New York's Lambs Club Launches October Seasonal Tasting Menu

Geoffrey Zakarian's Lambs Club is a New York standout for multiple reasons: The restaurant is gorgeous (both the Art Deco downstairs main dining room and a bar/lounge upstairs), service is spot-on, and it's a port in the Times Square storm. The restaurant occasionally offers special seasonal tasting menus, and their October Tasting Menu, which includes five courses for $105 (or $145 with wine pairings) will be available until October 31. We recently had the opportunity to visit and try the menu, and it's extremely well-done.

The meal started with an heirloom baby beet salad with caramelized fennel panna cotta, gravlax, lightly pickled quail egg, and horseradish. The saltiness of the gravlax and acidity of the egg nicely complemented the beets, and the panna cotta was so rich it could have been mistaken for foie gras.  Up next was potato gnocchi with brown butter and sage, topped with Burgundy black truffle shaved tableside. The gnocchi were feather-light, and a pool of brown butter and truffle was their ideal home. This is one of those dishes you never want to end. It was followed by roasted diver scallop and veal sweetbread with serrano beans, shishito pepper, and lemon caper aioli. The scallops were perfectly browned on one side but uncooked on the other, leading to them being perfectly cooked throughout, and the sweetbread was cut to the same size as the scallops and seared until golden brown on both sides but still creamy within. The main dish was veal tenderloin in persillade (rolled in parsley, garlic, and other herbs) with a square of tender braised veal cheek, Wapsie Valley polenta, and charred Brussels sprouts. The veal was perfectly cooked, and melted in your mouth. Dessert was a sweet potato pave with stewed fig, goat cheese cremeux, and cranberry sorbet, a perfect ending to the meal.

Beets, serrano beans, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes were from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, which is one of the most popular vendors at the Union Square Farmers market. For a true upscale taste of Autumn, the Lambs Club is the place to go.