The Alex & The Eleanor + 1

After a well deserved pause for Thanksgiving digestion, we were out again for date night, ie going to Chelsea Piers driving range to thwack a few golf balls and call it exercise. But it left us in the West Chelsea area for dinner, which is a nice place to be. Having read many good things about it, and being the source of my favorite chocolate cake recipe Red Cat seemed like a good bet.

Although a neighborhood restaurant at heart, Red Cat is enough of a destination we were surprised to be able to get a table right away. Walking through the space there were many different design elements; rustic paneled walls, Moroccan lanterns (some with candles, others strangely empty) and an overhang above the bar that felt like it belonged in one of the nearby galleries. Although eccentric, the space works; the elements do not compete with one another. It’s homey without being stuffy and designed without being pretentious.

Looking over the menu I decided to get 2 appetizers, the Pumpkin and Cornbread Panzanella, and Pancetta wrapped Scallops. The Panzanella was an arugla salad with strips of winter squash (Carnival is my guess, based on all my CSA squash this year), corn bread croûtons, and peptias, with (I think) a pomegranate vinaigrette. It was a dish that as a whole was greater then the sum of its parts - a bite with all the elements was quite wonderful - the sweet of the squash balancing the bitter of the arugula, the cornbread giving it all some heft. The scallops were also very tasty - 2 exceedingly large scallops, nicely seared, on a bed of spinach and shallots in a very generous amount of cream sauce. The cream sauce was the only failing, although it started out a decadent addition to the spinach, it ended up far too rich, with nothing to really foil it, and there was so much of it it was hard to avoid.

To drink we started with a drink special - the Honeycrisp, which was Procesco with a bit of an ice cider and a sugar cube. I was scared it was going to be too sweet after my first sip, but it remaind crisp so it never got cloying. A very nice fall thing. And I got a glass of a German Pinot Noir, which was very pleasant, fairly light and fruity, a great match for the scallops.

As with the design I think the food struck a perfect balance between being comfortable and high end, well prepared without being ostentatious. The food is good, the space is nice and the service, expect for a long wait for our check, was attentive. Red Cat is the kind of neighborhood joint its worth traveling for.