We didn’t get much of a chance to peruse the list like a good book, but we did choose a good wine (not hard to do; we found a nice Bordeaux) and ordered some delicious small plates to go along with it. The meatballs were especially good.

Hunna and Boo:

Our tablemates:

Our selections for the evening included chicken liver mousse bruschetta:

White anchovies:

Fried scallops:

A beef tongue pastrami panino:

And two different orders of fried balls of things, oxtail and risotto with blue cheese:

All was just so well made, and that’s especially surprising considering the kitchen is about the size of a marble. It is really tiny. Highly recommend Terroir for a great spot to catch up with friends over a nice wine and some small plates. Bravo.

And taking Greg’s advice, after the viewing of art, the drinking of cocktails began. These are at The Modern, the Danny Meyer restaurant at the museum.

A martini, left; and The Heights, a special on the cocktail list, right. More art, and a few snacks at the Modern, after the jump.

Hunna and shrimp in the gallery with a bunch of fonts and Apple products:

Later, at the bar:

Greg had the martini:

Srimp had milk:

We also had two sliders. One lobster and one pork, each. They were delicious, of course.

Just enough to stave off the hunger as we walked to meet Boo for dinner in Murray Hill. I will note, however, that we chose not to get the “crispy shrimp.”

That would have just been wrong, don’t you think?

It’s pretty cute: a couple of marble tables and wicker bistro-style chairs; a gas fireplace; lots of wood. And a nice coffee bar with a couple of impressive espresso machines:

Ice cream, and a gorgeous photo of srimp, after the jump.

The ice cream is made from local ingredients, including milk and fruits, in season. I had the salted caramel and it was smooth, creamy and sugary with just a hint of salt. It was really good.

The coffee, unfortunately, was lukewarm. It was tasty, but not hot enough. I’ll go back for an espresso and let you know.

While we were waiting on the train platform, I snapped this photo of Sam, smiling while sleeping:

And here’s our girl on the Hudson Line, heading to Manhattan:

We had some drinks and snacks at the house first. Vanessa held the baby for a while:

Then we went downtown to OVI and got us some Irish nachos, pizza, shepherd’s pie, bacon and cabbage and all sorts of good stuff.

Good times!

I got so many comments and “likes” when I posted this photo on Facebook, so I’m just gonna throw it out there before the jump. After the jump you’ll find a few more photos of art. We also have a few more photos of Sam, but here’s one of our favorites:

The wing is fronted by an enormous indoor courtyard, a sculpture garden of sorts.

American works, of course.

Hunna and the bear:

There are three floors in the wing. One with paintings and sculpture — along with some furniture and objects (like Paul Revere’s silver collection). The other two have full-on period rooms, replicated to a T, as well as collections of furniture.

Here’s the lead-in to Washington Crossing the Delaware.

Again, the painting:

We saw lots of other works, but the only other one I photographed was this “A Study of Trap Rock” by John Henry HIll:

Believe it or not, this is of Buttermilk Falls in West Nyack. SCF fans will remember our hike there a couple summers ago.

Another view of the indoor courtyard:

Hey, hunna and srimp!

A few more photos of me and srimp:

Lots of fun during our day at the museum.

And here’s a little video of her laughing:

More photos, after the jump.

This was the Green Goddess salad, which was a little like a greek salad, but more sophisticated. Olives, endive, arugula, onion… all delishy!

The Hudson House is undergoing renovations, so we ate in the upstairs dining room, which is really quite cozy and comfortable. There’s a cute little bar in the back, and a raised area that has served as a stage during performances there (and also was used to seat the wedding party at Sarah and Wilson’s rehearsal dinner!).

For my appetizer, I went with the smoked artic char. The small salad alongside was crisp and refreshing, and was a lovely little foil for the fatty fish. Very satisfying and good.

Irene went with her usual, shrimp and grits:

The new chef is doing a very good job with what has become a Hudson House classic.

I had the gnocchi with chestnuts and brown butter sauce. And for some reason I did not take a photo. The gnocchi were light and airy and the sauce was rich and wintery. There was some crisp pancetta in there, too, which was very nice.

I probably forgot to take the photo because by this time, Samantha needed to get out of her car seat. Irene was kind enough to hold her for a bit:

Too cute!

You can’t go to the Hudson House and not get dessert. We got a pear-ginger crisp and another dessert that I can’t remember right now…. but trust me. Both delicious. That Matt Hudson is talented in the kitchen.

By this time, Kris came and met us for an after-dinner Old Fashioned. She took her turn with Sam, too:

I think Sam had a lot of fun on her night out drinking and dining with the girls.

Previous Hudson House coverage here.

We met our friends Janet and Jerry, the publishers of The Valley Table magazine, there for lunch Friday. The drive, the property and the company were terrific. The food, unfortunately, was just average. But there’s a new chef in the kitchen, so our fingers are crossed the menu will get better as he settles in.

That’s the seared shrimp over braised red cabbage. The cabbage was quite tasty, but the menu promised a combination of cabbage and fennel, and the fennel was missing. At least we couldn’t find it.

