txikito ( chic-kee-toe)

Thursday evening Fred and I walked the High Line from 20th - 30th Street.  This particular stretch will be open in the spring of 2011.  The birds eye views of the city from that particular vantage point is equally as special as the first part of the High Line which is open from Gansevoort to 20th Street.  The data that has been collected on who walks the Highline is particularly interesting.  Only 25% of the people walking the Highline are from the local area, 25% are from overseas and 50% are from other areas around the city.  That speaks to a couple of things but mainly it says economy, economy, economy.  The strip from 20th to 30th Street will completely change with hotels, restaurants, stores and alike once that section opens up.  What will also be interesting is that stretch is nice long walk and the traffic patterns of people who live and work in the area will change.  All and all, the High Line has just been a wonderful addition to the city and downtown NYC. 

Afterward, we walked over to Txikito for dinner.  The room was packed and we scored one of the last tables left.  It looks as if they have taken over the store front next door too but haven't expanding into it yet.  The waitress told us the seven specials which is roughly the number they have every night.  I like that and was equally impressed that she memorized all of them. We went total tapa style and just shared a variety of small plates.

We began with the blistered salt covered peppers.  One of my favorite Spanish dishes.  Crispy, salty and a nice little kick.  Our next tapa out was a tiny tuna sandwich with Basque tuna and sweet onions.  Didn't love this one.  A tad salty and heavy handed.

Next out was an artichoke gratin served warm and crispy on top over thin slices of bread.  Really nice. 

One of the specials that night was crispy deep fried calamari with an aioli sauce.  Light and not too heavy. 

Another special was a mixture of roasted vegetables with a cheese.  Again, simple and light. 

We also had the octopus carpaccio.  Beautiful presentation.  This pic isn't mine.  I pulled it off the web.  Must have been that second glass of wine. 

Our final dish was the lamb chops.  My only issue with the lamb chops is that they weren't lamb chops, they were lamb shoulder chops.  Really fatty and it wasn't clear on the menu what it was.  Certainly lamb shoulders keep the price down but I'd rather know it or just pay up for the lamb chop. 

For dessert, we went with the cheese plate which works with the whole tapas meal.  Fun to have a bunch of options to choose from and share.  Glad I finally got over there to try the wares.  Good to know about when I'm in that area.  The one thing that I was missing from the meal was a nice pitcher of sangria.  They probably have it on the menu and next time that will be the first thing I order.