"My Salty tooth was Satisfied" at the Standard.

Standard Grill After Hours

I have just gotten home after a night with my 2 favorite Frenchies.

We met at the Standard Hotel around midnight to end up at the Boom Boom Room. They had never been, so I was excited to take them there.

We were going to have a "quiet" drink prior to making our way up the 18 floors, but were escorted to the outdoor bar lounge by my dear friend, Stephane, the manager. He suggested we sit and catch up outside and outdoors, rather than attempt to in the restaurant... which I've eaten at and must blog soon!

We sat outside under the beautiful night sky drinking our champagne and catching up. After an hour of talking and talking, I glanced at the table next to us. They had a huge order of fries on their table. I manipulatively started a conversation about french fries, and Sofia suggested we order some.... :-) I spoke about the grilled cheese on the Standard Grill menu... it's fantastic - we also ordered.

The grilled cheese is the perfect blend of class and home goodness. Crispily pan-seared on whole wheat toast, topped with butter... freshly cut tomatoes, and 2 types of cheeses are sandwiched between its buns. The juice of the freshly cut tomatoes and the cheese is the perfect match to its crispy, buttery outside. It's quality taste and fresh ingredients left me perfectly satisfied, rather than heavy and full.

The fries came by the mounds. A heaping hill of fries were dipped all night: alternating between the mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Just like the french do!

I could improve upon the fries. I would have preferred fresh, handcut fries to the seemingly pre-cut, frozen fries. Although I don't know for certain, their outside covering seemed to be that of a pre-frozen fry, rather than the crispy outside - soft inside smooth textured hand=cut fry. Although still good, i could have seen improvement.

No dessert for me. Funny, the two times I have eaten at the Standard, twice I have failed to order dessert.

I started with a glass of Moet and next with kettle on the rocks with lime. Sans sugar in my drinks. No need to drink my extra sugar. Only eat!

And as I had dinner at 6pm, this was the perfect meal to follow 7 hours later. And yes, the salty foods are in, and sweets are out for me. And this definitely satisfied my... salty tooth? Is that such a phrase? If it isn't... it is now.

5 Napkin Burger

My neighborhood spizzot!

I sat down with my 2 good friends and ordered the usual: The Turkey Burger prepared the 5 napkin way: garlic aioli house sauce, carmelized onions, hold the gruyere cheese, please.

I always request the egg-sesame bun: so fresh and tasty. Holla at its challah bread! Instead of the fries, I ordered the steamed broccoli with no butter, no salt as my side.

We started out with their mac-and-cheese, which could possibly be the best appetizer/starter in NYC.

I opted to drink their Malbec rather than champagne. I drank the red wine as a healthier option for the night: red wine is rich in antioxidants and good for the heart. I have been having very hard workouts lately, and why not support my heart with a heart-healthy drink.?

I ate half the bun, 3 scoops of mac-and cheese, and all of my turkey burger. (lean white meat, mixed with seasoning and herbs.) Ketchup and mustard are great options for condiments as they are low in calories and zero fat. I had more mustard than ketchup, and used their yummy garlic aioli sparingly.

Because I had an appetizer, I didn't order my own dessert. We shared the apple pie, warmed, a la mode. I am thankful that we all split the dessert because I would have eaten the whole thing on my own.

This high protein diet has curiously made me crave salt ALL the time. I have a sweet tooth, and for all who know me, they know, I would forgo anything salty for my savory dessertS.

Now I'm into the salt. The salty goodies!