David Burke Kitchen

Summer restaurant week in New York City.  Over 300 restaurants offering a 3-course prix-fixe menu for $24.07 at lunch, and $35 at dinner.  No matter where you go being able to eat three courses for those prices in NYC is an amazing deal.  However, I have never been able to get excited for restaurant week, as it's all promotion.  I know a lot of restaurants will do throwaway menus, offering nothing they normally would, smaller portions, and cheap offerings.  Every now and then, though, you will find one out of the bunch that surpasses the rest.  I found that here, and my meal at David Burke Kitchen was quite possibly the best restaurant week deal I've ever had.

David Burke is a very acclaimed chef, becoming very well known in the past few decades for his whimsical American-style cooking.  Lollipop tree, anyone?

The sign hanging outside the restaurant

DBK is his newest venture, opening in Soho in early February of this year.  First and foremost, the space is  beautiful.  DBK is located inside the James hotel, and the entire building is bright white, which is a very strong stand-out for its location.  The name of the restaurant is displayed proudly in two bronze signs both in the front and left of the building.  As you enter the building the main dining room sits below street level to the right, and to the left is the entrance to The Treehouse Bar, which is a wide open second-story rooftop bar, with glass enclosures and barriers, overlooking Grand St and Sixth Ave.  The main dining room is reminiscent of a country barn, set inside a wide-open Soho-style loft.  The decor is very chic and a perfect fit for this trendy neighborhood.



I glanced at the menu being offered this week hanging outside the restaurant as I waited for my dining partner to arrive.  I was initially surprised by how well put-together the menu was.  DBK combines both their restaurant-week menu, as well as their a la carte menu on one page.  This was incredibly smart on their part, because it gives diners plenty of choices upon reading it, as well as the options to order more.  Not confined to just five offerings on a single piece of paper.  If you've ever dined out for restaurant week before, you'll know exactly what I am talking about.

Restaurant week options are selected with the icon

After starting off with a few drinks a server then circles the room offering three distinct flavors of sourdough bread, from plain, rosemary, and black olive & walnut.  The rosemary sourdough had such a soft texture, bright flavor, and hard crust.  It was perfectly executed.  The black olive and walnut was acidic and nutty, an incredible textural difference, only enhanced by a spread of the room temperature butter set in the middle of the table.

Black olive & walnut sourdough

Seasoned, room-temperature butter

Rosemary sourdough

Ocean Cocktail

I started my meal off with the "Ocean Cocktail".  This honestly was my least favorite part of the meal, but that's more so due to the fact that the rest of the offerings blew this one away, as the cocktail was very straightforward.  Cocktail sauce (tomatoes and horseradish) mixed with seafood, although the seafood was incredibly fresh tasting.  It is served with a few pieces of endive and radicchio.  The bitterness of the greens paired with the fresh ocean flavors, and strong kick of the horseradish gave way for a very special few bites, but overall I wish I had ordered my dining partner's first course instead.

Asparagus & Burrata

He started off with the "Asparagus and Burrata".  Initially we were both hesitant about ordering this when we saw it on the menu.  Asparagus in July?  He couldn't resist but to ask the server where they sourced their vegetables from.  The server openly told us they buy it year-round from France.  Oh well...so much for staying seasonal and local.

The taste, however, made up for it.  Green and white asparagus was blanched to a perfect tender bite.  It was dressed with champagne vinegar and basil oil, and paired with prosciutto and honeydew melon.  The burrata (mozzarella and cream, which has the most amazing velvety texture to it) was house-made and brought all the flavors together cohesively.  Although I only took one bite of it, it was so bright tasting, refreshing, light, and memorable.  Lucky bastard.

Scallops & Pork Belly

I then moved onto the "Pork Belly and Scallops".  My jaw dropped when I saw the size of the entrees.  They're huge.  All of them.  All this food for $35?

The jumbo scallops were seared and cooked perfectly.  My knife cut right through them with no resistance.  Paired with purple and orange cauliflower, herb pesto, and sadly, overcooked pork belly.  The belly was so dry and tough, and it couldn't help but remind me of overcooked duck you get at Chinese restaurants, flavorless and tough as shoe leather.  As bad as I felt for the pig, I was okay overall.  There was plenty of food in that bowl anyway.

Shortrib over Cavatelli Ragu

My friend went with the "Shortrib and Cavatelli".  Such a beautiful presentation.  The large block of braised shortrib sat atop a ragu of cavatelli and cream, with crispy mushrooms, a touch of uni, and topped off with herbed creme fraiche by your server table-side.  My friend loved the ragu.  Yet again, though, we ran into the problem of dry meat.  David Burke, please fire your meat cook.

We shared two sides between the two of us.  "Beef Fat and Jalapeno Fries" were incredible.  The fries were so crispy, and comically presented in small fryer basket.  Crunchy, whole leaves of fines herbs, pickled jalapeno slices, the flavor of beef fat, and a squeeze of house-made ketchup from a small squeeze bottle brought out with the fries.  These were fries taken to the next level.  They will satisfy every craving you have about fried food.

"Fried Green Tomatoes" were very straightforward.  Four slices of green tomato, battered, and deep-fried until perfectly golden-brown and crispy.  Served with a thick tomato jam, the flavor play of sour and acidic complemented each other perfectly.  We were both surprised by the green tomatoes, though.  They usually are a lot more sour than they were.

Beef Fat & Jalapeno Fries

Fried Green Tomatoes

Since the tables are close together, we couldn't help but notice what diners around us had ordered.  The "Lobster Soup" looked great.  A bowl of two large lobster filled dumplings is then drowned with hot lobster soup poured from a coffee pot table-side.  The fragrance of the soup filled the room, and I would be surprised if anyone that smelled it didn't want it immediately.  The "BBQ Chicken" entree is literally half a chicken.  Deboned, slathered with house-made bbq sauce, and served over David Burke's take on macaroni-and-cheese.

We finished off the restaurant week meals with "Cassis Panna Cotta" for each of us.  If you look anywhere on my blog, you will not see me review any desserts.  I don't think it's right.  I'm not trained in pastry.  However, I am posting this because 1) it's included in the $35 price, and 2) even the dessert surprised me this time.  Having such large portions for both appetizers and entrees I thought DBK would make up for it with small desserts.  I was wrong.  A beautifully presented blackcurrant panna cotta, with fresh mascerated berries and a lemon sauce drizzed into the glass.  Chocolate covered "cheerios" finished this off.  It was so refreshing and good.  My only complaint was the mason jar it was served in, it was kind of hard to eat.

Panna Cotta

I would recommend this deal to anyone.  The flavors, the presentation, the portion sizes, the variety, and the overall experience definitely made DBK a worthwhile trip out to Soho.

David Burke Kitchen

23 Grand Street

New York, NY 10013

*Pictures by Vasisht Ramasubramanian