Duck and beets with the Bossman

Last week, the Bossman was in town from across the pond, and since this was a rare period for us to spend some face-to-face time together, we celebrated with a dinner at 44 & X.

I was battling a tenacious and mean-spirited cold, so my appetite wasn't what it should have been. In order to get some food in me, I ordered the terrine of roasted beets and aged goat cheese, with wild watercress, blood oranges, candied walnuts, and blood orange vinaigrette. Apparently, I'd ordered this dish in a past visit to 44 & 10, to mixed results. This version was pretty much the same-- sweet, firm beets, cut interestingly Ruffles-potato-chip-style, with a sprig of watercress, a few stewed figs, and a tiny little dollop of piped whipped goat cheese (note: don't think this was actually aged goat cheese... it tasted like fresh chevre to me). The dish is still sweet, but if you're craving lots of beets, this'll do.

Golden and sweet

Bossman ordered the sauteed breast of duck, which came with sweet potato hash, the same stewed figs, and a red wine reduction. He called the duck "fantastic," although he largely bypassed the veggies. No matter-- we had a side of spinach to complement our other choices, and it was predictably green and virtuous.

Duck buried under veggies

Vibrant emerald

No dessert (see "lack of appetite" above), and we were on our way. No change here-- 44 & X maintains its three OS rating as a decent, ever-so-slightly overpriced neighborhood restaurant.

44 & X
622 Tenth Avenue, at 44th Street
212-977-1170

44 1/2 "beets" us down

Last week, SB and I convened for a catch-up dinner. We hadn't seen each other in many months, so we were looking for something low key and conducive to chatting. We ended up at 44 1/2, a restaurant a few blocks down from my apartment that I've never been to in all these years.

It's owned by the same people as 44 & X, and the vibes are similar-- crazy hip with lots of attitude. There's a really cute back garden, which was populated despite the fact that it was blatantly too hot to be outside. We contented ourselves with a table, me sinking gratefully into the booth side, SB facing me in the chair.

To begin-- tiny little rolls of the most generic bread I've ever had. It was slightly sweet, with a pliant and weak crust and a kind of dry interior. I was absolutely ravenously hungry, otherwise I would have skipped it.

The roll version of Wonder Bread

To continue, SB went for the turkey burger, also on an english muffin bun, a la 44 & X's burger. She pronounced it "really good"; I swiped a fry or two from the mountain on the plate, and they too were "really good."

Burger dwarfed by mountain of fries

My choice was the "roasted garnet beets with goat cheese, fines herbs, beet puree and chili oil." I must say, this was pretty disappointing. I mean, it tasted good, and it was pleasing to the eye, but a) it was almost absurdly tiny, as though the chef were playing a joke on you, and b) fundamentally, there wasn't really anything special here. The beets were sweet, the goat cheese tangy, and there you have it-- three bites and you're done. For $11. I would not order it again.

Don't let the squiggles fool you

Would I return to 44 1/2? I'm not really sure. There were quite a few things on the menu that looked appealing, including a few good looking salads, but the prices are just a bit too high for what you get. I'll give the place two Offset Spatulas for now, and if I ever get a chance to go back, I'll keep my eye out for an upgrade.

44 1/2
626 Tenth Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets
212-399-4450

Tweaks, beets, and burgers at 44 & X

On a quiet Sunday night, the bro and I braved the hurricane-force winds for a local dinner at 44&X. It wasn't too crowded, so we got a table right away, abutting the windows looking out onto the scenic gas station across the street.

Our effusive waiter treated us to a recitation of the specials that was a pretty incredible performance, full of gestures and vigor and enthusiasm. It convinced the bro to order one of said specials, which, as we all know, can pretty much only lead to regret.

And thus the Bisque of Regret arrived. It was pea soup bisque, a huge vat of it, starkly green and swirled with different colors and blobs of stuff. The bro was starving and tucked right in, soon reaching for the salt shaker to add flavor, since it was flavorless. About halfway through the bowl, he began lamenting his lack of ordering skill. "Why do I suck at ordering?" he asked. It was a rhetorical question.

Green, the color of regret

Nonetheless, we were redeemed by the entrees. The bro went for the traditional burger, on an English muffin bun and accompanied by a big ol' mound of fries. The fries were hot and crisp and plentiful; the burger was covered in well-melted cheddar. Definitely a good burger.

There's an English muffin in there somewhere

I chose the terrine of roasted beets and goat cheese, wild watercress, blood oranges, candied walnuts, and blood orange vinaigrette. This was a curious concoction, not actually a terrine at all but more of a stack of crinkle-cut multicolor sliced beets. There was a dollop of whipped goat cheese that was so mild, it lacked the requisite saltiness or sharpness to bring the rest of the flavors into profile. There were also some incredibly sweet stewed figs, which are great by themselves but where a weird addition to the already-sweet beets. Overall, everything on the plate was good, but the ingredients didn't really come together cohesively.

