ROSES AND WINE

Friday night we met up with Dan and Steve because I hadn't seen them in what seemed like years. I think it was only about 3 or 4 weeks but it felt much longer. And we love them so we felt like we just couldn't go any longer.

Dan made a reservation for the four of us at Rose Water, a little spot over by them off of Sixth Ave. Meena and I had walked by this spot tons of times and she'd always hinted at wanting to go. So ... we did!

We got going with a couple starters after some lovely focaccia. Dan had:
- celery root soup

And Meena, Steve and I all had the:
- smoked trout (with warm potato salad and daikon slaw)

The starters were nice. Meena said Dan's soup was really deep into that preserved lemon flavor. Which is fine. I don't know. I didn't try it. The trout was OK. Weird texture for a smoked trout. Lots of bones as well. Which was a bummer because it was so dark in there than it was hard to sorta figure that part out. The salad was jam packed with mustard though and I loved the daikon. So that was cool.

For the main courses, we mixed it up. Dan had:
- duck breast (with wheat berries, braised romaine and apricot sauce)

Steve had:
- cauliflower risotto (with smoked shiitake, poached egg and fried shallots)

Meena had:
- braised veal breast (cauliflower puree, crab apples and baby brussels sprouts)

Alec had:
- roast chicken under a brick (cider glazed turnips, hazelnut farro and pickled onions)

So ... dinner was just OK. I liked my chicken but it wasn't great. Meena hardly ate hers. Although I tried a few bites and it was OK. Dan had the winner. The duck was crisp on the fatty side and lovely in the center. I think Steve's was OK. For the money though, Rose Water wasn't really worth it. I'm glad we tried it. It was quaint in there and it was great to hang with the guys. But it was pretty much average.

Sorry, Rose Water. There are too many good spots. We probably won't be back!