The property is really very beautiful. The view from the parking lot looks over the river:

More buildings on the property:

The entrance to the restaurant:

The room is very tastefully done, with lots of beautiful wood, smart-looking light fixtures, big windows and earth tones to match the outdoors.

These enormous blown-glass globes with Edison bulbs inside are stunning chandeliers.

The first thing we shared was the wild mushroom cake, made with shiitake and portobello with arugula pesto and roasted red pepper coulis.

It was earthy and rich without being over-the-top. Very nice.

Next we had the shrimp, which was good, but average.

The salmon salad. Well, for a restaurant with farm-to-table in its name, it was kind of a shame. The salmon was undercooked and the lettuce, a bagged mix, no doubt, was wilted and underdressed.

We also tried some staples. Margherita pizza:

Eh. The sauce tasted like faux garlic, for some reason. It wasn’t well balanced. The crust was OK, nothing to write home about.

The burger was fine.

Nothing spectacular. Another ingredient was missing: we had asked for onion jam on the burger — and a little extra on the side. We did get the side of onion jam, and it was really quite good (perhaps one of the best things about our lunch) but, alas, it was not on the burger.

We did have a lovely time at lunch. The servers and the chef chatted with us, and we enjoyed their company. We also enjoyed catching up. It had been since before Sam was born that we’d seen each other. So yes, Janet was happy to hold the new baby!

 

Walking out to the car after a lovely Friday afternoon lunch:

The 411 on Henry’s Farm-to-Table at Buttermilk Falls: A destination restaurant in an inn that scores big on decor and views, but lacks a home run on the food side. Worth a visit if you’re in the area, especially for the tranquility and serenity a walk around the property can deliver, but until the chef settles in, we wouldn’t travel too far — unless it’s a good meeting place for friends from afar. 220 North Road, Millstone Farms, NY. 845-795-1500; henrysatbuttermilk.com

Spicy yellowtail sashimi, cho jang, jalapeno

And now:

Bo ssam: braised pork belly, scallion, dehydrated daikon, kimchi cabbage wrap

And now:

Bulgogi beef sliders

Danji is a Korean restaurant that’s styled like a Japanese izakaya, or gastropub (like Sakagura). So you’ll find Korean and Asian-inpsired small plates, but ones that would stand up to a good beer or sake. Chef Hooni Kim knows what he’s doing. He did some time at Daniel and Masa, and while the food isn’t nearly up to those standards, it’s certainly good. For a pre-theater meal, I’d say it’s very fine indeed.  In fact, the restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in the 2011 edition. A first for a Korean place, they say.

The scene isn’t particularly Korean. There’s a small bar up front, a couple of communal tables that seat 8 each and then these blond wood tables in the back. The colors are whites and creams — even the bricks are white washed. There are only 36 seats.

The menu, which is divided into traditional and modern dishes, is also quite small.

They keep the menus in these little drawers built right into the tables.

Very cute.

I started with an excellent cocktail called Su Jung Kwa, made with rye, cinnamon, lemon and bitters:

Greg and Boo had Hitachinos.

Sam had milk.

The first two dishes we had were among the best of the night. The wild mushroom “jook” with truffle oil:

Jook is a creamy, soupy rice porridge, but here it was called “risotto” (yes, with the quotes). It was sort of like a risotto, but definitely soupier. It was very rich and delicious.

The yellowtail was killer. Inside were little crunchy leaves of cabbage, I think kimchi, which gave the dish depth of texture and taste.

The spicy sauce — he called it cho jang, we’ve usually been calling it gojujang — was really a winner.

The bo ssam was very good, too. Crispy and fatty pork belly, wrapped in cabbage leaves with a spicy sauce and kimchi on the side.

The wings — we got both spicy and the soy-honey versions — were lame.

They just didn’t have the crisp skin or juicy meat they should have. Honestly, Bon Chon is way better.

We got the trio of kimchi. All were good, but I was disappointed that we’d already had one of them with the bo ssam dish.

These bulgogi sliders were to die for. All the warm spices and juicy meat of bulgogi without the work of Korean barbecue. No messy grills. No smoky tables. And a soft, squishy bun with a pickle on top? The best.

We ordered another round as soon as we tasted them.

The pork sliders were also good — a little spicy, actually — but we preferred the beef.

The “Spicy Old School Stinky Miso Beef Stew with Organic Tofu” sounded delicious. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

A Korean hot pot, this was not. It didn’t have the lift it deserved — except for the stinky, and it was stinky, there wasn’t much else going on. A little spice, that was it. We didn’t want to end on that note, so we ordered one more dish, the kimchi-bacon-chorizo paella with an egg on top.

We were thankful we did. Really nice job, down to the scallions.

So we liked Danji, but weren’t completely blown away. Some things, like that yellowtail dish and the sliders, are worth the trip, though. And if you’re in the neighborhood for the theater, you certainly can’t go wrong.

The 411 on Danji: A Korean small plates restaurant, decked out in modern design with whitewashed brick and a small bar. The chef, Hooni Kim, earned a Michelin star for his creative takes on modern and classic Korean dishes. We loved the yellowtail sashimi, the wild mushroom jook and the bulgogi sliders. 346 West 52nd St, Manhattan. 212-586-2880; danjinyc.com.