Da Vanderbilt

Just spent about five hours at the Vanderbilt on opening night for pre-dinner drinks and, well, dinner. There' s been no report on here, so I figure folks would be interested in one.

My wife and I arrived around 5:45 or so with plans to meet a group of friends. We settled in at the bar and ordered some drinks. My first drink of the night was the Cherry Lime Rickey. Bartender and wait staff were nervous but cordial and the drink, while a bit on the sweet side, tasted every bit what you'd expect an alcoholic version of a lime rickey to taste like. Friends showed up, apps were ordered, and this place began to pack up very quickly. They were running a wait for dinner by 7:00 PM and, by 8:00, that wait was about an hour. Impressive opening night for sure.

We ordered quite a few of the apps at the bar area......brussels and peppers were superb, as were the serrano croquetes. homemade jerky wasn't anything to go crazy over, but wasn't offensive either. at that point, i had my first of two of the Pimms cocktails, which were definitely very good. again, a bit on the sweet side, but a quality drink at $9. didn't have a beer tonight, but the selection is a very good one.

i'd say that apps and drinks here are the strong points. dinner options are tapas style and decieving if you're just walking by and thinking you're going to be getting off paying $10 an entree. you're not. the dishes are SMALL. they're good, though. vegetarians are going to struggle, as the menu is very charcuterie and seafood heavy, with only a few salads which don't contain any sort of meat, and they're beyond small themselves. expect, at least, two dishes per person to even remotely fill you up. of what i had, the brandade and hangar steak were good, but the pork loin was the second best I've ever had to Blue Hill at Stone Barns. again, service was suprisingly good for opening night. yes, there were miscues, but they were handled with class.

desserts were small, but actually of a decent enough size that one person can eat one dessert without feeling like a glutton. i found the apple turnovers to be better than the chocolate peanut butter cake, but the ice creams on both were serious stuff.

in the end, yes, the place is on the pricey side, and vegetarians are going to struggle dinner-wise. it's, however, the nicest space in PH i've seen thus far, and a fabulous place to have drinks and small dishes at. while the aim is different, this place easily rivals James as the best the neighborhood has to offer, and is going to be a very big attraction for a very long time to come. it's probably still hopping right now.