Gotham Bar and Grill – New York

This was one of the restaurants we visited in our recent visit to New York City. It is situated in a more of residential neighbourhood of Greenwich Village area. The ambience is great and service is very attentive. I decided to splurge although knowing well that restaurants add a lot of markup on fine wine. The wine we ordered was Cos d’Estournel 2002. The wine was great and I and my companion both really liked the complex, aromatic and luxurious taste of the wine. Since I have been collecting wines from this winery since 1999, I did have some idea of what it would have cost if I brought it for my cellar. Just to be sure I also checked the current price of the bottle and discovered that markup was almost 300%. The wine that I can buy today from multiple shops is priced at 130 USD. This again reinforces my belief that one should never order a wine that is readily available outside at a fine restaurant. I also must confess that I do not understand the logic of establishment in jacking up the prices by this much mark-up. Nonetheless, the dinner was marvellous. Two dishes that each of us ordered were simply fabulous. For the first course, I ordered Red Shrimp Risotto, which was quite creamy and served just at the right temperature. Great Taste. My companion ordered Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho. Very different taste and what I would have expected from a gazpacho. Again, great taste.

For the second course, I ordered Miso Marinated Black Cod. The fish was absolutely marvellous. I have to now work towards making this dish. Seemed simple enough but the sauce tasted great and fish flecked just right. She ordered Grilled Branzino, which was even better than mine. I think that was perhaps the best dish of all four we tasted. Compared to what we paid for wine, the rest of the dinner was only moderately expensive. I would recommend this restaurant highly. Alas, I do not have many pictures of dishes we ate. So, I will simply copy and paste the picture of the establishment taken off the net.