Aquavit

Last night I went to an office send-off party at Aquavit. If you haven't been there, both the food and decor are Scandanvian by design. I started off with a lemonciello coctail sent over to our group by chef Marcus Samuelsson. DELISH, and such a nice touch for the end of summer! If you aren't familiar with the drink aquavit, it's a distilled spirit infused with various combinations of herbs, spices and fruits. This restaurant offers about 20 different housemade versions (you can have flights of 3 for $17), many of which are used in their specialty coctails. The hors d'oeuvres were equally as impressive as the aquavit - the most notable being a small swedish meatball sitting upon a small layer of mashed potato with a few lingonberries on the side and topped off with a cucumber slice, served on a silver spoon! OUTSTANDING! The decor of the main dining room was a bit too wooden and cold for me, however I really enjoyed the bar area which has a long bar at one end and a small lounge area with Egg chairs and Swan sofas. Aquavit's dinner menu is a 3-course $80 prix-fixe. I'd maybe recommend skipping that, cosying up to the bar, trying MANY of the aquavits and ordering some nibbles from the lounge menu.