This is another awesome Tasting Collective dining club event we attended in June 2024. (You can read about the previous posts about Tasting Collective events here: Jaz Indian Cuisine, Fish Cheeks, Win Son, FOB, Xixa, Huertas, Bessou, Maharlika, Traif, Lalito, Noreetuh, Traif #2, Txikito, Oka, Xixa2, TabeTomo, Houseman, Nowon, GAUDIr, Contento, and NAR). Tasting Collective is a dining club for food lovers, and they offer brunch and dinner at great NYC restaurants. They close off the restaurants for the club, so we get to have the entire restaurant and Chef(s) all to ourselves. So, this is more than just eating food at a restaurant, but you get to have the background story and its passion from the Chef(s), eating 5- to 12- or more course brunch/dinner created specifically for Tasting Collectives. There is a discount code at the end of this blog for those of you who are interested in joining.

This event was held at Cecily, 5-course Nouveau American Tasting Event. Cecily opened in December of 2023, and it went right onto Vogue’s “Hottest New Restaurants” List.

The inside is a bit smaller than I thought, or it is more of an obscure dining room shape. Kind of like the shape of the letter “P” if you know what I mean… The artworks in the space are really interesting, I enjoyed looking at them.

They have a fully stocked bar, and a super friendly and talented bartender, Jhabri. We were seated at the bar, so he took care of us during this event. The bar had a beautiful marble (?) countertop, and pretty good space for all the dishes.

We started off with a couple of cocktails. I ordered Pink Panther ($17), made with Mal Bien Espadín, Jerbis Amaro, and Grapefruit. My hubby went with Cecily Manhattan ($18), made with Pinhook Rye, Tximista Rojo, and Brodiga Choit Montamaro. The Pink Panther was not really pink as I was hoping it might be, but it was tasty. Fruity and elegantly sweet, really nice cocktail. I enjoyed the aroma and flavor of the amaro. And I really appreciated how the cocktails were poured into a chilled grass! Cecily Manhattan was really strong, reminded me of Old Fashion. It sure was a nice, relaxing drink in the evening.

Now, let’s get into the food. The first course was Grilled Scallops, made with Lime, Ginger, Coriander, and a side of Yuzu Kosho Aioli. As soon as the dish was placed in front of me, I got the great aroma of the yuzu. I love yuzy kosho, so this was a treat! It had the perfect spiciness, and went great with the scallops. Speaking of scallops, oh my…they were amazing! Plump and soft, perfect texture. Smoky and slightly sweet, delicious! It had some sprinkles of dried seaweed on top, adding additional flavor. It disappeared quickly for sure.

While we were all enjoying the scallops, the Executive Chef came out and told us about his backgroud, food that we are going to enjoy, and about the restaurant. This is the most interesting part of this event, so cool to get to know the chef and how this restaurant came to be. Chef Zachary Frieling, a graduate from the prestige Culinary Institute of America is the Executive Chef here. Before Cecily, he was executive chef at Michelin-Starred The Four Horsemen, where he trained his skills even more, which we can now all appreciate here at Cecily.

The second course was Little Gem Caesar, made with Boquerone, Toasted Bread Crumb, and Piparra Pepper. The piparra pepper had a nice little kick, waking up the senses in your tastebuds. It was super fresh with nice crunch with every bite. Anchovies gave bold flavor and added texture. A nice dish to cleanse your palate before having the next course.

My husband wanted to try another one of their cocktails, so added Passenger Pigeon ($16), made with Hayman’s London Dry Gin, Tximista Blanco, and Alma de Trabanco. This was another really nice drink. Aromatic and flavorful, with just the right amount of sweetness.

The third course was Mussel Toast, made with Pancetta, Calabrian Chili Butter, Garlic Aioli, and Chive. This dish was divine! I heard that they were not on a permanent menu at first, but people kept ordering it, so now it is on the menu at all time. After one bite, I understand the reason why people love this dish.

Mussels and pancetta goes great together, giving that extra meaty texture and salty flavor. Soft bread with crunchy exterior. And just think, chili butter and garlic aioli, that alone sounds magical on a plate. Garlic aioli is the bomb, while chili butter gives subtle kick that is so delightful. This dish reminded me a bit of French onion soup. I tell you what, we already know we are gonna go back to Cecily to have this again…

The fourth and the last savory dish was Half Roasted Chicken with Baby Bok Choy, and Salsa Verde. The chef said that they get their chicken from Pennsylvania. The chicken was super moist, and packed with flavor. The meat was so tender, easy to cut with butter knife. It had crispy exterior, each bite was amazing. It sure was a top quality you can taste.

For the last course, dessert, we added Cappuccino to go with it. They only had oat milk which we were perfectly ok with, but our lovely bartender had trouble making it as foamy as he wanted it to be. It still tasted great though. Strong with great aroma.

Dessert was Mom’s Strawberry Cake, with Sweet Whipped Cream. It was certainly unusual looking strawberry cake, and funniest part was that the chef said it is NOT his mom’s strawberry cake. LOL. He told us that she is not that into cooking nor baking, but he got the talent and ambition from somewhere… Anyways, back to the dessert. I tell you, this was magically delicious. I believe they added strawberry compote into the whipped cream, which I have done before myself, making it extra flavorful and tasty. It had loads of fresh strawberry compote under the cream. The cake was dense yet not heavy. A little drizzle of olive oil on top is a nice touch, adding extra velvety texture and subtle salty flavor that balance out the sweetness. I could have this cake every day…

They have one huge bathroom near the entrance. It is really big, almost enough for two bathrooms. Dimly lit, love the mermaid tile and artwork. Appreciate the almost full-length mirror by the sink to get your self together before you go back out there.

The staffs were nice, we liked our friendly bartender Jhabri, he has some serious bartending skills! He took a really good care of us during the event. The drinks and food were great, we enjoyed them all. This is such a neighborhood gem, we would love to go back again in a near future to try more of their dishes!

For those of you who are interested in joining this great dining club, Tasting Collective, you can use this link to get a discounted annual rate of $125 (over 25% off the normal $165/year) for the first year: https://tastingcollective.com/?invite_code=JUN4346

Cecily – 80 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222