Caviar Deviled Egg

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
December 16, 2005

COOKSHOP
156 10th Ave
@ 20th St
New York, NY 10011
212-924-4440

Cookshop has received raving reviews, so I was excited to try it despite the fact that it’s the sister restaurant of Five Points, which didn’t shoot off fireworks in my mind. The other thing that had me wondering was the location. West Chelsea is now teeming with new restaurants, but much of it seems like an extension of the Meat Packing phenomenon of high profile infiltration. However, not many can even compete near the same caliber as The Red Cat, now considered an old-timer in that district.

Unfortunately, I was not wowed by Cookshop. Some restaurants you try once and you don’t have the inclination to go back to. That was my impression of Cookshop. It’s definitely not a destination stop, and I’m glad I don’t live or work in that neighborhood or I would be frustrated by my narrow selection even with the number of new restaurants opening.

My friend and I started with the caviar deviled egg, which might have been the first mistake. When I see deviled eggs on a menu, I never let that pass. I love deviled eggs, they’re comfort food. Well, take note that this is a deviled “egg” singular, at $5. I’m sure that by adding caviar to the equation they felt justified in charging $5 for this dish, but my expectations were high, and to me, this egg was not a $5 egg. It was not even a ¢50 egg. There was nothing particularly devil-y about the egg. It was bland, and the caviar proved to be just a fancy gimmick that didn’t do much for it. Putting fish eggs on a chicken egg is a cute idea but make sure it works.

We continued with three appetizers, one main course and a side, all to share. The first two appetizers, marinated beets, herb salad with tahini, and grilled Montauk squid, were fine. The chicken fried duck livers arrived with the beef short ribs and the spiced fries. I tried a couple of the spiced fries, and thought how unexciting they tasted, compared to even some place like Porcupine, where the menu doesn’t do much for me, but they have good fries. The beef short ribs were nice and fatty. But I must cut my story short here as I proceeded to get very ill during this meal. I am in no way implying that I got food poisoning from this restaurant. In fact, it is probably not possible to have such a violent reaction to food that quickly, and one can react to food eaten within the past seven days in cases of food poisoning, so I’m sure it was something else I had.

The restaurant itself I have mixed feelings about. Most of the restaurant area is very open with large windows to both sides of the street looking in. The wooden chairs are nice to look at, but over time, uncomfortable to sit on. The restrooms are located in the back right by the open kitchen. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking California Pizza Kitchen when I was there. I know that is a horrible thing to say, and maybe I mean it in a good way as in casual dining ambiance, but that doesn’t seem right either. What can I say? It just didn’t feel right.

Also in American, Eggs, West Chelsea