Allen & Delancey

115 Allen St After a day of fantastic films at Tribeca Film Festival, I wanted to complete my Saturday with an even more fantastic meal. I made reservations for 2 at Allen & Delancey for 10:45, allowing barely enough time for InterSportsWriter and I to trek our way from the festival to the restaurant following the day's last film.

To get started we both order glasses of wine, despite the tempting cocktail menu. It took a while for the complimentary bread to arrive, but I later found out the chef made it special as the regular bread contained bacon.

We ordered the “Crispy Polenta, Mushroom Ragu, Artichokes, Sottocenere Fonduta” for the appetizer. Polenta is made with cornmeal. That evening might have been my first taste of polenta, and all I can say is WOW. It was incredible. I can’t believe I’ve never had it before. The cute little mushrooms were a nice touch as well, in taste and visual stimulation.

For our main course, we were rather limited in options, or should I say option. The only thing we could eat was risotto. Opting away from rice, we talked the waiter into letting us order something off the menu, which turned out to be a mixed veggie platter with mashed potatoes.

Although the potatoes were fantastic, I was saddened at the final outcome of the entree. We shared it because there was nothing else to order.

The dessert, however, was a completely different story. Not only did it improve my mood, it made my experience at Allen & Delancey a memorable one. We ordered the following 2 desserts:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart, Whole Milk Sorbet, & Whiskey-Vanilla Milkshake.

Chocolate Coconut Cake w/ a Thai Coffee Sorbet & Caramelized Bananas.

If it looks and sounds fantastic, believe me when I say it was. The peanut butter tart was filled with a warm chocolate ganache that was out of this world. The milkshake was the size of a shot glass, but it turned out to be just right to finish off dessert. The chocolate coconut cake was great; I stopped myself halfway through because I realized my dining companion had yet to try it.

The server was attentive and friendly, especially after learning InterSportsWriter and I were vegetarian. I loved the intimate atmosphere and could see myself coming back. My only qualm came from the lack of vegetarian options; I nearly walked out after taking one look at the menu. What stopped us was the fact it was 11 at night, and I don’t do 24 hour diners.

To the chef:
Please add 1-2 more vegetarian dishes to your menu. There is no doubt I will return (especially after learning a former Death & Co. bartender designed your cocktail menu; no wonder it looked so impressive [see Death & Co. review]). However, I would like the option of ordering something other than rice and vegetables. It is somewhat insulting to drop $100 on a meal without really eating anything, if you know what I mean.

If you need help, my tastebuds are more than happy to offer up their services free of charge.

DAMAGE ~$93 + tip
VERDICT: Go, but be wary of lack of vegetarian options.