sophie's and allegretti

i think it's going to take more than a year to try out all the places around my work where i can eat lunch. a friend has been eating at sophie's every week, and sometimes twice a week, for the last few weeks so i finally went w/ her and another coworker recently. you can either go through a line kinda like luby's, pick what you want, and take it to go. but there is a small area in the back with table service. since i like to take my full hour of lunch, we chose this option. it was crowded but we were seated very quickly. they have lunch specials not on the menu from $6-$8 bucks but their menu is definitely pretty reasonable too. it was SO good! i had the 2 empanada special w/ chicken and potato soup and a soda for only $6.50. my coworker, who is of latin descent, raved about the food and said he was looking for a place to get some home cooking. he and my friend had the seafood in cuban sauce with rice and fried plantains. it has squid, mussels, shrimp and some other seafood. they said it was amazing. my coworker tore it up and finished before either us were half way through we our meals. this is definitely going to be staple because of the quality and price.

it was going to be hard to top lunch but i tried by going to another place for restaurant week. allegretti is a 14 table french restaurant in the flatiron area. it's fancy and nice. a great deal for dinner w/ this special but apparently they have the same stuff all year around on their prix fixe menu. the bartender was pretty hot w/ his french accent and the maitre d', james, was so friendly and warm. we started off w/ some cocktails and then switched to a bottle of cotes du rhone. i had the red cabbage and pomegranate with sheep's milk ricotta cheese to start. the cheese was silky smooth.

then the roasted chicken breast w/ carrots fondant and potato gratin, crispy bacon, and chicken jus. we also added on a side of brussel sprouts. i forgot to take a pic before we dug in. the chicken was cooked perfectly.

b.l. had the pan seared salmon with tomato and zucchini provecale with mariniere sauce. it was lovely. 

we ended with the pear and dark chocolate clafoutis and the flourless chocolate cake.

the clafoutis was served warm so when i cut into it, the chocolate oozed out of the 'cake' and melted in my mouth. the combo of pear and dark chocolate was perfect. i wanted more.

we had a great time in a great restaurant. i will definitely be back! we then rolled ourselves to the train and to williamsburg in the freezing cold to 3rd ward for the opening of an exhibit of photographs by linda gastaldello. we didn't stay long since the exhibit was small and we were too late for the wine.


xoxo,
p.