Sunday, November 3, 2013

Northern Spy Rocks (so does my Mom)

Here's Cover tweeting the short piece

  


My friends at Cover posted a restaurant review I authored about Northern Spy.  Cover (also known as Pay With Cover) is a terrific app that lets diner pay for dinner seamlessly via their phone (no waiting for a bill, no messy credit card transaction at meal time).  Disclosure: I'm so impressed with these folks that I invested in the company.


Cover edited my restaurant review for size.  In doing so -- and their edits are totally appropriate -- we lost a little of the character of both my mom and Northern Spy.  Here then is the unedited version (so mom doesn't get offended).  Oh, and my mom is pretty badass! And so is Northern Spy...

Northern Spy
My mother isn't my culinary guiding light.  In fact, I'm not sure what convinced me to follow her recommendation to Northern Spy.  She was equally incredulous when I told her we'd taken her recommendation.  That was 20+ visits ago.  

Ingredients are seasonal and their provenance from local farms is often referenced on the sheet of paper that constitutes each day's menu.  While this is not a "vegetarian" restaurant, the smoked carrots are so mouthwateringly fantastic that they've convinced me that vegetarians will dine like royalty here.  The kale salad, replete with pig meat is, however, another wonderful way to eat your veggies here.  I love the lamb-multiple preparations of it provide different experiences and the rich flavors of the confit must include cinnamon...there's a sweetness that recalls Moroccan food. 

Service couldn't be friendlier and the atmosphere is casual.  So much so, that you're almost surprised by how professional and efficient the staff is - relaxed excellence.  

At some point, my mom, with pride that she had finally led me to culinary gold told the staff that I was her son ("my son is the bald guy who brings his own wine"). On my next visit, our server told us "hey, I met your mom...really nice lady...uses the f*bomb a lot"


Please tell them my mom sent you - you know how to describe her, right? Oh, and pay with Cover!