Little Park was last year's new addition from Chef Andrew Carmellini who brought us Locanda Verde, The Dutch and Bar Primi. Little Park is a seasonal restaurant (we went there for their Winter menu), serving dishes prepared with ingredients from local farmers. 

I like the place, that has a natural decor and lots of booths (I love that as it is cozy and, by the way, never see that in France except in certain supermarket restaurants when I was a kid). Service wise, it was very good, except their insistence in putting our coats to the coat check that was a bit annoying and unnecessary. I am not sure what type of instructions they get, but I do not need to be reminded that the coat check is free to persuade me to leave my coat there. 

What was interesting is that bread was upon request. I guess to avoid wasting it. It was a spent grain bread served with cultured butter.

As an appetizer, Jodi decided to go for the crispy brussels sprouts, served with smoked parsnip and apple.

It was a very good dish, hearty. I particularly liked the slight smokiness of the parsnips. On my side, I went for the bay scallops, served with watercress, coriander and garlic.

The presentation was spectacular and I loved the contrast of colors, especially the green from the sauce that made that dish pop up. Taste wise, it was divine: the scallops, that were raw, tasted fresh and were not overpowered by the sauce that had a slight kick.

For her entrée, Jodi went for the butternut squash ravioli. What persuaded her to go for that dish was the morel mushrooms that are in there; and there were quite a lot of them.

Quantity wise, I would call it a French serving, so do not expect a large portion, but, in all honesty, with an appetizer and a dessert, it is enough...

On my side, I went for the dry-aged duck and kebab.

This was a spectacular dish: first, the presentation was really appetizing and the dish had such an aroma that I just wanted to dig in. The duck was served in two ways: first was a breast that was perfectly cooked (pink) and with the best part being the skin that was deliciously fatty and  heavenly crispy. Then, the kebab sausage that had so much flavors, thanks to the spices they used in it. The dish was served with parsnip purée, quinoa and grapes.

Of course, we could not leave without trying a dessert and we picked the pear and milk chocolate tart, that came with a white wine sorbet.

The presentation was again amazing. Unfortunately, I did not like it: there was something about the texture that made it mushy and the taste of the pear got lost between the red wine that they used to poach it (they should specify that the pear are poached in red wine on their menu, so people know better what they are ordering) and the liquid chocolate. I also did not like the white wine sorbet. 

Even if I did not like our dessert, I really liked Little Park and would certainly go back. This is another great spot in TriBeCa.

Enjoy (I did)!

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