I'm getting slightly impressed when he tells me he called the place and asked about vegan options. There is hope in the world. While he's not yet ready to say ok to a vegan meal in a vegan place, (not that there is such an iteration on this island), he's recognizing and looking out for my needs and of that I'm appreciative. I give him the choice of places but he covers my bases. The downside is that he's sort of picking my meal for me and I'm resigned to the fact that in most non veg places, most of the time, most meals are going to be just that, vegetables. I've had worse in better, (not this meal specifically ... I'm just saying, you know?)
We drove to Atlantis and there's the building with the archway between the two sides just like you see on TeeVee. Golllllllleeeeey! To me it's just another really nice casino in a really nice setting with really nice Madison Avenue stores. As we got to Carmines and stepped in the door I realized we were at a family style restaurants. That means the food is served on platters the size of roasting pans. It's ok if you're going to order my food and share, (yay!), but not ok if you're going to order stuff I don't want and we each have to order family sized dinners. Not OK for a lot of reasons, least of all the price. But ... he was adamant and I lamented the fact there was a Johnny Rockets next door which I'm reasonably certain offers a boca burger. (Not sure if it was vegan but I still thought it a better choice for us right then and there).
The hostess heard my plight and said she'd send out the chef. I'm impressed already. I explained what I wanted and she offered two suggestions, one the portobello salad and the other the Giardiniera. The chef said, as the bread was put down, I should only have the sourdough bread as the others had cheese in them. (Well, it looked like sourdough to me.)
Starving. Forgot. The. Picture. First. |
I had a glass of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo and I'm no wine expert but for 7 bucks it was dry but not too and went down very nicely with the bread and rest of the meal.
My Portobello salad had 3 medium portobello caps sliced almost all the way through and they were cooked but not seared. The were laid on a fresh bed of spinach and tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette.
Those specks are crushed dried oregano. I know, me too. But they weren't bacon after all. |
If those were normal knives and forks it would look like just a big plate of food. Those are about 12 inche long serving utensils and the dish weighed about 8 pounds. |
The prices here, no surprise, are almost double the NYC prices, at least according to the online menu and dinner with one glass of wine and no dessert, (chef said all were a no-no for me as if I might have had any room at all), with extra $3 added to the automatic 15% tip everywhere seems to add here totaled $82.35. Even though I have a fridge in my room, (at an out of pocket cost to me of $10/night), and took home almost a full order of food ... well, enough for 2 meals easily), it's not a pilots meal out. It's a fantastic meal out for a bunch of vegans on this island. The attention to detail and concern for my dietary requirements was outstanding and a benchmark for other establishments.
1 comment:
Very cool. Thanks for writing!
Post a Comment