Holding Court at The Plaza Food Hall

The Plaza Food Hall

One of our 2012 goals was to complete the "Todd English Trifecta". This is a completely made-up term that captures the fact that we have now eaten at all of his restaurants in NYC. Note that this is restricted to the island of Manhattan since his Bonfire restaurant is located in Terminals 2 & 7 of JFK. We only fly JetBlue (Terminal 5 baby), so it's safe to say we won't be making it to this location any time soon. But I digress. Tonight we dined at The Plaza Food Hall and we were totally delighted.

We walked downstairs in The Plaza Hotel and put our names down- only a short 10 minute wait, which was fine, because it gave us some time to check out the mini marketplace by the entrance. A sweet little area with gourmet grocery items which opens up into the main food hall (quite aptly named). The main dining area was bright and energetic with little food stations dispersed throughout. Right away we loved the ambience and the concept. It's similar to the Eataly model, but, well, done right. Experience from his other restaurants taught us that Todd English has some great drinks, so we ordered an Old Fashioned and the Martini and were NOT disappointed. BEST MARTINI IN MANHATTAN. Sorry for the internet screaming, but it's that good.

Old Fashioned & Martini 

Can't decide what you are in the mood for dinner? Or are you each craving different things? No problem! Asian, Seafood, Pizzas, Burgers, Charcuterie, The Food Hall's got 'em all. Normally, I'm a bit wary of places that tackle too broad of a spectrum, but the station based model ensures that you have a focused sushi chef preparing sushi and a separate chef manning the grill. We decided to totally mix it up so started with the Pork & Scallion Dumplings with Plum Sauce and a side of Daikon Kimchi. Ooooh boooy. These measured up to our high dumpling bar set by Vanessa's.

Pork & Scallion Dumpling 

Moving on, we finally got to try his signature Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread. We really enjoyed it, but it didn't totally live up to all of the hype.

Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread

Finally, our oysters arrived. Normally I am not one to care too much about the order food is served in and am happy to get it when it's ready, but in this case it really would've been nice to have the oysters first. However, they were fresh and delicious, so no complaints on quality.

Oysters

Overall, we loved our meal, but would have to deduct some points for the service. However, this seemed like it absolutely could have been a one-time issue due to being short-staffed or our server being new or something, so I wouldn't let that stop be from coming back or recommending to others.

Ambiance: 5 Stars

Food: 5 Stars

Service: 2 Stars