How does one decide where to dine for NYC restaurant week? There are so many options and so many great menus to chose from. I always use restaurant week as an opportunity to explore new dining options. The most recent NYC restaurant week this past January I decided to do just that. I looked at the list of participating restaurants, narrowed it down based on location and cuisine, then started researching. I chose Black Duck because it had something unique that I have been dying to experience in NYC since forever ago; live jazz!
Black Duck has live jazz musicians every Friday and Saturday night starting at 9:30pm for no cover charge. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard me right, no cover charge (are we still in NYC?). You don't even have to eat dinner here to enjoy the jazz. You can sit at the bar and enjoy a cocktail, or sit in one of the Queen Anne chairs up close and personal with the musicians while enjoying a bottle of wine with some friends. If jazz isn't your thing (how uncultured of you!) then enjoy classic James Bond movies playing on the flat screens at 8:00pm on Sunday nights. This is a classy place I tell you.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of a restored 18th century brownstone, making it quintessentially NYC. It is connected to the Park South Hotel which resides in the brownstone and looks very swank. You can pick up some great discount coupons for Broadway shows and sightseeing tours in the lobby on your way to the restrooms, which are very well maintained I would like to add. I highly suggest reservations at Black Duck on the live jazz nights, even though the restaurant (until publishing of this post) remains a very well kept secret in NYC.
The food at Black Duck may have been overpowered by the amazing cabaret singer Lexy Casano. Everything was delightful save for two things. First, my fish portion from the regular menu (not the restaurant week prix fixe) was very small, even by normal serving size standards. Second, I ordered a white wine which the waitress poured into the red wine glass on the table, after she had placed the white wine glasses down. Then, after she poured, and I tasted, she removed the tasting glass, still with a fair amount of wine in it, and then poured into the empty white wine glass. Having worked in the restaurant business before, if I had made this mistake I would have asked the diner if she would like to hold on to the tasting glass until she was finished. Regardless, the wine lasted well past when we finished our food which left us a great excuse to linger at our table and listen to more jazz.
I will definitely be returning to Black Duck again, if not just for the jazz music. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys less conversation and more music while dining.
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I love restaurant weeks! We got lucky during the one in Greenville back in January and got to try two different restaurants :o) We rarely go out to eat so that was quite a treat for me/us...especially as we are new to the area and, like you, wanted to use restaurant week as a means to find new dining options.
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