Friday night my sisters and I decided to eat dinner at The Smith in the East Village. The Smith comes to us from the team behind the restaurant Jane on Houston street. It should not be confused with Nevada Smith's, Smiths's or B. Smith's.
I got to the restaurant early and decided to entertain the two hostesses and some waiters for 15 minutes with some amazing magic and comedy. After a good 15 minutes of high-energy entertainment my two sisters finally arrived and we were seated in a booth by the bar. The restaurant is a big large space (it used to be a Pizzeria Uno) with white tiled walls adorned with pictures of women that seem to be from the 1920's.
The cuisine is American Brasserie and reminded me of a gourmet diner. I had been craving mac and cheese for a while so I ordered that appetizer along with an appetizer of Braised Bacon with red onion marmalade. My older sister ordered the Lamb Schnitzel and my younger sister got the Skate. We ordered the Fried Calamari for the table.
The Fried Calamari ($9) came Brooklyn Style, meaning it was topped with marinara sauce. It was fine, but nothing special. My Mac + Cheese ($10) was cheesy with a nice crisp to it. I enjoy a little meat in my mac and cheese, that is why I ordered the Braised Bacon with red onion marmalade ($9). I thought there was way too much red onion marmalade with the bacon, and it pretty much drowned the bacon with it's sweetness and killed all the bacon flavor which was upsetting. I decided to dump the bacon into my mac and cheese, hoping this "create my own dish" epiphany would somehow turn out an amazing flavorful dish, but alas, it was just a bacon drowned in red onion marmalade, mixed with mac and cheese flavor.
My older sister did not have much luck with her Lamb Shnitzel ($17) which came with a parmesan crust, smashed potatoes and lemon. Grant it, I only took one bite of it, and that bite consisted of a tough, dry, and flavorless piece of meat. My sister who ate more of the dish stated she was not too happy with it either.
My younger sister really enjoyed her Skate ($16) which came with cauliflower and caper brown butter. I tried one piece of it and although it was nice, simple, and juicy, it bored me.
The dessert menu at The Smith consists of different types of Sundaes. We went with the Birthday Cake and Chocolate Peanut Butter Sundaes. They were fun and fine.
I think The Smith is an ok place if you are in college and looking for a decent bite to eat. NYU dorms are right around the corner. But, you must order wisely. When I think of The Smith, the first word that comes to mind is "Fun"-not "Food". It could be a fun place to grab some drinks if you are in the neighborhood.
The Smith
55 3rd Avenue (between 10th and 11th St)
New York, NY 10003