Damon Frugal Fridays (New American, Tom Collichio)

Tom Collichio's brainchild in the midst of a terrible recession - a wallet-friendly, interesting menu of New American dishes to be helmed by his head chef, Damon Wise every day of the week except for tuesdays (when he has his Tom: Tuesday Dinner).

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The Decor: (9/10)

The ambiance of a restaurant really counts for a lot with me when it comes to having a great dining experience.  Damon Frugal Fridays is held in a space 2 doors down from Craft where private events are usually held and is absolutely beautiful.  The exposed brick walls, interesting wine racks covering a whole wall of the restaurant, open kitchen layout and spacious candle-lit tables immediately made me feel comfortable and heightened my anticipation of the meal itself.

Shot of interior courtesy of nbcnewyork.com

(I've been terrible at getting good restaurant interior shots so I'm leaving this one to the pros :) )

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The Food: (8/10)

My frequent fooding companion, Connie, and I ordered up a lovely Smörgåsbord of dishes from the eclectic menu.

19th Street Headache (Aperol and Prosecco, $4); Sneaky Ninja (Gin, Tea, Fresh Lemon, $7)

We ordered up a round of very inexpensive cocktails to kick off the evening.  Mine (the 19th street headache) tasted like a light beer in a good way.  The bubbliness and sweetness of the prosecco complemented by the bitterness of the aperol made this cocktail very refreshing and easy to drink.  Connie's cocktail (the sneaky ninja) tasted like a really delicious lemonade and didn't have much of a bite from the gin.

Soft mozzarella and spicy tomato jam, $5

Loved the spicy tomato jam mixed with the contrast of the buttery soft mozzarella.  I think a sprinkle of sea salt on this dish would have made it better.

Guinea hen leg rillettes in a jar, $7

Hands-down my favorite dish of the night.  The rillettes of guinea hen leg (cubed, chopped meat salted heavily and cooked slowly in fat until tender enough to shred and then cooled with enough fat to form a paste) was incredibly flavorful and rich and we couldn't get enough of spreading this on crispy toast points. 

Crispy chicken wings and cabrales cheese, $5

Definitely not a winner - the cabrales was a cold, liquidy layer at the bottom of the bowl and overpowered the entire dish.  The fried, boneless chicken wings were also a bit overcooked and rubbery.

Salt-baked bone marrow and stew of mushrooms and tail, $9

Very rich and indulgent and a good comfort food dish.  I would have loved to have had some bread to spread the bone marrow on instead of eating it purely with the mushroom and tail stew.

Pheasant confit spring roll and sweet and sour chestnuts, $7

Just an average dish - I couldn't really taste the pheasant as it was overpowered by the sweet and sour chestnut sauce .

Smoked beef tartare and paprika flatbread, $5

Even though I'm not a big fan of beef tartare (mostly because of the texture of raw beef), I really liked this dish.  The beef was really smokey and paired really well with the paprika flatbread and was layered with all sorts of interesting flavors.

Apple berliner, vanilla custard and hot caramel, $5

Awesome - fried apple fritters, a streak of vanilla custard and a nice tub of hot caramel - what more could you ask for?

Trio of ice cream sandwiches, $5

Another favorite - the cookie layers in these sandwiches were perfect - flakey, buttery and not too sweet.  We had a trio of ice cream sandwiches - peanut butter, cappuccino (with a dash of cinnamon) and my favorite, dark chocolate.

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Summary and More info:

Overall, I had a great time at Damon Frugal Friday and would recommend this restaurant as a great date spot (an easy way of seeing what your date's food tendencies might be) or for easy nights out with friends.  Though the menu is a bit uneven, the prices can't be beat and there are some real winners in the mix.  I can't wait to go back to try out the rest of the menu!

Address: 47 East 19th Street (between Broaway and Park)

Link: The full menu