Circo - Midtown West
120 W 55th, New York, NY 10019
Medium-rare skirt steak followed the salmon. Surprisingly tender for that cut of beef, the strips easily cut into delicate pieces and took little effort to eat thereafter. This made it all the more difficult not to indulge so quickly, and before I was ready to say goodbye the beef was gone.
The only creative weak point in the restaurant's whole performance was in the sweet indulgence at the end. Mint panna cotta and gelato scoops don't pique my interest the same way as a cake, or a pie, or a torte. However, in absolute terms, these little sweets still ended the meal well.
120 W 55th, New York, NY 10019
It's amusing walking into a restaurant in which men in nice suits and women in expensive cocktail dresses politely cut into small bites of lavish meals while sitting against a backdrop of clowns and dancing elephants.
In Manhattan it would be easy to make a serious affair out of fine dining. From tight ties, to snobby sommeliers, to highly elevated culinary expectations, nice (read: $$$$) restaurants are often straight-laced to attract the high culture crowd. But at Circo, you can eat your hand-made pastas and perfectly seared meats under a circus tent canopy. So, I finally answered the question that I'm sure has been plaguing all of you for ages: fine dining is possible among eclectic sculptures of acrobatic men and whimsical paintings of circus performers.
As mentioned previously, I have had some poor luck picking meals for Restaurant Week specials. However, Circo maintained the utmost quality from starter to dessert. The beautiful beginning included a radiant appetizer of colorful salmon enhanced with citrus zest and topped with a dollop of goat cheese. The tiny red circles? They're red peppercorns. Don't worry, I didn't know what they were, either.
Medium-rare skirt steak followed the salmon. Surprisingly tender for that cut of beef, the strips easily cut into delicate pieces and took little effort to eat thereafter. This made it all the more difficult not to indulge so quickly, and before I was ready to say goodbye the beef was gone.
The only creative weak point in the restaurant's whole performance was in the sweet indulgence at the end. Mint panna cotta and gelato scoops don't pique my interest the same way as a cake, or a pie, or a torte. However, in absolute terms, these little sweets still ended the meal well.
At $38 prix-fixe for Restaurant Week, this dinner felt like a steal. Too bad Restaurant Week ended, otherwise I'd have made reservations at the parent restaurant, Le Cirque, already.
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