Park Avenue Kitchen by David Burke in NYC

I have always been a fan of Chef David Burke: his food is creative and exciting, sometimes whimsical, so every meal is something to remember. So, when I walked passed Park Avenue Kitchen by David Burke, I made a point to try it. We went for brunch twice, the second time being at the time of restaurant week, where, for $30, you get an appetizer and an entree. The menu had plenty I wanted to try, but I settled for the lobster dumplings that were sitting on a delicious tomato-miso dressing. Elegant, the shell was perfectly made, covering the deliciously cooked lobster. Then, although I was originally going for the cheeseburger, I noticed their pastrami sandwich that was recently ranked number one among five of New York City most famous pastrami sandwiches in a blind tasting. The competition was not that easy as it included Sarge’s, Katz’s, 2nd Avenue Deli and Carnegie Deli. The house pastrami is smoked overnight and served with a toasted seedless rye bread, and spicy brown mustard. When it came to the table, I could not not notice the fattiness of the meat and the burnt sides, the fat dripping a bit as I took the sandwich in my hand. The first bite was divine: the crispiness of the toasted bread comes first, followed by the rich, savory and smokey flavor of the pastrami. The fact that the bread was toasted not only gave some texture, but it helped keeping all of this together. A must have if you can go before the end of restaurant week on August 17 2025. And I should mention their fries that were nicely crispy, some of the best I had. There are also delicious dishes besides that, like the tomato soup au gratin ($15) that is a take on grilled cheese and tomato soup, onion soup style or the Asian fried chicken and waffle ($25) that is composed of a perfectly made waffle topped with an Asian glazed fried chicken that is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. For a lighter meal, you can get the simple green salad ($16) with spring greens, cucumber, tomato and chickpeas, or the burrata and tomato salad ($22) that also comes we prosciutto that we ditched as it was for Jodi (they could have charged a bit less considering this). We also tried their Asian glazed Brussels sprouts ($8), that were a good side to complement our meal. I should mention their mocktails that are as creative as their food: I liked their phony Negroni ($12) that was deliciously bitter, and their Java mockhattan ($13) that is a perfect drink if you love coffee. I cannot talk about dessert because, unfortunately or maybe fortunately, the portions being what they are and the richness of some of the dishes made me stop there, but I am sure I will go back just to try some of what they are proposing there as it looks really good! So, as you can guess, I highly recommend this place.