Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Todd English Plaza Food Hall

This weekend was filled with out of town guests.  My RD was in town briefly and we met up at Sbarro in Times Square.  Alas, no food was consumed by me because I was still stuffed by the all-star brunch.  After wandering around Manhattan for more hours than I intended, VBRAT reconvened for a suuuuper late lunch (6:30!) because of our 10pm dinner reservation (more on that later).  I was surly because they were late, but once I ate everything was great.  I was excited about the prospect of eating at the Plaza Food Hall.  With so many options it was really hard to limit how much I ate considering the huge dinner that we would eventually consume. 

The Plaza Food Hall is pretty posh considering it’s a cafeteria, but then again it is The Plaza. There are different counter seating spaces by the cooking stations.  We were fortunate enough to sit by the noodle station.  I constantly wanted to jump over the counter and eat the food the chefs were preparing. Ms. A and I decided to order together since we wanted to sample a bunch of different dishes.  We started with the Chinese Chicken & Ginger dumplings.

They were served with lemon grass pesto.  I really enjoyed the dumplings.  They were light yet filling.   We watched the chefs make our dumplings and I may or may not have salivated when they were placed in front of me.  The dumplings also came with a side of Spicy Kimchi.

I usually shy away from kimchi because of the smell but this spicy one was really good! We also ordered a Shrimp Tempura Roll.

The shrimp tasted very fresh and wrapped with avocado and cucumber. I love seafood so even though we didn’t need the shrimp tempura, I had no regrets about ordering it.  Next up was the Classic Flat Bread.

It was basically a margarita pizza.  Roasted tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil.  The flatbread is incredibly thin so this was not as filling as it looked.  Ms. A and I definitely ate just the right amount and were satisfied with our meal.  Mr. S ordered Turkey Sliders.

I’m always suspicious of turkey burgers because I know that someone is usually trying to sneak some pig on there.  This time around, the sliders were served with grilled pancetta, whipped avocado, baby romaine and tomato.  I knew it! Grilled pancetta – hmmph.  Apparently it tasted good though because Mr. S cleaned it up.  He and Ms. G also ordered Parmesan Fries. I didn’t get a chance to sample or photograph it (because they ate it all!) and besides I was busy with my own food J Ms. G also ordered the flatbread special.

It didn’t photograph too well but that’s grilled portabello with spinach.  Apparently it tasted good, but it was not exactly what she was expecting.  Mr. K and his Ms. S (THEY’RE GETTING MARRIED!!!) were too far away and I missed the opportunity to photograph their lobster minestrone (yumm how good does that sound?) They also ordered the chicken dumplings though so I didn’t miss too much. 

Plaza Food Hall was the truth.  So much variety and all pretty affordable. I was very pleased and look forward to returning soon. We finished up at The Plaza Food Hall with our mission accomplished.  We had eaten, but we were still hungry for the super late dinner.  Tomorrow, I reveal the limited access birthday dinner.  Stay tuned…

Hungry yet?

The Plaza Food Hall (Plaza Hotel) on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. This place is exactly what I wish all dining experiences could be, a chance to taste it all. Culturally aware tapas! I will def see this place again.

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