Ceci n'est pas un terrine

And that was it-- quite enough for a Sunday night, if you ask me. 44 & X is a good neighborhood restaurant, a bit expensive for what it is, but definitely worth its three Offset Spatulas. Not a bad option if you're looking for some solid American food.

44 & X
622 Tenth Avenue, at 44th Street
212-977-1170

44 and X, a "heavenly" dining experience in Hell's Kitchen

I had a bad day yesterday. I'm talking one of those quintessentially crappy Mondays at work where everything goes wrong and by the end you're trying to make it out the door before you start crying. Fortunately, I had a date to go to dinner with my brother Monday evening-- a fact that sustained me through every excruciating, soul-crushing hour.

I finally escaped from work, my stomach rumbling and my head throbbing, around 6:15. I fled down three avenues from my office to the lovely little white-wood-paneled restaurant front of 44 and X. Immediately I felt a bit better-- and I hadn't even gone inside yet. Things were looking up.

Once in the door, I was greeted by perhaps the friendliest hostess I have ever encountered in my life. I arrived there before my brother, and the hostess and I engaged in some delightful banter before I planted myself at the bar for a few minutes. Nursing a glass of ice water, I watched the passers-by on Tenth Avenue outside the window. Soon, my brother arrived and we were shown to our seats. The hostess joked that I was the only girl ever to choose the chair over the bench when given the option. We both interpreted that as her making fun of my brother and made fun of her in kind. You could cut the witty repartee with a knife.

The bright, airy atmosphere and bustling waitstaff

Safely ensconced in our table, we looked over the menu. 44 and X is not a cheap restaurant, but it's not overpriced, either; my brother commented that it would be a solid date place, nice enough to show you're not cheap but not stuffy or expensive enough to make you regret coming there. As we decided what to order, a waiter brought over two lovely, crusty multigrain rolls, which we devoured. The rolls came accompanied by a dish of sweet butter, delicious but highly chilled and therefore a bit less than spreadable. But I'm splitting hairs, here-- that's one of my only complaints about the entire experience.

A seeded multigrain roll, just enough to quell my hunger momentarily

We placed our orders and chatted for a bit, and soon our food arrived. I ordered a mixed greens salad with cherry tomatoes and a sherry-herb vinaigrette. I had had my eye on the Mediterranean chopped salad, but when the waiter described it, it seemed not to have what I was looking for (i.e., there were too many peppers. And we all know what peppers do to me...). So the mixed greens would have to do. They arrived as a bountiful plate of greenage with a few tomatoes scattered here and there. It was a fairly substantial salad, and the tomatoes were particularly delicious-- they had soaked up extra amounts of the sherry-herb mixture and were quite flavorful. I polished off my plate quickly.

Foliage-- delicious, delicious foliage

My brother ordered the burger, which he upgraded with a slice of cheddar cheese (N.B.: said slice of cheddar cost $3. That's my second-- and only other-- complaint about this restaurant). The burger was preceded by a small tray of ketchup and mustard. I'm posting the picture here just because it was cute, but my brother noted that the servings of these condiments were unusually generous for a restaurant.

Classy ketchup and mustard

The burger was accompanied by a medium-size stack of thin shoestring fries, dusted with a coating of herbs and salt. I tried a fry, and it was definitely on the better side of serviceable, hot and crunchy but a tiny bit too thin for my taste.

The burger is in there somewhere...

The burger arrived well-cooked at the requested medium temperature. As a special bonus-- mad props to 44 and X for this-- instead of a run-of-the-mill bun, the patty came perched on an English muffin. So cool!

English muffin bun

The carnage, so to speak

And... done.

As my brother polished off his burger, I cleaned my plate of the greens. Our waiter returned to take away our plates, and he ribbed me that it looked as though I had licked the plate. I would have, good sir, were it socially acceptable.

Both of us pretty full (me primarily from the bread, my bro from the burger), we decided to skip dessert and asked for the check. The $3 slice of cheese and cold butter aside, 44 and X got rave reviews from us both. The staff is exceptionally friendly, the food is very good, and the place is welcoming, bright, and cheerful. I'd want to go back to check out the creative cocktails, the desserts, and maybe even the roasted beet and goat cheese terrine, an interesting-looking starter that I passed up this time around. If you can think of no other reason to make the trek to 10th avenue and 44th street, go for the bathrooms. I'm serious. The bathroom on the main floor (there's a set underground as well) is the most pimped-out, boudoir-style, rose-strewn candlelit restaurant bathroom I've ever seen. I tried to take pictures, but the crazily romantic atmosphere was too much for my camera to handle. And this way, you'll just have to go see for yourself!

My brother and I walked out full and happy, with 44 and X firmly on our list of great new neighborhood finds.