Featuring the best seasonal ingredients one could hope to find.
Last week, we attended a beautiful dinner experience hosted at Lindens NYC in Arlo Hotel Soho. Taking its name and inspiration from the Linden Tree that lines the streets of New York City, Lindens NYC has a specialty on fine dining American cuisine with a focus on showcasing the freshest ingredients that are in season. To celebrate near the end of the summer, Lindens hosted an intimate Summer White Dinner Party featuring a curated menu that highlighted seasonal summer ingredients like tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, corn, and more.
The event started with a Moet & Chandon happy hour at the Lindens NYC outdoor courtyard. Guests arrived in their most stylish white clothing and enjoyed bubbly cocktails and delicious wines while mingling with each other and enjoying the beautiful summer weather. Once all guests arrived, the Managing Partner of Renwick Hospitality, Gary Wallach, raised a toast over a glass of Italicus Bergamot and gave his thanks to everyone for joining this event. Once guests finished the Italicus, the feast began. The menu for the event was thoughtfully made to highlight all the seasonal ingredients that are freshest during summer, but also carefully selected to showcase some of Lindens NYC’s best dishes.
There is no better way to start a meal than with bread. And Lindens NYC understood that notion as they placed warm, pillowy Thyme Parker House Rolls onto the table. Accompanying the bread was a giardiniera, or a dish of pickled vegetables soaked in vinegar and oil. The bread served was some of the best bread we have had in NYC, where each piece of bread was fluffy and moist. Served with a scallion of butter, the bread absorbed every morsel of the butter and took on the richness perfectly. And topped with a few grains of sea salt, helped accentuate the flavor of the thyme that was baked into the bread. And as we moved to the pickled vegetables, we noted how beautifully acidic and tart it was. Having bites of the vegetables in between the bread was a great way to break up some of the richness from the bread and reinvigorate our palates with a burst of acidity.
For the next course, Lindens NYC served three amazing dishes: a beautiful farmer’s salad, a serving of Heirloom Tomatoes, and a Zucchini and Artichoke Tempura dish. The Farmer’s Salad was served with fresh cherry tomatoes, charred corn, wax beans, and a crema was served atop the dish. This salad was one of the freshest salads we have had all summer. The cherry tomatoes burst with juice and flavor, having the perfect balance of acid and sweetness to it. The charred corn added a smoky sweetness to the salad and married perfectly with the notes from the tomatoes and meaty wax beans. The crema served on top cools down your palate from some of the acid and sweetness of the dish, which was a perfect note to finish the dish on. The Heirloom Tomato dish was a tomato lover’s dream. Served with a tomato vinaigrette and stracciatella, and paired with a grilled baguette, the dish was simple on paper but did a masterful job of highlighting the freshness and acidic sweetness of a seasonal tomato. And paired with the grilled baguette, it felt almost like a take on a bruschetta, except by leveraging a meatier tomato, you get more of a heartier bite. Last, we have to highlight our favorite starter of the night, which was the tempura dish. Served alongside a cilantro yogurt sauce, each tempura bite was crispy and light and absorbed the flavors of the sauce perfectly. What was impressive was how these vegetables were fried so lightly and still maintained the vegetable’s essence in them. The tempura artichoke was juicy and burst with that salinity that you expect from it while still maintaining a crispy exterior with the tempura coating. The zucchini was just as well, having all the moisture from it intact while still feeling so airy and light with the batter.
The main course was next, and they gave guests the option of selecting one of five main course selections. On this event’s menu was an option of a Spiced Cauliflower, a Summer Carrot Ravioli, a Sea Bass, an order of a Hanger Steak, or an order of their signature Half Chicken. Tonight we opted for the Summer Carrot Ravioli, which was served with pancetta, sage, and a 5-year banyuls vinegar. This ravioli was one of the best pasta dishes we have ever had. Served with 9 small ravioli bites, each piece of pasta was prepared so delicately. A fork sliced through the center revealed a beautiful bright orange summer carrot center. And once open, you can immediately see how silky smooth the filing is. The first bite of this ravioli transcended all expectations. They cooked the pasta to perfection and had the perfect al dente cook for it. The carrot filling was sweet but not overpowering and had a wonderful fluffy texture to it that coated your palate. The pancetta on top offered a crispy saltiness to the dish, which melded perfectly with the sweetness from the carrots. And the sage and vinegar sauce was the perfect pairing for this dish, adding hints of nuttiness and herbs that coated each piece of ravioli. We would come back to Lindens for this dish alone.
To finish the meal, we ended with an assortment of desserts, which included a delectable peach crème brûlée, warm chocolate chip cookies, a peach shortcake, and a shot of meloncello (the melon sister of limoncello). Out of these desserts, the stars of the show were the chocolate chip cookies and the peach crème brûlée. The cookies were moist and had a deep, rich dark chocolate taste to them that was so addictive to eat. And the peach crème brûlée was prepared so skillfully having the crisp burst sugar top with a gooey and creamy custard filling that was infused with the essence of a summer peach.
Once the festivities ended, our lasting impressions of Lindens NYC were nothing but good. Each dish highlighted the seasonal ingredients and did so that respected the natural flavors of the ingredients. There are often times when restaurants overcomplicate dishes to the point where you cannot discern any of the ingredients. To Lindens NYC’s benefit, they prepared each dish with such skill while also letting the star of each dish shine on its own. Lindens NYC is definitely a place we will revisit throughout each season.