Tenth Avenue Cookshop

Cookshop presents the ideal combination of great American food, prepared by Chef Marc Meyer, warm hospitality and meaningful design to west Chelsea. At the heart and soul of Cookshop lies the owners’ commitment to bringing an honest seasonal dining option to New York City coupled with an exceptional beverage program.

I was invited along to a birthday dinner at the Tenth Avenue Cookshop in Chelsea on a rainy Sunday night, and boy was I lucky. It was an amazing meal from start to finish, punctuated with a collection of even better wines than ran the course from champagne to white, red, and sweet. Wow. Thanks.

That assortment of wines means there were a lot of foods to pair it with. We started off with a few "snacks" and sides as they were called on the menu. There was a sweetbread 'nugget' that was tasty, though I had to go home and look up sweetbread. The kitchen did a nice job of preparing it. It wasn't too greasy or chewy, it was simply a unique meat nugget. I also had to look up Hominy, which was served in a basket, fried, in little bean-sized pieces, and tasted a lot like pine nuts. We also had a side of fries with a spicy mayo which were very good. The hefty portion was served in a medium-large bowl; the fries were shorter than what you'd typically expect. Spices gave them a darker color, but they weren't coated in something like curly fries from a fast-food chain. The deviled egg was also very good.

After this we had starters...both V and I ordered the soup, which was perfect for a rainy night. It had some kind of grain or barley element that gave it an interesting texture, and mushrooms. Unfortunately I can't remember all the ingredients, but suffice it to say it was home style and hearty, but not too filling, because we had our main course to come.

I had some of the best sea scallops I've ever tasted as a main course, served with mashed potatoes. I feel like scallops are usually something that is pretty consistent from place to place, because they aren't cooked to order, but somehow these were better than most any I've had before. The outside of each scallop was crispy while the inside was tender and had no graininess whatsoever. V's order was the pork chop with 'drunken beans' which I almost had to look up too (fortunately our server explained that they are black beans cooked in ale). The chop was thick but tender. The beans were served hot, and a little spicy. I liked the beans better than the mashed potatoes.

Closing out the meal we tried the Baked Alaska (which I had to look up) and the chocolate cake. Both were very good and served as a great way to end our meal. The atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice, it has a simple decor, with mostly white walls, and fun chalk boards with a diagram of a pig mounted in one corner. There was a huge rotisserie and stone oven right next to our table which made it a little hot, but seeing into that part of the kitchen was cool. Overall it was an amazing meal, and as I said above, I was lucky to be there. Thanks again!