?> {"id":6573,"date":"2014-04-09T18:46:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T22:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/?p=6573"},"modified":"2014-04-09T18:46:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-09T22:46:30","slug":"apiary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/2014\/04\/apiary\/","title":{"rendered":"Apiary"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Just wanted to take a break in between the Louisiana <\/a>and Texas <\/a>trip to talk about a semi-recent meal we had at Aviary in NYC in February to celebrate our 16th anniversary as a couple. It was a notable anniversary for us because we were both 16 years old when we started dating, so sometime in between this anniversary and the next, we’ll have been together for more than half our lives. I think that’s a pretty cool milestone.<\/p>\n Since J came into the picture, it’s rare for us to have a dinner on our own. We either bring her along with us, or if we can get someone to watch her, we’re usually meeting friends for dinner or going to a party. So when Josh’s parents graciously agreed to watch her for our anniversary, we knew we wanted to have a nice meal out in the city, which is a rare luxury for us these days. After doing a bit of research, we settled on Apiary, a fairly under the radar restaurant with a chef we were both curious about – Scott Bryan.<\/p>\n We had both read about Scott Bryan in Kitchen Confidential<\/em>, where author\/chef Anthony Bourdain sings his praises. After leaving Veritas in 2007, however, we hadn’t really heard much about Chef Bryan since then. He seems like such a talented, passionate cook who is really just focused on the food, not all the PR and other hype surrounding chefs these days, and so we were eager to sample his offerings.<\/p>\n As a side bonus, we went on a Monday, when the restaurant offers no corkage fees. We stopped at Astor Wines nearby and picked up a bottle of white from Tuscany and a bottle of red Chateauneuf du Pape to go with our meal. I had researched the menu online beforehand so I had a good idea of what I wanted to order, but of course I needed Josh to agree with me. Our waiter also came up with a long list of recommendations when asked what dishes he preferred. Rather than going for the 5 course tasting menu, we decided to come up with our own tasting with four appetizers and two entrees, so that we could try more dishes.<\/p>\n While we waited for our food to come out, we noshed on the bread, slices of sourdough with a hearty yet crispy crust. It was delicious with the fruity olive oil that came on the side for dipping.<\/p>\n