Cottage Restaurant
For my money the absolute best part of Sunday brunch is the free beverages that usually come with it as an enticement. In my experience though the freebies are usually confined strictly to brunch, so imagine my delight when our friends Tim and Justin turned us on to The Cottage, a Chinese restaurant on the upper West Side that provides unlimited carafes of complimentary wine with dinner! I almost trampled Jason to get in the door of the place. As you might have guessed, there was a small wait for a table, but nothing too onerous – we wisely asked to be placed in the corner.
According to T & J, The Cottage apparently had a pretty rapid reversal of fortune once word spread about its free wine special, and revamped its entire space. It’s pretty bare-bones for a Chinese restaurant, which I liked – there were none of the faux-Oriental trappings you find at some city restaurants, little pots of bamboo on the tables and grinning Buddhas, yadda yadda. The décor is extremely simple and straightforward – people are not here for an authentic Chinese experience – whatever that might mean in New York City – they are here to get sloshed on free wine (which is straight from the box. Economical AND eco-friendly!).
The waiters are efficient to the point of abruptness. Slap slap slap slap slap – four glasses and a carafe before we even got seated. Down to business, man, I like this place already. The steamed dumplings are extremely tasty, as was the lemon chicken, and the portions are pretty huge. I took particular pleasure in picking thick slices of garlic out of Jason’s spicy beef – there was enough in the dish to render an entire horde of vampires sterile and clawing for escape. Of course with all the wine coming, we got loud and had to promise to quiet down or be cut off. What do they expect?! For four the bill was a ridiculous $52 and we each had at least five glasses of wine apiece. We left tipsy and gleeful, exchanged exuberant hugs and kisses goodbye, and then piled into a taxi heading downtown and almost got into a wreck in front of Fordham University. Just a typical Sunday night. Can we have more places like this in the city please?!? Oh wait, that’s my job to find them for you! Fear not, I am on the case.
The Cottage, 360 Amsterdam Avenue at 77th Streett (take the 1 to 79th Street); 212-595-7450
