Plated: Allen & Delancey’s 'Happy Night' Bar Menu
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<strong><a href="http://gothamist.com/search?cx=001614944843134777762:fk5xb10autg&cof=FORID:9&q=plated&sa=GO%3F#1110">Plated</a></strong> typically delivers the origin story of a one dish on a restaurant menu, as told by its chef. Todayâs column is actually three plates from <a href="http://gothamist.com/2009/02/20/kyle_bailey.php">Kyle Bailey</a>âs bar menu at <a href="http://allenanddelancey.net/">Allen & Delancey</a>. The âHappy Nightâ menu is only available on Tuesday nights when all selections from the restaurantâs <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2009/02/allen_delancey_halves_cocktail.html">full cocktail list are served half-off</a> (theyâre normally $12 a pop). In exchange for putting up with a very packed bar, you can also get some quality cheap eats. <p></p><strong>On the plate:</strong> Truffled Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup Dip ($9) <strong>Kyle Bailey:</strong> âIt was fun throwing ideas for these bar snacks around after workâthe irony is that you work 16 hours in a kitchen cooking and you leave starving. I was thinking man, you know what I could go for right now? Grilled cheese! Like a lot of people, I grew up eating grilled plastic-y cheese in grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's tomato soup. Here we use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sottocenere_al_tartufo">Sottocenere al tartufo</a>, a truffled Italian cheese. The idea here is comfort food, but refined. And the soup is basically tomatoes, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and saltâit's a long process but it's a tasty, tasty soup.â
<strong>On the plate:</strong> Chicken Liver ($10) <strong>Bailey:</strong> âBasically, we had some chicken livers. The livers came with our chickensâ they're from a farm in North Jersey, they slaughter them the day before we need themâ and I just don't like to throw anything away, so I decided to make the liver pate. My grandma took the belt to me there, you know, "you don't throw food away!" Normally, we'd make something with them for family meal, but now theyâre good on the bar snack menu. It's a classic pate, but I serve it with an onion and bacon condiment, some figs cooked down in port, honeyed hazelnuts, and a little salad.â
<strong>On the plate:</strong> Sweetbread Poppers ($8) <strong>Bailey:</strong> âI was explaining sweetbreads to someone who hadn't had them before and I said sweetbreads are like the chicken nugget of offal, and they're old school. I thought they'd be great nice and crispy fried up with some buttermilk Ranch on the side. It's a little bit labor intensive to clean them, but I like that. Taking the long way home.â