl of the candied barbecued pork belly (which they don't offer) and be perfectly happy. My sister also really enjoyed her scallops dish, and even though it was a slight supplement to the restaurant week menu she said it was worth it.
When the dessert menus came, we were a little disappointed because they had an upside down banana cake listed on their online menu that is not actually offered in the restaurant. Since this was what we had planned on getting, we were a little sad but we each easily found something else to order. My sister opted for the cheesecake which came with cherry ice cream, brandied cherries, and crushed graham cracker, my mom got the raspberry and white peach-hibiscus sorbet, and I got the chocolate mousse which had a liquid chocolate center and came with chai ice cream (but I asked for them to leave it out because I really don't understand the pairing of chocolate desserts with tea flavored ice cream) and chocolate whipped cream.
Even though I am a chocolate lover, chocolate mousse is not generally my dessert of choice. I usually only order it if it is a chocolate mousse cake, otherwise I always opt for a different cake option since I much prefer cake to mousse. But, since the chocolate mousse was the only chocolate dessert on the menu, and it said it had a liquid chocolate center, I decided to order it. I was pleasantly surprised by the dessert, and really enjoyed it. The mousse was very light and fluffy, but it still had a strong bittersweet chocolate flavor. The liquid chocolate center made it stand out since I have never seen that before with a chocolate mousse. Overall, it was a good dessert but it was not my favorite that I have had. I was satisfied with it, but I was able to only eat half and did not feel tempted to finish it(normally if I love a dessert I finish every last bite). My sister loved the cheesecake (she cleared the plate) and the sorbets were also great and refreshing.
This dining experience at Riverpark was great, and even better than the first time we had been there. It was nice to be able to sit outside on the beautiful summer night and enjoy the breeze coming from the east river. The food was delicious, the service was pretty good overall (not amazing, but not bad either), and the company was the best. The two standout dishes in my mind were the bigoli pasta and the pork chop (mainly because of the candied pork and the grilled peaches) so I highly recommend both of those. Even though the location is a bit off the beaten path, it is nice to temporarily escape from the bustling streets of NYC and have a great meal on the water.
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