A Peachy's Pick Since 2018, District Social Winter 2020 #DistrictSocial @district37st #WhomYouKnow #PeachysPicks @ManhattanPeachy #PeachyDeegan #TerrificTakeout #Manhattan #Restaurants
Owner Sean Marr with the sublime Branzino!
A new year is upon us! Time to eat your salad and be healthy...and we're just getting started for the hit parade coming from the uber-successful group of District Social!
It's never been who you know. It's WHOM YOU KNOW and we know Sean Marr, Bennett Page, Michael Geddes, Philip Smith and Aiden Stenson, owners of District Social. District Tap House and Bedford Falls are also Peachy's Picks; the newest, District Local has also been featured. We began with the Spinach Salad which boasts red peppers, parmesan, kataifi and shallots. We love to have options all the time and everyone, not just Peachy, gets 3 salad dressings on the side (how we like it too) including a sensational horseradish cream and oil and vinegar. We are huge advocates of Produce and love to go to the Produce Show in New York every December. We want to see everyone in Manhattan featuring top produce particularly in the dead of winter, and you can be assured District Social is doing exactly that.
The Calamari Salad is also a clearcut winner if you are looking for something a bit more exotic. Asparagus, cherry tomato and black squid ink enhance this wonderful delicacy.
Next in the batting order under the "First" section of the menu which really means appetizers, we discovered the exquisite Charred Octopus. Here is its closeup:
The octopus is clearly smiling.
It is luxuriating on a superb potato confit and chimchurri and most essential, it is charred just right: not overdone or underdone and no rubbery qualities whatsoever.
Under sides you will discover Peachy's favorite vegetable and ooh la la they even wrote in en francais on the menu: Haricot Vert. Green Beans! Everything is better with cheese and Idiazabal cheese comes to this party with soy butter and ginger, ensuring crispiness and amazing flavor.
Ta da!
A new entree: Housemade Tagliatelle, made on premises.
We loved the color employed here: cauliflower, brussel sprouts, tomato and broccolini make this pasta primavera top-notch in this vegetable ragu with manchego. For our carnivorous endeavor, Peachy was dying for a cheeseburger. Be advised that burgers are part of the lunch menu not the dinner menu. 99.9% of the time we only ever eat off the dinner menu anywhere.
We were thrilled with this bastion of a burger that was grilled to perfection and joined by all the right components. Its official name is "Social Burger" and it socialized quite well with Peachy's tastebuds. Red Onion, Housemade pickles, American Cheese (we love American cheese!) and a phenomenal Avocado Jalapeno Spread team up for an unforgettable classic. Housemade fries with salt and pepper seal the deal and the burger itself was perfectly medium rare, as requested by Ms. Pretty Picky herself.
Brussel sprouts can be beautiful and in this case, decadent. Pistachio Creme Fraiche kicks them up several notches to innovate a vegetable you thought you knew, leaving a lasting impression. We really liked the green apple accent.
District Social is famous for their Flatbreads, and the newest innovation here is the Meatball, above. The lamb meatballs are enhanced with Catalan Sofrito and Smoked Mozzarella. Below is Peachy's personal favorite menu item at all: Shrimp Flatbread!!! Pickled Fennel, Cilantro, Piquillo Puree and Manchego still team up with the seafood winner and it is highly consistently delicious. We are always interest in checking!
Few casual places do Branzino as well as District Social.
It was our second most favorite edible of the night: the freshness, fish quality and accompaniment of fideua, cherry tomatoes and artichoke puree make it a wonder to behold and delicately devour!
Now, meet another new entree: Gnocchi!
Beautiful pillowy gnocchi are the ultimate in winter comfort food joined by asparagus, mahon (catalan spanish cheese) and tomato piquilllo sofrito which combine just right without overwhelming the gnocchi, which absolutely hit the spot on a cold day like now.
Eleven years into doing this, we see some places "mailing it in" on desserts and that might be why we don't talk about them anymore. District Social nails dessert! There are seven choices and it also goes without saying that their wine list is stellar along with their scotches and all other after dinner drinks. Above, meet the enticing Apple Galette a la Mode bien sur mes amies, which we loved an awful lot and maybe the best, but really it was a tie because the Chocolate Molten Cake in the dead of winter with Chocolate Rum de Creme, Cocoa Nib Tuile and Caramelized Honey Ice Cream cannot be beat.
District Social continues to be Highly Recommended by Whom You Know.
