Graffiti, 224 E. 10th St.; 212-677-0695 or http://graffitinyc.com
The hubby and I have instituted “date night”, where we each take turns planning the evening out every Friday. So far it’s worked out great! Tonight was Hubby’s turn, and it’s worth writing about.
The evening out started with the latest Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. I have to say that Daniel Craig got yummier during this movie. In his Casino Royale debut, I found him dark & arrogant, but this time he mixed in a bit of a more human side. For the guys, the action was pretty high – Think of it as James Bond on cocaine.
After the Bond movie, we headed to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Grafiti. This article describes it best. Having arrived around 20 minutes early, the place was too small to to wait inside. (If you have real estate in Texas, this place might be the size of your bedroom, though more like your walk-in closet.)
Did I mention the wait outside in the breezy 28F weather? At 9:30 PM (our reservation time) we decided to scrunch in and were seated within 5 minutes. It’s important to do your research when planning a date; however, it’s the suprises that can make it a night to remember.
While we had both read that the place was “cozy”, neither of us realized that it was community seating. When it was our turn, the host/owner sat us at a table that should seat 4 at most, but we sat with 3 other people. The place settings were on newspaper. An interesting touch. And the decor was decidedly Indian.
The three others at our table were an artsy group… a guy in what Hubby described as “trendy artsy vagabond”, a punk girl with a shaved head (except for the pink bejeweled mohawk), and a trendy hot girl in a low-cut top. I don’t know about Hubby, but my first reaction was “Are you kidding me?!” (After all, there was an entirely empty table.) We didn’t fit well (space wise) and I had a weird feeling about it, like I wouldn’t be able to relax and chat. My gutt reaction was to bail, BUT don’t judge a book by its cover.
Yes. Alright. It was awkward at first. We had nothing in common, based on appearances. They didn’t talk to us, we tried not to intrude on their conversation. But then an opening came…. Karen (hot trendy girl) asked us to take their picture, and I happily oblidged. Having thanked us, we again returned to our awkward silence while the threesome returned to their “20 questions” exercise. Leah (mohawk girl) was asking Dave (vagabond artsy guy) some very personal questions from a written list. I was trying to figure out the group dynamic, but hadn’t quite succeeded yet.
In comes the food…. The chili pork dumplings with grapefruit confit, the foie gras raspberry crostini with walnut salad, the braised pork buns with apricot chutney, and the chestnut bread with goat cheese and fig compote…. OMG…WOW! Wash that down with a nice Argentinian Malbec and you’re good to go!
Then their conversation got a bit louder…. The question on the table for all three to answer was “What do you really like your partner to say in bed?” While we were not part of the conversation, I couldn’t help but to express amusement on my face. Hey, we were at the same freaking talbe! You can’t blame me! They kept giggling as they came up with answers, and at one point I must have laughed. Then they asked if we could hear them, to which I quickly replied “ABSOLUTELY!” We all had a good laugh and they apologized in case they offeneded us. “No offenese taken, but I have to ask, what is the purpose of these questions. What’s the situation here.” Hey! If they’re brave enough to talk about it in mixed company, why the heck couldn’t I ask?
Apparently they’ve been friends (for how long I don’t know) and the girl(s) had confided lots of personal stories to the guy in the past. However, as he was typically the listener, they didn’t really know much about him. So he offered them a 24 hr period for truthfully answering any question they came up with. “So now that you’ve heard us go on, would you be willing to share your answers to that question.” And, so, we did. We’re not shy! We moved on to other topics, beyond sex, and continued to chat. They were a really interesting group, and nice people. They invited us to a party that night (which could have been interesting, but we were getting tired), and they also invited us to some other events to which we’ll plan to attend… amongst them SantaCon and ZombieCon. Talk about photo ops!
Karen is a jewelry designer who makes jewelry out of recycled scrap metal. It’s pretty cool. She invited us to a party where she’ll be featuring her jewelry along with some clothes designers who will be featuring their clothing.
After the trio left, Hubby and I had dessert, strawberries sautéed in truffle oil. Paired with almonds and black-pepper ice cream. I can only describe that curiously delicious dessert as “naughty”. After dinner, I was dying to see the kitchen. Tasting Table NYC’s description of that kitchen as “a case study in efficiency of space” was an understatement. It was litterally a space that fit two people standing (I kid you not, there were only two people cooking on what seemed like mobile gas burners). It’s definitely a testament that you don’t need much space to produce great food.
After the kitchen “tour”, the host invited us to a glass of bubbly on the house. A nice parting gift. While space is tight, the atmosphere and the food are well worth it. We’ll definitely return.
While we didn’t get a photo of the interesting trio, we did have them take our picture in return.
