Cask

Cask was the first "cool" place I spotted in my new neighborhood, and I've been dying to try it ever since I moved in.  It seemed like a more sophisticated post-work watering hole so Podz and I took our sophisticated selves there post-work on Wednesday night.  I had tried once before to eat there, but when we were told the wait was an hour long, my Mom and I headed elsewhere.  This time, the wait was the same, but we decided to take our chances and sip on drinks while staring down the people sitting at the bar.

The bar itself doesn't feel crammed and they offer the full menu there so it is a fine place to enjoy a meal.  Once two people got up, we swooped in and were able to order long before our table would have been ready.  I now actually probably prefer the bar because it means spending more time with my new chipper buddy of a bartender, Peter (who apparently lives directly across the street from my old apartment - go fig).  My original impression was that Cask was a wine bar/high end beer kind of place (it looks kind of gastro-pub-y with dim lights and lots of wood).  That's all there, but they actually pour a good cocktail, too.  It's not a huge cocktail menu, but it is well thought out with a good mix of alcohols and sweetness levels to suit anyone.  I loved my bourbon sage smash, which was bourbon, lemon juice, simple syrup, and sage.  It was simple and served as a perfect transition into Fall by being refreshing without using Summertime flavors like mint.

When it came to the food, my favorite item (by far) was the philly cheese steak spring rolls.  I would have bet the steak would dry out when dipped in the fryer, but that was not the case.  It was perfectly cooked and mixing the chipotle ketchup and chili aioli made a great topping.  It ended up being a pretty far departure from the original philly cheese steak, but that didn't make it any less delicious.  The next best item was the flat iron steak flatbread.  Imagine a typical flatbread pizza and then increase the size by 25%.  I'm pretty sure there was a full filet on there and it was nicely seasoned with cumin.  The gorganzola and caramelized onions were piled high, making it a difficult dish to eat, but I'll gladly handle a little mess.  If we had known how large the flatbread was going to be, we wouldn't have ordered the tuna burger, which was good but not a home run.  The bun overpowered the tuna steak and it could have used more wasabi aioli.  The side of green beans and roasted tomatoes was also good but screamed for garlic and a little salt.

Good drinks, good food, and a young professional crowd - what more could you want?  I've been on a nice lil streak in the bar/restaurant department lately.  Turns out, Murray Hill has much more to offer than I originally thought.