Yesterday found us in search of a budget meal on the town, so I clicked on over to timoutny.com to use their restaurant search with its handy "cheap eats" feature. By focusing on the East Village I quickly discovered Sea, a Thai restaurant on Second Avenue. Situated in the midst of a busy block, it's a bit hard to spot given its unremarkable signage, but stepping down into the dining room revealed a cleanly--if boringly--appointed space painted a slightly nauseating shade of peach with the back wall covered by a sheet of stainless steel. A small bar tucked partially out of sight around a corner in the back completed the picture.
I ordered the lettuce rolls, which the menu described as filled with a chicken and peanut mixture and nary a mention of dough. I was surprised then when they arrived wrapped in a mushy dumpling dough that was as unnecessary as it was unappetizing. I contented myself with a sake bomb (a Singha beer with a shot of sake dropped in) while I waited for my wife.
She ordered one of the house cocktails, a worthy riff on a mojito that included lychee for sweetness. For her entree she dutifully ordered that litmus test that in our minds every Thai restaurant must pass: the cashew chicken. She seemed contented enough with it, though the bite I tried contained a cashew that had been toasted a bit too much and tasted slightly acrid.
My entree was grilled salmon with "dark" sauce. Here was where I really got interested. The sauce seemed to be a heavily reduced mixture of soy and ginger with an edge of sweetness added by sauteed pineapple chunks. Swimming is this velvety deliciousness was a perfectly cooked skin-on salmon filet.
Despite the off notes, we really had nothing to complain about considering that the whole generously-proportioned meal including drinks cost sixty dollars. We opted to skip dessert, but resolved to return if we were ever in the neighborhood again.
Solex
As the night was still young and we weren't quite sure of our next move, we plotted a course for an old favorite of ours, Counter. Despite its pretentious website, it is a thoroughly relaxing wine and martini bar on First Avenue. Apparently the nascent evening was already well on for the crowd that stood waiting to enter, so we happily allowed ourselves to be diverted to the handsomely appointed--and nearly empty--Solex next door.
Inside a long stainless steel maple-trimmed bar reflected the warm glow diffusing through the curved ceiling panels. A long row of slightly angled shelves held much of this wine bar's stock. A glance at the menu revealed a brief but happily eclectic list of wines. While by the bottle most of them were well north of fifty dollars, there were a number of them available by the glass in the six to eight dollar range.
I chose a dry riesling that perfectly balanced its sweetness with a crisp minerality and settled in to admire the healthy collection of high-end bourbons (oxymoron?) occupying a short stretch of shelf behind the bar. The menu revealed a long list of various other liqours from all over the globe, and even a nod to the hop--if only to keep beer-drinking boyfriends from abandoning their oenophile dates.
For dessert I had a Muscat recommended by the sommelier-cum-barkeep-cum-DJ and for the first and only time was thoroughly satisfied with the mellow nectary flavor of this specimen of the variety. All in all, not a bad evening.
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