Our family dinners are always kind of…a mess. Let me explain: try to get a group of 10 or so of the cousins to a specific place (in this case, Almond) at a specific time (7:15 PM), and the ones who do make it at the right place will do so at the wrong time (a very generous window between 7 and 9:30 PM). If you can imagine, making reservations is not the easiest of tasks. But cousin-Safia bravely took on that challenge and picked the restaurant where a couple of us have dined often enough to know that A) the food would be delicious; and B) the staff knows some of us personally to be understanding about our inability to be punctual. What ensued was exactly what was expected — everyone was late, and the food was great.

Brussels Sprouts Two Ways

The appetizers are the easiest way to ruin your dinner here. Well, this is basically how I ruined my dinner: eating so much of them, I didn’t even end up ordering an entree. I ended up taking cousin-Heba’s recommendations which did not fail (she’s one of the said regulars here!). Take their “Brussels Sprouts Two Ways”…heaven. Grilled to perfection over a bed of light caesar salad with parmesan. I actually ordered two of these…and finished two of these. I guess that would count as my dinner?

Cheese Fries

Cheese fries. That is dangerous enough on its own until you get a choice of garlic, saffron, and ranch (I think the third one was ranch) dipping sauces:

Dipping sauces

And after dinner, do not miss their Sticky Toffee Date Cake with creme fraiche ice cream!

Sticky Toffee Date Cake

I’m such a fan of sticky date cakes (the other place in the city I love for them is Ruby’s). Thanks to the friendly staff for baring with our unorganized-selves!

REPORT CARD
Meal: Dinner
Occasion: A-cousins-almost-fail-but-not-quite attempt to get together
Price: $$$$
(Out of three stars)
Ambiance: *** (very classy, dimly lit and spacious)
Food: ***
Service: ***
Would I go back?: Yes!

Restaurant Info:
Almond
12 East 22nd Street
(between Broadway and Park Ave.)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 228-7557
Gramercy

x
Shy

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