Restaurant Week Overload

Finally got to the grand finale of my two-week Restaurant Week marathon. Celebrated with a friend at Eleven Madison Park, one of Danny Meyer's fine establishments.

The room is absolutely breathtaking: soaring ceilings, deco design, gold-leaf ceiling in the wine bar and sumptuous leather banquettes. As with all of Meyer's restaurants, from Union Square Cafe to Blue Smoke, the service was gracious and warm. The food was absolutely lovely, from the complimentary Cheese Gougeres to the Chocolate Dome with Banana Ice Cream for dessert.

But throughout the meal, I couldn't help but think about a conversation I had with a client in from San Francisco earlier in the day. We spoke at length about street food and ethnic cuisines. He waxed on about the glories of Vietnamese sandwiches call Bahn Mi (pictured above) and I went on about the wonders of the Mexican tortas at Sunset Park's La Flor Bakery.

Not to negate the pleasure of dining at Eleven Madison Park, I simply had a hankering for simpler pleasures. And, I suspect now that Restaurant Week has come to a close this season, that'll be the next culinary fix to take hold of my palate - after two weeks of dieting, mind you. (After all, it's not like I didn't eat the Chocolate Dome with Banana Ice Cream!)