I was tasked to find a table for three for Friday night in Midtown at the last minute. I was looking for a restaurant in specific area within Midtown, that offers variety of food selection without crazy price tag. And of course, the food had to be good. Yes, this task was not easy, not at all… The restaurants that I thought were great happened to be either too expensive, or no more reservation available. At the end, I finally found The Wayfarer, who offers good varieties of food at I would say “average” price in that area.

It has a corner lot, with lots of large windows facing the busy street. It happened that this particular Friday was cold and rainy. So, the restaurant was pretty much empty. I wonder if we could have gone to my other picks on the top of the list and still able to get a table??? But at that point, we decided to stay. The inside was nice and open, long and spacious.

At the back, they had nice table seating with interesting artworks and decor on the wall. They also had fully stacked bar with beautiful marble counter. They offer nice selection of wines and yes, cocktails. With the restaurant being almost empty, the noise level was pretty good, nice and relaxing.

Once we were seated and put in our orders, they brought some complimentary bread. It was not the usual complimentary bread that other restaurants provide, it got my curiosity! It looked more like croissants, but then I found out it is their homemade popovers. How fun! The “butter” that came with had a strange color, and when we tasted, it had strong olive flavor. Yes, the popovers comes with olive spread. I am not a big fan of olive, but for olive lovers, this is certainly a nice treat.

We started off with a couple of cocktails. They had fun names for their signature cocktails, which were all priced at $16. I went with The Gadabout, made with Ford’s Gin, Campari, Passion Fruit, Angostura Bitters. It was good and strong, nice flavor and elegant. Not too sweet but good amount of sweetness to it.

My hubby went with The Knockabout, made with Absolut Elyx, All-Spice Dram, Ginger Beer. It came in a tin cup, very much like Moscow Mule. It had a strong ginger flavor, refreshing and a pretty good drink.

We all ordered an appetizer item before the main course. I had Lobster & Corn Chowder ($19), comes with Nueskies Bacon and Lobster Spring Rolls. It was brought to the table without the soup, and the staff poured the soup at the tableside. I always like this little extra theatrical way the soup is served… The soup was pretty good, not watery but thick, packed with flavor. The lobster spring roll was certainly fun and tasty, a creative way to incorporate the lobster into the soup. The bacon was a bit too salty, but overall, it was a nice, creamy, tasty soup.

Another appetizer we ordered was Roasted Mushroom & Chorizo ($15), made with Charred Scallion, Aged Manchego, Arugula, and Sherry Shallot Vinaigrette. It was fresh and good portion. The chorizo was placed on the bottom, topped with salad. Good flavor and satisfying.

The last appetizer was Charred Octopus ($17) with Crisp Potatoes, Squid Ink Aioli, Preserved Lemon, Rosemary. It came with a good amount of octopus, not many but for appetizer, it was ok. The octopus was cooked well, but a bit too tough on some parts. They were not chewy which was good. The squid ink aioli was really nice, it went great with the octopus.

For the main, I chose Spice Crusted Big Eye Tuna ($38), with jalapeno sweet potato hash, yuzu bearnaise. I requested the tuna to be cooked rare as recommended. The sweet potato hash was placed on the bottom, and four thickly sliced tuna pieces on top.

The tuna was sushi-grade, very good quality and meaty. Nice firm texture and yuzu bearnaise was perfect with the tuna. Now, I knew it said “jalapeno” on the menu, but my goodness, they were serious about their spice. The tuna had heavy crust of spice around it, and the spice was really, very spicy. I would say a bit too spicy than I would’ve like, I think the level of spiciness has overpowered the flavor of tuna.

Another main of choice was Black Sea Bass ($32), with cauliflower, tomato, black olives, lemon. It is not “blackened” sea bass, but it is a kind of sea bass, called black sea bass. This dish looked really nice and appetizing, however, it did not meet the expectation. The fish was just ok, it was rather dry and did not have the juicy, flaky meat. The flavor overall was not spectacular either, it was just ok.

But then, the main dish of my husband’s choice, Short Rib & Mac N’ Cheese ($32), with cavatappi pasta, mascarpone, sage, and parmesan definitely shined. First of all, it was a great volume, piled high with great aroma.

The pasta was cooked just right, with a good amount of juicy and tender short ribs and lots of gooey cheese. It had great flavor, very comforting and addicting. I don’t want to know how much calorie this one dish has while eating it… Definitely a guilty pleasure. Excellent!

Before moving onto desserts, we had one more cocktail, The Wayfarer ($15) with Stoli Vodka, Cardamom, Prosecco, Apple-Celery Bitters. It came with some slices of apples, which was nice. It was again elegant, sweet without being too sweet or too fruity. Nicely done.

Then, time for desserts. We were pretty full, but no matter how full we are, we always have extra room for desserts. I don’t know how, but we do… So we ordered three desserts. The first one up was Chocolate Pecan Cake ($13) with silky pecan ganache, chocolate mousse, and pecan tuile. This one was a-ok. It was not anything special. The mousse was too firm, didn’t have the light, airy, creamy texture. The flavor itself was nice, but again, nothing special. The portion was rather small too, especially for the price tag.

The second dessert was Lemon Meringue Pavlova ($12) with lemon curd, coconut crumb crust, and chantilly cream. Again, this one was quite small. I imagined the “meringue” part to be flurry and airy, but then again, it did say “Pavlova.” The bottom half was a lemon mousse-like cake, topped with very hard, crisp meringue. It was a bit hard to eat, with such hard and solid textured meringue on top of more gentle, fragile lemon cake. The flavor was really nice though, great real lemon flavor.

The last but not least, Profiterole Sundae ($13), with vanilla ice cream, caramel stuffed profiteroles, candied walnuts, whipped cream, and fudge sauce. It was the star of the meal, the way it was presented in the glass bowl was just awesome! and it came with a small container filled with melted chocolate. I was in heaven. I was wondering how they are going to transform Profiterole into a Sundae, but they have surely surprised me, of course in a good way.

I drizzled chocolate over the delightful mountain of dessert heaven, and it was just screaming out for me to dig in! It had two scoops of vanilla ice cream in the middle, with several small cream puffs around it, topped with whipped cream and yes, cherry. How fun! Everyone at the table got to try some, and we all enjoyed it. I would say it was not the best Profiteroles I have ever had, but certainly the most creative and super fun Profiterole I have ever had.

We had Cappuccino ($6) with our desserts. It came in their original mug which was super cute. A nice sized mug too, a great companion to our desserts.

Their bathroom is located next to the kitchen by the bar. Just go through the walkway with the big eyes on the wall… The bathroom was nice and clean, roomy and well kept.

We had a nice dinner here, relaxing and comforting. The food was not amazing, but mostly a-ok. I say there is a hit-and-miss at this restaurant. The service was good, we were well taken care of, our water glasses always filled. None of the staff bothered us, and at the same time, they didn’t disappear anywhere either. Friendly and efficient staffs. The price is a bit high, but with its great and convenient location, it is still a good price, in my opinion. If you want to get some fun Profiterole Sundae, now you know where to go!

 

The Wayfarer – 101 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019