Bond 45

Bond 45 opened up about 3 weeks ago on 45th between 6th and Broadway.  This restaurant is part of a group of restaurants from the Fireman Hospitality Group that also own Cafe Fioello, Trattoria Dell Arte and the Red Eye Grill to name a few.   Needless to say, it is always a good thing for a new restaurant to open in the Theater District. 

I am not sure why but the majority of the restaurants in the Theater District are not very good.  Maybe it is in line with theater because most of the plays are just ok too.  Who knows.  There is an audience every night that needs to eat.  Maybe the expectations are low.  I am not sure but it does seem that lately a variety of new restaurants with potential are cropping up in that area so I am thrilled.

We went to Bond 45 last night.  They couldn't have been nicer.  We had an incredibly attentive waiter.  The food was solid.  We started with some vegetables from the array of antipasto available.  We also had oysters that were on the specials.   The cauliflower was roasted with breadcrumbs  and delicious.  The fennel was roasted until it was caramelized  and very tasty.  The eggplant which was my least favorite was a bit too thick and roasted with capers on the side.   The oysters were excellent.

For dinner we both had the special whole fish that was baked and boned at your table.  The fish was really delicious, cooked right and juicy.  They have not perfected the deboning process.  2 people did our fish together.  One worker per fish.  They didn't do such a fabulous job.  They weren't sure if we should keep the skin or not and the fish wasn't that beautiful by the time it got to our plate.  I could have done a better job but they have only been open a few weeks.  This is an area that they could use a bit of help.

We decided on dessert because we still had some time to kill before dinner.  We had the profiteroles.  3 puffed pastries with vanilla ice cream inside and chocolate sauce on top.  Solid.  They also gave us a lemon aperitif on the house and someone was walking around with large tray of peanut butter cookies.  Nice touch.

I'd absolutely go back.  We both decided that the restaurant reminded of us of Cafe Un Deux Trois when it first opened.  Then the food was good, the service was good and it was fun to be there.  The bar was packed as it was at Bond 45 last night.  Glad to see another place in the area that has good food pre and post Theater.