Amaranth (Manhattan) 01/2011

An historical note, from Wikipidea: (You can go to Wikipedia for the links)

"It (Amaranth) was a staple food of the Aztecs, and was used as an integral part of Aztec religious ceremonies. The cultivation of amaranth was banned by the conquistadores upon their conquest of the Aztec nation. Because the plant has continued to grow as a weed since that time its genetic base has been largely maintained."

Occupying some of the most expensive real estate in Manhattan at 21 E 62nd St. it astonished me to see a neon sign, on the first floor above this restaurant, advertising an Astrologer!
Always full it gets very noisy by about 9.00 p.m. with patrons sitting cheek by jowl with those at neighbouring tables. Essentially Italian the menu offers reasonable variety. I started with a split pea soup while Sandra pursued her interest in French onion soup. There is an immense variety in this soup and this was one of the best. Several salads were available which looked like attractive appetisers but I did not taste them,
including an endive salad with Roquefort cheese.
For mains we had Maine lobster on risotto.
Shown here in slightly greater detail.
The risotto was magnificent, creamy, the rice not too soft nor too el dente with a gentle fine blend of tastes, a touch of garlic, a touch of tomato and cooked in a fabulous broth. Unfortunately the lobster was fibrous, I think because it was overcooked, and there was not much of it. A giant shrimp curry, we would call them prawns in Australia,
was handled more delicately, the prawns not overcooked and the light curry fitting well with them. A tart tatin was actually a stewed apple cake with no resemblance to the dish it was named after.
Subtracting the cost of a bottle of Champagne left us with a quite modest bill for the food.
No pretensions just good food
Score: 13.75