foodadelic

GORGEOUS, SEXY, FUN, ….and pink champange in the ladies room EQUALS GOOD FRIGGIN’ TIMES!

I must have spent 4 hours here from 7pm dinner (walk in) til about half past eleven. And that was just the two of us (C, who IS a great dinner/drinking companion).. BUT, imagine having a chicas night out?!? I’d be here for hours and hours and endless hours.

First, you enter through a pawn shop. There are locked cases everywhere and guitars hanging along the walls and a bouncer next to a giant door in the corner through this store. This door leads you to a beautiful, dark, chandeliered, sexy restaurant with THREE floors of fun.

Inside the main floor, is a bar and dining area. We indulged in countless cocktails and tasty small plates.

I am pretty sure this is the Emerald Gimlet: ketal one, basil, lemon nectar, fresh lime juice. I stuck with this cocktail all night.. plus I didn’t think mixing different cocktails would have been smart especially after pink champagne in the ladies room. (will elaborating further after writing about the food!)

So, where do we start?!? Here’s a shot of the damage done by two hungry foodies!

We started with bite size caesar salad, compliments of the chef. Delicious! Who knew caesar salad could be so tasty in bite size form? Awesome idea as a hors d’oeuvre. (duly noted for future events)

Charred Shishito Peppers- My new found love. These peppers are delicious; you’d find a spicy one out of maybe 15 <—— that’s a guestimate, could be more or less. They are addictive: once you start, you just can’t stop. These are not the best I’ve had; besides Barcelona, Spain, Boqueria in Chelsea does it pretty well.

Lobster Tacos: beer battered Maine lobster, red cabbage slaw, jalapeno crema. These amazing little tacos are great! Remember to squeeze your lime to multiply the bursting flavors.

Garganelli with spicy veal bolanese. The presentation was pretty; tastes good but not great.

Roasted Bone Marrow: rioja braised shallot marmalade.

Crispy Horminy: charred corn, lime, cilantro, chile pepper.

Branzino a la Plancha: bone marrow gremolata, silky potato puree, petite salad. I usually order branzino where ever I see it on the menu. It is definitely one of my favorite fishes. 

What a meal!! Now for the best part of the night, as you may heard already, Beauty and Essex’s ladies room is gorgeously designed for women to feel like beauty queens. There are beautiful lamps in each bathroom stall and the entire room is covered in mirrors, many old school perfume bottles, sofas, and a mini bar with bartender!! They serve complimentary pink champagne. I guess the idea is to refill our bladders after we let it all out and I read from here that Rich Wolf (one of the owners) said “My vision here was to create a place where women could come and get a break from dinner or the bar upstairs and relax with friends. And I thought, if she is on a bad date, she could come down and call her friend to rescue her”. I applaud this great concept!

After dinner and the bathroom fun, we went for yet another cocktail upstairs, the more loungy part of the restaurant. There was white fur along the walls by the staircase as we walked up. And the bar! How gorgeous!

Needless to say, I look forward to a girl’s night out at some point! Do give this place a visit, very very worthwhile.

Beauty & Essex
146 Essex Street
(btwn Stanton & Rivington)
New York, NY 10002
(212)614-0146